In Howard Rheingold’s “Virtual Community“, Rheingold describes his experience with WELL. WELL stands for Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link, which is an online virtual community. People from all over the world discuss different things with each other and write e-mails to each other. Over time, people begin to care about these people that they have talked with through the WELL, and form an “emotional attachment” (Rheingold, 95) to them. In addition to talking to each other through the WELL, they also provide support, flirt, gossip, argue, play games, and fall in love with each other. Howard Rheingold has been to real-life WELL births, WELL marriages, and a WELL funeral. According to Rheingold, “People in virtual communities do just about everything people do in real life, but we leave our bodies behind,” (96). In addition, the WELL has influenced other things. Craig Newmark, the inventor of Craigslist told me that “the WELL strongly influenced the philosophy of Craigslist.”
In a YouTube video, a boy talking about virtual communities says that he is a loner because he doesn’t find people that he likes to be with. He said that he lives alone, but doesn’t feel alone because of the virtual communities. In addition, he also said that he has a lot of internet friends who know him better than anyone. .
Many people in our class are strongly opposed to virtual communities and “communicating with complete strangers” without face-to-face interaction, but WELL.com shows the positive consequences from the WELL. According to well.com, members of the WELL have “gone into business together, fallen in and out of love, cultivated feuds, taken kickass vacations together and enriched lives.” They do everything that normal people do in real life, but without the face-to-face interaction. Before someone talks to someone through the WELL, yes they are a complete stranger, but isn’t that the same thing that happens in real life? In real life when you first start talking to someone new, they are a stranger. However, shortly after, you get to know the person and form an emotional attachment to them. This is what happens through virtual communities as well. I’m honestly not opposed to virtual communities. I don’t think it’s weird now in our technologically influenced society to talk to people through virtual communities. After you talk to them for a while, you probably become so close to them, as if you know them personally. In fact, you don’t have to worry about them judging you and you could probably tell them more things than you could with the people you’ve known for years.
2 comments:
Hi Jenna --
Uncle Craig alerted me. This is good timing! This week, Craig will be featured on my videoblog: http://vlog.rheingold.com and the several weeks after that will be micro-lectures by me and one of the Well founders, John Coate, about the early days at the Well.
Great post. I like how you talk about virtual communities from a positive stand point, especially considering how many people in our class--as you said--are not too big into this idea of building relationships on the Internet.
I am not one to get into this kind of stuff, but I do like to support what is best for people. If it makes them happy then that is good. People need to find their niche and a place where they fit in, and for some that is not in our standard realm of social life, rather on these virtual communities.
I do think it is kind of weird, but i'm cool with it and am not at all bothered by people "living" this way.
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