Local vs. Global Communities

The internet is changing the way communities are constructed, but not in the way early internet theorists predicted. Instead of global connectivity, most users of the internet today are thinking locally. Web 2.0 Phenomena such as Flickr, Facebook, and Myspace allow users to connect with anyone across the globe, yet (pending) research suggests that most users of these sites connect with people they already know rather than searching out users they haven't met.

How have the expectations of internet theorists for global connectivity (not) been fulfilled? The central, defining difference here is between local and global connectedness. Through surveys among Emory University undergraduates and interviews with members of a non-local internet forum, Natural Selection, I will attempt to shed some light on why users choose to participate in global or local communities, and which, if any, they prefer. Supplementing my ethnographic research is my personal experience as a member of both local and non-local online communities throughout the past 7 years.

Some questions that will play into the research:

What form do these communities take, and what usage differences may be structurally influenced? (Forums and social networking sites have very different architectures). What about sites like Myspace which combine both personal profiles and forums?

What motivates people to join non-local communities? Gather impressions from online interviews with members current and inactive from Natural Selection.

What are some other sorts of non-local communities besides NS? Full-disclosure, which am I a member of? What are some other local-community enabling sites?

What sort of people, demographically speaking, join non-local communities? What sort join local communities?

How does one define 'community', especially in such a specific context as this. Community is simultaneously at its least tangible and most concrete, with interactions being in many cases permanently archived or catalogued. - Non-local communities are often incarnated at the site of interaction, whether through forum postings, chatlogs, or private messages. In contrast, local communities often have no site of interaction, the community in this case being imagined with no physical connections present - only the imagined connections between users contributing to the sense of community.

In practice, most sites of community (local and non-local) are both 'imagined' and 'physical' in that there is usually some physical trace of interaction amid mostly-intangible imagined communities (walls on facebook) and a great deal of imagined community present among users of non-local communities.

Often one user will participate in both at the same time, or move from one to another. In my experience from participation in the Natural Selection NLC (non-local community), users move from non-local to local communities. In my observation, the path is from NLCs to LCs, but I'm confident many users move the other way - from Local to Non-Local communities. However, I think most members of LCs never 'leave' their communities like members of NLCs leave theirs.


Potential Survey or Interview questions:

Are you or have you ever been a member of a local online community (i.e., do you connect with RL friends through facebook, myspace, or other social networking sites?)

Are you or have you ever been a member of a global online community (i.e., an online community where you communicated with people you have never met before?)

If so, what sort of non-local community did you belong to? Describe your participation in this community.

On a scale of 1-10, rate your participation level from least to greatest.

On a scale of 1-10, rate your level of attachment to the people you met.

If you have been a member of both sorts of community, which would you describe as more important to your life?


What theorists will I be referring to, drawing from, or (dis)agreeing with?

Michele A. Willson, Technically Together - Rethinking Community within Techno-Society

Willson's book, which I've only recently begun, looks to be promising in its focus on analyzing different scholarly approaches to constructing community online.

Danah Boyd, assorted writings

While not very well-read in Danah Boyd's catalogue, her research into online communities is among the most interesting and (in my opinion) accurately up-to-date available. Additionally, it's all available in pdf form on her website, www.danah.org, which makes accessing it extremely easy. I'm reasonably confident I'll be looking to her works for inspiration/points to argue over.

Derek M. Powazek, Design for Community

Powazek's practically-oriented book on designing communal spaces online looks to be a good reference on the structural foundations of local and non-local community building. While this edition was printed in 2002, before the astronomical success of social networking sites and 'web 2.0', it will still serve as a useful point of reference for a discussion of non-local communities, which predate local online communities by at least a decade.