WHAT IS THE SAME ABOUT VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES?

By MASSAWE ARKADI

Virtual communities then, promise their users open, democratic, alternative spaces in which they can find people with similar interests and opinions and in which people are free to share and debate ideas in a safe environment without fear of intimidation and petty prejudice. Such communities would indeed be novel, welcoming and highly desirable spaces for many potential users. However, a look at many virtual communities will reveal a different story. Just as the ideal community has rarely, if ever, been achieved in physical space, communities in cyberspace also fall short of these standards. Some of the claims made as to the unique nature of such communities are now examined.

Are virtual communities more open and accessible?
Problems of access to virtual communities have been addressed by many projects which provide free or affordable internet services in public places. The best of these also provide training for potential users. However access to cyberspace does not necessarily lead to use of the medium. Although millions do connect to the internet regularly there are millions more who do not or cannot. This leaves existing communities on the internet denuded of many potential contributors.
In addition, the main language of the internet is English which excludes many from full participation on the web. The technology is a necessary but not sufficient condition for community building in cyberspace. Users have to be able to find virtual communities, be motivated to join and interested in sustaining contact with a particular group.

Are virtual communities more democratic?
Miles and Gershuny write that communication through computers can create 'new forms of social participation' (1986:32) involving formerly marginalised groups. Kelly (1994) sees the technology of the internet as an inherently collective system, controlled by no one power and founded on non-linear communication patterns so creating new organisational possibilities, permitting new ways of thinking, breaking down old patterns of command and control and discouraging linear, autocratic system management. Internet technologies certainly allow direct links to be made between users.

In theory, if armed with a person's email address it is possible to send messages directly to that individual bypassing any gatekeepers and without having to make personal appointments which might be refused. This possibility for direct lines of communication between individuals has been used to argue that communication on the internet is less hierarchical than traditional forms of contact and that the internet therefore allows the voices of many to be heard (Horwitz and Malley 1998).

However it is likely that those who protect themselves from unsolicited contacts in the real world will do so in their online presence too. How many CEOs or members of government, for example, will read and answer all their emails?

Nevertheless many networks have used direct emailing as a campaigning tool to make their views known and to ensure that the recipients are aware of the strength of feeling on a particular issue.