Topic 5: Online communities

• Social networking:
  • Public social networks e.g. Facebook
• Webmail
• Virtual Learning Environments e.g. a school VLE
• Virtual worlds
• User-generated reference sites & social bookmarking sites:
  • Forums/ message boards
  • Wikis e.g. Wikipedia
• Online workspaces:
  • Web conferencing e.g. Adobe Connect
• Blogs
  • Microblogs e.g. Twitter

Social spaces

• Blogging
  • e.g. weblogging, photo blogging and vlogging
• Microblogging
  • e.g. Twitter or Facebook’s ‘status update’
• Public social networking 
  • Social networks form connections between users’ profiles through personal information.
  • Often use blogging / microblogging / Chat features.
• Professional networks 
  • Some business orientated social networks used to enhance users’ employment opportunities
  • e.g. LinkedIn.
• Chat / Video chat
  • e.g. MSN Messenger, Skype.

Workspaces

• Web conferencing - online service by which you can hold live meetings, conferencing, presentations - using Internet /VoIP connection
  

User-generated reference sites and social bookmarking

• Forums/message boards
• Wikis

Massively Multiplayer Online [Communities] (MMOs)

• Virtual worlds
  • e.g. Second Life.
• Gaming communities
  • e.g. MMORPGs.

Provide virtual space - people work together to meet, share files & work collaboratively online.

• Virtual meetings: online conferencing & VoIP inc virtual whiteboards
• Shared folders and files
• Email, chat
• Online applications

Functions:

• Provide information to help students learn: access to additional notes + homework in school - need an Internet connection.
• Teachers - work collaboratively - create high-quality learning material

Features:

• Timetable . "news" for staff and students
• Students, teachers & parents track progress & data e.g. test marks
• Personalisation for individual marks.

Online community - people linked together using personal information

Functions:

• Users have online presence
• Links users with others using personal information
• Users stay in touch with other people
• Exchange information e.g. photographs, videos with others

Target audience:

• Linkedln
  • aimed at business people with advice given by industry experts
• Bebo
  • aimed at younger teens with areas for gaming & music videos

Advantages:

• Easily create personal page
• Keep in contact with people
• Make new friends with similar interests
• Post interesting things about yourself
• Often free to join & use
• Easy way to share different types of information
• Efficient way - communicate with lot of people
• Moderators prevent inappropriate posting

Disadvantages:

• Wastes a lot of time
• Fake profiles created
• Loss of privacy
• Online bullying
• Posting content - compromising photos - embarrassing
• GPS tagging - risk to user's safety - if location revealed
• Inexperienced users - give away personal details - risk personal safety / security

Allow users to contribute, share information, generate content collaboratively on a website

Functions:

• Wikis - add / edit content collaboratively
• Internet forums/message boards - hold discussions - posting messages about certain subject
• Newsgroups - communities like message boards - discuss a particular topic
• Review sites - post reviews - inform potential customers of product/service considering buying

Features

• Ability to add/edit content
• Changes can be tracked - see who made contributions
• Hyperlinked pages & images

Advantages:

• Easily changed = up-to-date information
• Different parts of the world can work together
• Do not pay a fee + contain huge amount of information

Disadvantages:

• Information can become inaccurate, biased or untrue
• Internet connection needed
• May become disorganised + include errors & duplication

Users add + share bookmarks (weblinks)

• Pinterest: users create "pinboards" organise & share images they like on web
• Digg: social news website - allows people to share news + rate its importance
• Delicious: users create "stacks2 of content on a particular theme

Features:

• Store URLs online
• Give tag words to categorise URLs
• Tags used to search bookmarks by topic/category
• Share bookmarks with others online
• Search for similar bookmarks from other users using tags
• Users can like or dislike content

Knowledge - information & skills gained through experience or education

• Tools e.g. spreadsheets, databases - create ideas, model different situations & solve problems
• Communicate, collaborate & share ideas on global scale
• Information constantly updated + always open for improvement e.g. entries on Wikipedia
• Information + knowledge made accessible to everyone through ICT.
  • e.g. University students can take courses + communicate with tutors online
• Users (instead of editors) decide what information is important

Ability to create content + knowledge & publish information: open to anyone with an Internet connection. Made a difference to the way information created + shared.

Advantages

• A large number of viewpoints = richer, more rounded picture

Disadvantages

• Variety of viewpoints - overwhelming for users
• Nobody checks / edit what is published online: important to select relevant information + from valid source.

Advantages

• Workers telecommute + work from home. Don't have to live close to work.
• Cloud computing - workers access documents  / programs from anywhere with Internet access
• Decisions made more effectively through online workspace - see + agree changes to document at same time
• Employers check social networks to research potential employees

Disadvantages

• Avoid face-to-face contact
• May feel pressured to work when away from office
• Without Internet access - workers left out of making important decisions
• Employees disciplined for defamatory posts on social networks = considered equal to publishing in newspaper.

Collaborative working:

• working together as a group to achieve common goals
• Helped by VoIP, email , online chat, social networking and online work spaces.

Advantages

• Work together on same documents online & share ideas
• Working as a group = Get more done in less time
• Help each other solve problems

Disadvantages

• Cannot read body language in meetings
• Work lost if users write others' contributions

Teleworking: working at home + staying in touch with others with help of technology

Advantages

• Saves money - no need to pay for transport to work
• Flexible - people can work when and where they like
• Increased productivity - less time lost travelling
• Reduces pollution - no need to travel to work

Disadvantages

• Less social time - can feel isolated
• Easy to work for long hours = get no break
• Distractions at home = work does not get completed
• Dependent on having Internet connection

Socialising - how you get along with others e.g. social networking, online dating

Impacts

• Easy way for people to keep in contact
• Easy translations between languages
• Available 24 / 7/ 365
• Need an Internet connection to keep in touch
• People can pretend to be someone they're not
• People spend less time with real friends

Acceptable behaviour includes:

• Respecting others' opinions online
• Abiding by copyright law 
• Not posting inappropriate images or videos

Acceptable Use Policy / Code of Conduct

• Set of rules that set out how to behave when using the website.
• Have to agree before using the website
• Otherwise, online account is withdrawn

ICT + Internet: allow communication + collaboration on global scale

Globalisation: increasing global relationships between cultures, people and economic activity.

ICT speeded up process of globalisation.

Easy to make purchases from around the world 24 / 7 / 365

Select and pay for goods from around the world without leaving our homes.

By ICT - companies have now "gone global" with offices and customers around world.