ONLINE COMMUNITIES

STUDENT NAME

NAME OF THE INSTITUTE

ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Asynchronous and Synchronous Online Communities

This is the era of globalization and Internet. Adults, kids and households and even

working professional have liked the idea of online communities where they can interact with

other people of same views, ideologies and beliefs. Asynchronous communities refer to

communities and groups where people can share the data and information but not at the same

time. Any asynchronous community is marked with “different time different place” mode. On

the contrary people can share the data and information at the real time in synchronous online

communities. These communities are marked with “same time different place mode”. It is to be

noted that different place is the key for online communities. The main advantage of online

community (both asynchronous and synchronous) is that people can share the data and

information through different places.

Both the above type of communities has their advantages and disadvantages. The major

benefit of synchronous community is that people can share the information at same time. The

major benefit of asynchronous is that it is relatively easy and cheaper to use. Some of the tools

used in synchronous online community are Audio conferencing, video conferencing, chats etc.

Some of the tools used in asynchronous online communities are discussion boards, blogs, web

books etc. Synchronous online communication may also be difficult to establish because it

requires real time participation from people belonging to different time zones and geography.

Asynchronous online communities are relatively easier to establish and it would require less cost

also for organizations. In this era of high competition organizations have started to use the online

communities in their operations. These online communities are used within the organization to

share the information that is useful to make business decision.

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ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Different Types of Online Communities

Type of Online

Community

Asynchronous or

Synchronous

Remarks

Bulletin Board AS Bulletin Board can be used inside and outside the

corporations to spread the important news

Chat rooms S Chat rooms are highly used among younger

generation and college students

Social Networking AS It is the hottest online community that is used across

people from different generations

Blogs AS Blogs are used by organizations and individuals to

spread the views

Instant Messaging S IM is used to communicate at real time

Chat Room Experience

Website used: http://www.chat-avenue.com/

Chat room entered: College Chat

The advantage of this chat is that it does not mandate to create an account. One can also enter as

a guest user. For the first time user is asked to select a nick name. This chat room is meant only

for people who are more than 16 years of age. Upon entering this chat room, people can see

different threads, it is to be noted that all the chats are not related to educational purposes. Also

people usually do not chat with their original names in these chat rooms. The twelve variables

can be discussed as:

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ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Personal Need for Community: It would be termed as low as this chat room does not serve the

true educational purpose. There would be other chat rooms that are part of institute websites that

should be used to gain and share educational information.

Availability of Information: Vast amount of information is present but it would be exaggeration

to say that the information is useful.

Community as Social Destination: Definitely, it is a place where social interaction can be done.

Rigor of Discussion: Quite low as no citations is required.

Tolerance for Argument: People can argument at length among themselves

Acceptance: It’s up to the people that how they want to chat, if some people feel that other

person is not acceptable the he or she can discontinue the chat.

Duration: These types of chat rooms and chat platform come and go. If not this particular

website then there would be some other.

Facilitation: It is not facilitated by any moderator.

Entry barriers: As such no entry barriers

Anonymity: People can have anonymous as well as fake profiles

Locality: People can join from anywhere

Focus: It is for college students but as such it does not focus on any particular thing or any

particular aspect of college life.

Discussion Board Experience

The discussion boards are used by corporations to provide a platform where fellow

employees and even customers can interact. The discussion board used here is the discussion

forum of e bay that can be used by customers (http://community.ebay.com/t5/Discussion-

Boards/ct-p/12001). As mentioned by the organization, the purpose of this discussion board is to:

“eBay’s Discussion Boards are a great way to get advice, find information, and meet other eBay

Community members who share your interests and passions.”

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ONLINE COMMUNITIES

Name of the board: eBay News & Information Boards

The discussion board “eBay News & Information Boards” is meant to spread the news

and information of eBay to the customers. This discussion board also provides a platform where

in different people can interact and chat with the staff of eBay. All the variables of online

community in association with this discussion board can be discussed as:

Personal Need for Community: This discussion board is about the general news items of eBay.

The personal need for community is low in this case.

Availability of Information: The information is available in abundance in this discussion board

but this information is not scientific or technical in nature. People can get the information about

eBay but people cannot learn about new things.

Community as Social Destination: This community is definitely a place where people can

socially interact with each other. This variable definitely pertains to the discussion board of

eBay.

Rigor of Discussion: People can certainly participate with opinions and as such citations are not

required.

Tolerance for Argument: This forum is for information purpose and argument is not

encouraged in this forum.

Acceptance: Yes, the community is open for diverse point of view.

Duration: It is expected that this forum would exist for the entire life of eBay.

Facilitation: Yes, the community is facilitated by the moderator of organization (eBay).

Entry barriers: Anyone can be the part of this community, no entry barrier as such.

Anonymity: Anonymity is high as there is no way to actually know people.

Locality: This community serves the global customer of eBay.

Focus: It is to general and does not focus on any particular topic.

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ONLINE COMMUNITIES

References

http://community.ebay.com/t5/Discussion-Boards/ct-p/12001 http://community.ebay.com/t5/

eBay-News-Information-Boards/ct-p/15200000000

http://www.chat-avenue.com/collegechat.html

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