Virtual Reality Zone/VRZONE.ISO/pc/pc/emags/lw9404/virtcomm.txt

Text File | 1994-03-23 | 11.7 KB | 220 lines

You give the 'read message' command. As if responding to the wave of a
magic wand, the shapes on your screen reform into words. It's a message
from L.HERSHFIELD, "I got some wonderful news to tell!!!! My sister (BEE)
who some or most of you know... is getting MARRIED in May to a man who she
met right here on GEnie. I am just so excited for her..."

Suddenly you are part of a different world, a virtual world, an electronic
community of others, sitting like you are in front of their computers,
exchanging thoughts and ideas from the profound to the ridiculous, the
serious to the sad, the sublime to the silly.

A Virtual What?

"What's a virtual community?" I asked as I wandered around GEnie.

GEnie member WALTS was quick to offer a technical definition: "The Virtual
Community -- a 'community' that owes its existence to electronic
communications, primarily computer-to-computer contact that may use one or
more computer-links to effect the connection."

"I call 'it' cyberspace," JAKOUBEKS responded.

"For me the main thing about a virtual community is that the shared
interest is strong." says JO.B. "I think one knows one is part of a virtual
community when the same people are around a lot."

P.ZILLIOX answered my question with a question, "Why should location be the
only common aspect to bring people together?"

M.YOST1 has a very practical definition. "There is a feeling of community
here. We get to know each other, and some friendships can form. Besides,
where else could we hang out and chat with noted authors, an NPR
Commentator, and world famous game designers, while keeping one ear on the
baby monitor?"

According to Jeb Weisman, an anthropologist who is studying virtual
communities for his PhD thesis, "There isn't a really workable definition.
In some ways a virtual community is defined by the practice and process of
trying to define a virtual community. I know that sounds clever, but it's
true. In some ways it's everyone online who contributes to the world-wide
dialogue and for others it's the dozen or so people who post in one
RoundTable. Home is where you hang your hat!

"For all practical purposes, virtual communities, whether they're
RoundTables, role-playing games, peopled by real or carefully crafted alter
persona, are the places people choose to live out a portion of their lives.
The difference between the office or business community, the school or
church community, and the electronic or virtual community is really more a
matter of advertising. Like the telephone party-line that suddenly
connected individuals who never before had knowledge or access to each
other, the evolving virtual communities are, hopefully, bringing disparate
people together and creating new bonds between individuals who might at
least never have met, and at worst might have been ignorant of the others'
existence.

"It's an open playing field and virtual communities will be what we make
them... just like the real world."

Uncharted Territory

Virtual communities provide opportunities that have never existed before in
human history. All too often, these opportunities are completely ignored in
the hype that surrounds the "information superhighway."

Information is often thought to indicate dry statistics and analyses. Seen
in that light, it is perhaps logical to assume that Jeb Weisman the
anthropologist considers GEnie his research laboratory -- yet nothing could
be further from the truth. GEnie is where Jeb, better known as MOTO.JEB,
makes his online home as a member of the PET-NET RoundTable Ferret Owner
community and as an assistant sysop in the Motorcycling RoundTable. Most of
the people who know Jeb on GEnie have no idea he's an anthropologist;
that's irrelevant to the virtual communities where he participates.

That's what makes GEnie's virtual communities so vital. People come
together drawn by their common interests. When the Virtual Stamp Club meets
in the Stamp Collecting RoundTable, the subject is stamps, not what members
do for a living, what kind of a house he or she may have, or what their
ages are. Far more interesting is considering how the American Philatelic
Society, an organization based on location-specific clubs, would deal with
a club located in cyberspace.

Lurkers Unite

It is a question that is bound to perplex many organizations.

"Membership in this community is as simple as joining," says WALTS. "That
is, taking part in what occurs -- even what is known as 'lurking' qualifies
as membership. It is possible to be part of the virtual community without
knowing that you are. One has to recognize its existence first....

"What one gets from or gives to this community is a personal thing and
usually changes frequently [both between individuals and for any one
person]. However, and notwithstanding the details, the key here is
participation. It is said that the more one participates in the virtual
community, the more one gives and gets. An axiom if I have ever heard one."

GEnie membership comes without definitions on how the time is to be used.
That's decided by each and every person. Many come for the wealth of
information available in Software Libraries and Research Databases. They
may choose to never read or post a message yet they remain part of the
GEnie virtual community. Others members "lurk" and read messages without
ever posting a reply. Many more take the first step of reaching out to
others by posting a message or saying "hi" in real time. The instant they
do, they are drawn into an active community.

L.MCKENNEY, known as Linda M., Traveling Nurse, found that being a part of
GEnie's virtual community changed her life. "Without this online community
and the friends I've made here I doubt I would have had the courage to quit
my job and start this travel thing. These friends have made it possible for
me to see more of the country than I would ever have had the courage to do
on my own.

"I've made friends with people I would have never met off-line. Thanks to
the online community my horizons have been widened -- I'm more confident in
myself and in the world about me."

How do you know you are part of a virtual community? M.TILLMAN1, a member
of the ZYMURGY RoundTable says, "I feel 'at home' with the folks here in
ZRT. I get questions answered. I also contribute questions, come up with
new ideas for participation, and at times stir up the waters so to speak."

Taking it Off-line

In-person meetings, or GEtToGEthers as they are popularly known, bring
people together to share special interests or the experience of being GEnie
members.

The Online Quilters from the NeedleARTS RoundTable is one of many GEnie
communities that plan in-person meetings. They held their 4th annual
get-together in March and have begun planning for their 1995 gathering. In
addition, a number of regional and local meetings are held throughout the
year. Blue Stars are worn by Online Quilters for easy identification. While
members may know each other well, they often have little or no idea what
their online friends look like.

"We just recently held a Tri-State Air Warrior dinner for all the people
who play Air warrior from the New York area," R.MAKOWSKY wrote. "I found
the dinner to be quite fun. Most of the people were not what I expected but
since our interests were common we were soon talking like long lost
siblings. Even better is the after-effect; now whenever I see a post by one
of the people at the dinner, I have a face and voice to go with it. It
gives a more real feeling to the post."

You can find in-person meetings happening throughout GEnie. Members of the
Motorcycling RoundTable will ride hundreds, even thousands, of miles to
meet other members at special events. Members of the NASCAR GANG from the
Automotive RoundTable meet at NASCAR races. Romance writers and readers
from RomEx, the Romance Writers RoundTable, meet at the Romance Writers of
America national conference as well as at chapter meetings. Bookstore
shopping trips also are a regular happening. Gamers in Federation II get
together for an (Un)Convention. There are meetings at almost every science
fiction convention that draw people from all of the Science Fiction
RoundTables on GEnie.

There are regular GEtToGEthers where the common interest is GEnie and a
convenient location. GENIEus, the GEnie Users RoundTable, serves as a focal
point for general meetings as do the American West, Midwest and East
RoundTables.

"I'd say there is more community here than there is in a lot of
neighborhoods where people live next to each other for years and never have
any contact," DKING comments.

Join the Virtual Gang

Becoming part of GEnie's virtual community is easy. Every RoundTable
welcomes new members. Look for an "Introduce Yourself Here!" topic,
generally located in the first few Categories of its Bulletin Board. Your
introduction doesn't have to be more than "Hi! I'm new!" or "Hi! This is my
first message!" to draw welcomes from others who are delighted to say "Hi!"
in return. There is a "Post your first message here" topic in the GENIEus
RoundTable to help ease people through the process. The Multi-Player Games
RoundTable can help you become an active gamer.

Real-Time Conferences also are an excellent way to become involved with
GEnie's virtual communities. Check the Real-Time Conference schedule
published every month here in LiveWire. There are special interest
conferences every night of the week. GEnie Chat Lines are always open and
you can find a friendly LampLighter to help guide you. Many RoundTables
also hold special Help Desks in their Real-Time Conference area.

As you increase your participation in GEnie's virtual communities, whole
new worlds of opportunities will arise. You'll meet people you never would
have had the opportunity to meet in your physical community. You'll gain a
community that cares about you -- and you'll soon find yourself caring
about other members of your community.

You'll find yourself agreeing with the Chaos Master of the Jerry Pournelle
RoundTable when he says, "Yep, and it's a pretty good virtual community,
too."

"So Jer," M.DOUG1 responds, "when do you start singing 'We are the World?'"


          Visit these and other Virtual Communities on GEnie!
          ⁄ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒø
          ≥ Name                         Keyword     Page  ≥
          √ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒ¬ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒ¥
          ≥ Air Warrior                ≥ AIR          870  ≥
          ≥ American West RoundTable   ≥ WEST        1065  ≥
          ≥ Automotive RoundTable      ≥ AUTO         755  ≥
          ≥ Chat Lines                 ≥ CHAT         400  ≥
          ≥ USA East RoundTable        ≥ EAST        1470  ≥
          ≥ Federation II              ≥ FED          220  ≥
          ≥ GENIEus RoundTable         ≥ GENIEUS      150  ≥
          ≥ Jerry Pournelle RoundTable ≥ JERRY        245  ≥
          ≥ USA Midwest RoundTable     ≥ MIDWEST     1475  ≥
          ≥ Motorcycling RoundTable    ≥ MOTO        1155  ≥
          ≥ MP Games RoundTable        ≥ MPGRT       1045  ≥
          ≥ Needle Arts RoundTable     ≥ NEEDLE      1505  ≥
          ≥ Pet-Net RoundTable         ≥ PET          295  ≥
          ≥ Romance Writers            ≥ ROMANCE     1330  ≥
          ≥ Science Fiction RoundTables≥                   ≥
          ≥   First SFRT               ≥ SFRT1        470  ≥
          ≥   Second SFRT              ≥ SFRT2        471  ≥
          ≥   Third SFRT               ≥ SFRT         472  ≥
          ≥ Stamp Collecting RoundTable≥ STAMPS      1520  ≥
          ≥ ZYMURGY RoundTable         ≥ BEER        1152  ≥
          ¿ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒ¡ƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒƒŸ