Systems and Community - Essay Example

Systems and Community Draft This is a draft document dealing with the salient points that would be discussed in detail in the main paper What is a community? There are numerous definitions of community but the main unifying thread that runs through all these definitions is that a community consists of a group of people that establish relationships with one another due to various motivations and because of various reasons. A community can also mean a collection or grouping of people having similar notions about an issue and, it is a symbiotic relationship where each member feels stronger by remaining in a group while the group gets stronger with rise in numbers. The basic building block of a community is, quite obviously, the quality and quantity of communication that is generated between the individual members. It is generally accepted that the strength and resilience of a community is directly proportional to the frequency at which individual members communicate with each other. Internet and the communication revolution Internet has revolutionized the way people communicate with each other and it has spawned numerous internet communities where individual members get together and communicate with each other on specific issues much like real world communities. However, this communication and interaction is only of a virtual nature and several researchers feel that a virtual interaction cannot be a substitute for real life interaction that can be achieved through face to face news and information exchanges between members, or, through a very common activity as playing a group game. But there are an almost equal number of social researchers that are of the opinion that the nature of communities is undergoing a metamorphosis where the traditional concept of community is gradually fading out with the internet communities filling in that void. This group of researchers contends that internet communities are not necessarily restricted to the virtual world and there are increasing instances where exchange of physical resources is being done among virtual community members. So, a new setup where both virtual and real co-exists in their relevant spheres and complement each other is fast taking a concrete and irreversible shape. Virtual communities have led to degeneration of social capital This group of researchers feels that in spite of a stupendous level of connectivity fostered by internet, the spirit of community and civic engagement is collapsing and members of the society are becoming increasingly disconnected with each other leading to irredeemable loss of social capital. This is more accentuated by the easy and cheap alternative provided by the internet where individuals can interact globally on issues that might be slightly remoter than the more immediate issues that could be affecting the geographical neighborhood and community. A person who is indifferent about issues close at hand can in no way contribute to the social capital irrespective of the enthusiasm expressed in internet communities. An active participation in alleviating a neighbor’s distress is surely more socially beneficial than becoming excessively enthusiastic about the plight of penguins in South Pole! This possibly brings into sharper focus the basic fact that without a geographical location it is not quite possible for internet communities to involve their members as actively as any traditional community can very easily do. Moreover, the high ethical standards and moral values that bind members of traditional communities will be very difficult to simulate in online communities where members will most certainly come from varying backgrounds and cultures. Internet communities are essentially what they actually are – virtual, where people participate as a form of entertainment and an occasional ego trip without any serious involvement or sacrifice. Researchers claim that communication has become individual centric with the advent of internet and it is steadily eating away at the roots of traditional forms of society and causing an inexorable decline in social capital. Virtual communities are enriching social capital Researchers belonging to the opposing camp have, quite obviously, an entirely divergent view about virtual communities and their contribution towards social capital. Internet, in their opinion, has the potential of increasing social capital and bringing people closer to each other much as traditional societies do. One of the most important reasons for the internet to become an environment conducive to spawning of virtual communities is that the early adopters of internet were essentially more civic minded and active participants in communication process. Communication process and awareness happen to be the crucial building blocks of social capital and virtual community members possess abundant quantities of both these qualities. Thus it was observed that online activity led to increased local awareness, high rates of in-person activity, and to rapid political mobilization. It is perhaps no small wonder then that Barack Obama utilized internet communities to his advantage in the run up to the presidential election in the United States. The other most persistent argument belittling internet communities is it lacks a geographical base, but that does not seem to hold much water as it has been observed in the case of Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV). This community computer network was established in 1993 and has over the years brought in its fold more than 80% of the community members and has been able to more effectively disseminate information concerning local communities. It is being increasingly utilized for local social capital building activities. It is a well established contention that communication increases social engagement and, with an increase in levels of social engagement among community members, the quality of social life and social capital starts improving. Thus the age old belief that high levels of interpersonal, vibrant and face-to-face communication have correspondingly higher qualities of life does not seem to be that relevant in the modern day scenario with internet filling in the gap of such close interpersonal interactions. So, it might safely be stated that though the more apparent manifestations of social interactions as running voluntary organizations as parent-teacher associations or becoming members of local bowling clubs have shown a marked decline, it does not necessarily mean that people have become more unsocial or disinterested in societies or community groupings. It is just that the medium of interaction has altered. The other benefit of internet communities is that participants are now not bound by any geographical location and can be equally participative without being physically present near the actual scene of action. An individual having environmental concern can become an active member of the internet community struggling to highlight the environmental pollution being unleashed by multinational oil corporations in the Niger Delta area even while residing at a location that is far removed from those polluted environs. So, internet has in effect given local issues an international exposure and has become a highly accessible forum for many social and political communities whose capacity to influence public opinion is increasing with each passing day. System design of an online community Online communication by itself does not generate online communities. There has be to be properly designed online forums for initiating and stimulating community development by utilizing the inherent community building capacity of online communication networks. A successful community design must begin by keeping the nature and range of interest of the expected community members in sharp focus as any deviation would most surely cause an early demise of the proposed forum. Twitter, for example, is successful because of its brevity (one cannot type in more than 160 characters in a single post) and the associated sense of urgency. The systems designer must also keep in mind the twin aspects of human-computer interface design and interaction design. The designs should be such that the future users would be in a position to further improvise the available features for furthering their levels of interaction among community members. Design Studio Methodology and ETHICS happen to be strategies of systems design that provide such freedom to prospective users. However, quite a substantial number of systems designers feel that lack of technical expertise and skills among potential users may finally lead to the product being much inferior to what was envisaged in the beginning. But supporters of the former school contend a house which has been designed by the inhabitants themselves holds the potential to offer a superior level of satisfaction than its ready-made counterpart. The basic objective is to create an emotional attachment with the community and a sense of social ownership of the community. This can be best achieved by allowing some freedom to the members as it would almost immediately foster acceptance and engagement. After all, mere access to information is not sufficient to build a thriving online community; how best that information can be used by community members must also be kept in mind. From the above it is more than apparent that System Design and Community Design must join hands in order to create thriving internet community. While System Design should provide more emphasis to participative methods, the Community Design should ensure that relevant socio-cultural animations are given the importance they deserve. Thus System Design should be busy with creating the network and Community Design should work overtime to populate that network with effective community members that would be able to properly utilize the information that would be available in the forum. One should not forget that the ultimate objective of online communities is to increase and enrich the social capital. This can be possible only when usability and sociability seamlessly integrate to provide effortless human-computer interface that will ultimately lead to rich and vibrating human-human social ties. Read More