Until very recently, human communities were traditionally built upon shared values, geographic proximity and durability.
Globalization and the breathtaking speed at which new media have expanded have dramatically affected the fabric of communities in the traditional sense of the word.
Paradoxically, however, the Web 2.0 phenomenon has contributed to recreating some sense of community, along new and different lines, which were unthinkable only a generation ago.
Communities have not disappeared as some feared, but have materialized in new and unpredictable ways, across continents, sometimes even in the virtual world (think “Second Life”), along the lines of shared cultures, tastes or beliefs, which are no longer contingent upon more traditional restrictions of time, space and nationality.
Some wonder about how communications and digital media services might be used or improved to enhance real, physical communities. The very premise of this inquiry relies on the idea that “digital” is the opposite of “real,” and that “real” is necessarily synonymous with the physical world.
The new nature of communities, as described above, means that digitally connected communities are fully capable of exchanging, interacting and even acting as effectively, if not more so, than a traditional human community in the physical world. As research shows, people involved in online communities are not asocial in the least, and are in fact more likely to develop social skills and relations they wouldn’t have otherwise through interaction with people they would normally not be exposed to in their personal or professional life.
Eventually, though, meeting in the physical world certainly does make all this easier. 😉
Stan Magniant
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Netpolitique.net, France