Real Life Communities Vs.Online Communities

After the lecture from the week 10, which talked about the virtual community, I started to think about the differences between the real life and virtual communities. I found that there are some interesting phenomena. Few dacades ago, there were issues of the racism and class, which affected peopole to form different communities. For example, how many time have we seen from movies that many years ago, blacks were discriminated by whites, and balcks were viewed as slaves destined to work for whites? Nowadays, people who are in higher social status usually get together such as doctors and lawyers, and create a social community. It rarely sees that higher class people stay in the same community with the lower class people. The personal identity in different communities seemed not having an equal status. Moreover, in real life, people usually involve face-to-face communications. Some people may judge an individual's apparent for the first sight, and then decide whether inviting him/her to their communities. Therefore, the real life community exists gaps.

With the improvment of the computer technology and Internet service, many of us are able to creat a virtual community. When I use the MSN to chat with others, I creat an online community. Without the face-to-face communication, the online community is more equal and free. As people communicate on the MSN, they can have multi-identies.Therefore, racism no longer exists, and different class people are able to stay in the same community as well as creat new relationships. Using the MSN, it also can reduce the judgement of a person's apparent and avoide some embarrassing moments in face-to-face communication. Smith (March, 15, 2005) also states that the online community is more direct, provides more freedom for human identies, and gives options for participants when they face different situations. The high speed of the Internet reduces the problem of distance communication and allows people to create a global community.

Reference,

Smith, R. (March, 15, 2005). Week 10: Community. Presented at a CMNS 253 Lecture at simon Fraser University