Online Communication- Callum Pilling

Online Communication- Callum Pilling

1. Contemporary social media

   • People with common interests tend to gather together to exchange views and put forward ideas. Often this takes the form of a club such as a sports club, or a society such as an historical society. However, the internet has had a dramatic impact on the way people communicate and share information.

2. Online communities

   • People who are computer literate, and have the equipment, can form groups or ‘societies’ online. These groups are known as online communities , and they provide a place for people with similar interests to come together and exchange views. Where the community involves a group of people who keep in up-to-date contact with each other, they may be referred to as a network of friends .
     • Sometimes the communities exist in a virtual world online. This is an unreal world created by the computer. Popular examples include SecondLife, Twinity and Habbo. The World of Warcraft virtual world is another popular example of a large interactive gaming virtual world which supports multi-player gaming.
       • Communicationg online reuires a pecial behaviour or etiquette, known as netiquette . This is a set of rules designed to prevent abusive behaviour online. If a user breaks
   • online communities – A virtual community which exists only online. It may be open to anyone (e.g. a bulletin board) or restricted by interest (e.g. various scientifi c communities).

3. Information exchange

   • Online communities make use of contemporary social media to publish, access and exchange information. They use several online tools to do this:
     • web logs (blogs) are frequently updated online journals with diary-like entries which allow people to express their thoughts and feelings and give details of their daily activities. Typically, a blog includes text, photos and sometimes video.
       • Microblogging sites. These are sites which allows users to create and exchange really short text entries. A popular example of this type of site is Twitter™.
         • Wikis. These are websites that provide information that visitors to the site can extend and edit. They allow users to share information and are useful for research. The best-known example of a wiki is Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia which can be updated by contributors.
           • chatrooms. Online communication within communities is sometimes referred to as chat . Some of the large interactive communities where people take part in the same conversation or type of chat at the same time are known as chatrooms .

4. network of friends – A collection of people who jointly keep up-todate contact online. Sometimes this may be a specifi c network, such as The National Youth Science Forum, or it may be more general, like a group of friends keeping in touch through Facebook.

   • netiquette – Short for ‘internet etiquette’ or ‘network etiquette’. It is a set of conventions covering the use of networks used to interact with other people. The conventions are designed to prevent people causing annoyance or offence to others.
     • chat – In this context, refers to any kind of online real-time communication over the internet.
       • chatroom – Large-scale interactive conferencing with many people involved in the same conversation at the same time.
         • Virtual world – An online community which meets in a computer-generated world; for example, the large multi-player online games.
           • Profi le – A user profi le is a collection of personal data about a specifi c person. This may include biographical information, lists of interests and photographs.