Virtual communities are places where people are directed to for a form of social interaction.  Similar to meeting people at the shopping center or at a social event, the internet becomes that social event where computer users press a button or flick a switch and interact with another person on the other end.  The way people end up interacting with one another is partly due by the interests of a person.  For example, a lawyer would browse the internet and search for places that dealt with his career background.  Or maybe he or she would browse for a specific hobby or sport.  Many first time users will search for a sanctuary.  A place where they would enter majority of the time while browsing the world wide web.  Howard Rheingold, the author of The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, has stated four advantages to virtual communities.  They are:

    (1) The technology is a powerful tool which brings an enormous amount of everyday people together.
    (2) Provides a virtual meeting place for people to discuss topics of interest.
    (3) Allows participation of people at their own convenience.
    (4) Allows people from all over the world to meet - no geographical boundaries to hinder interaction.
    (5) Prevents racial, age, sexual discrimination and disabilities.
    (6) Provides a sense of anonymity.

Furthermore, the technology allows people of all walks of like to commune and interact with one another
without the geographical hindrance.

For every advantage there it, a disadvantage strolls along.  They may be:
    (1) Netting requires knowledge of reading, writing and typing.
    (2) Discrimination is still present but not obvious.
    (3) Must have a computer, or access to a computer.
 
For the most part, virtual communities exist through many different reasons.  Take shopping for example.  The whole idea of creating a virtual community is to attract people to purchase things on the web.  The spread of these communities will be later discussed in the next section on "How do they Spread," but what the user should be concerned about is not going to a place to see something.  It's about going to a place and then finding something to see.  Here is a good place to read about it, Virtual Communities.
 

How do they Spread?
 
        A very popular way virtual communities spread is through new users coming on-line for the first time.  Many computer users that decide to get on the band wagon and browse the world wide web spend a good 6 to 9 hours at the computer terminal.  Some virtual communities are found through advertisements on other web sites.  Geo Cities have their advertisements on other peoples sites that draw online users to click on them and are then lured by the fascinating opportunities like the free web page offer.  Basically what users look for is the chance to find someone or something out there that they like and stick to them.

        The idea of conversing over the world wide web is the most fascinating aspect of the virtual world.  Majority of computer uses that got online for the first time are intrigued with the concept of  instant communicating with no time constraints.  The only restriction is the absence of the other person on the other side.  Tuomas Kilpi has a good point when he says:

        "As these virtual communities continue to grow they may bring about the true internet revolution: the birth of a global community.  Little by little our national identities begin to frey, as net communities become more complete and useful. When we both work and play on the net with people from all around the world, who can convince us to go to war with our virtual brothers and sisters?"

        My reaction to this is the more people all over the world interact, the more we decrease the uncertainty in the different beliefs that we as individuals we hold inside of us.  The more we strive to communicate with one another, the higher our motivation will be the interact regardless of race, religion, or creed.  The internet allows us to put aside those formalities and concentrate on the most part, talking with one another.

What types are there?

        There are actually many different type of virtual communities existing today.  They range from online chatting areas to virtual time mapped out communities much like the one's that exist in the Geo Cities.  The idea is to never leave your physical place in time and yet search and travel to places of far and beyond.  The interaction with other people is what makes virtual communities so unique.  Besides the fact that you are unable to view the other person on the other end of the line, the idea and issue of interaction is the same as if it were face-to-face.

        In an area called Cybertown, the general idea was for people to visit and have fun, be entertained, and learn things on the internet.  Cybertown have explained that their site exists beyond the boundaries of earth.  A network that runs across the galaxy.  Here are some images of how Cybertown looks like.

Image from http://www.cybertown.com

Image from http://www.cybertown.com

        Another kind of virtual community are the ones that were set up a long time ago.  Take for example the virtual community called "The Well."  The Well is considered the oldest gathering sites for the past eleven years.  It is said that there are a variety of people that matriculate to.  From artists to computer programmers, you name it, they be there.  The Well is a site for people to conversate about various interesting topics.  When computer uses visit The Well, they conversate and exchange information in the form of Conferences.  Conferences is a term used by the residents.

        The WELL's unique conversations are distributed around the world, but the  first computer and modem rack were located in Sausalito, California, just north of San Francisco and across the fabled Golden Gate Bridge. At first The WELL was purely a conversation space, but from 1992 to 1996, The WELL provided its members with both Internet Access and the legendary conferencing environment. In 1996, The WELL consolidated the connectivity part of its business with the San Francisco Internet Access Provider, Hooked, forming the new Whole Earth Networks. Whole Earth Networks maintains the WELL's servers and billing operations, while the conferencing, content and cultural aspects are still supported by the WELL's staff in Sausalito. But the real action is online, and a few keystrokes away for WELLfolk all over.
                                                                                                                                                   -the WELL

        The first online interaction that existed before virtual online communities arrived was the notorious bulletin board.  Users would post their messages and other online users would respond to what ever message they wanted to very much similar to newsgroups.  With the emergence of online capabilities, we have striven to seek a more efficient and a more easier way of interacting and communicating to other people regardless how far they are located around the world.
 
        Online communities allow you to control the environment you're in.  Members of such communities are able to chat in rooms that are centered around various topics.  Users can choose to converse with people that have common interests.  Private chat rooms are another option.  Friends can converse with each other in smaller rooms.  Chat rooms provide more convenient ways to communicate and give members unique control.  The entire idea of communication is the mechanism, whether it be bulletin boards or virtual online communities, that keeps it alive and striving for expansion.  Builder.com has offered ways to show how the trend of online communication has evolved.  Each community stands for some kind of specific topic that any online users  may click on and discuss about.  Builder.com post a few links that some may find worth reading.  They change frequently depending on the interest of the community.  One community that I found to be worth getting involved with was Talk City.  Talk City offers real time chatting on any issue at any time of the day.

        As you can see for yourself, the internet has come to improve the capabilities of online communication.  The more efficient and the more technical the world wide web gets, the more we can see and hear of one another all over the world.  Communication will then be inevitable.

        If for any reason someone would create a virtual community similar to the place I came from, but only it would be virtual, then the only reason for visiting such place is due to the fact that it's where I came from, but only virtually speaking.  I wouldn't go there just to search for an item or something to buy.  I would already be there virtually and maybe stumble on something that wants to be bought.  This may seem awkward to say, but one of the purposes in virtual communities is to interact with people you come across.  Some may see virtual communities as a place to find other people.  This is not the true fact of virtual communities.  Virtual communities are places to enjoy and enhance as an individual.  Then when some other person or users interacts with you without any obligation from you or him / her, then that's what makes a virtual community a virtual community.

        Some may consider virtual communities as a place just to gather.  In general, this is true, but there is more to it than just a group of collective souls.  To some it's seen as a place to escape the realities of a person's physical life and communicate with others who can fill in the loop holes in their life.  Or for those without the loopholes, it's just a place for gaining information.  Believe it or not, there are those people who just seek information just so that they know.
 

        There are many different forms of online communities.  There range from chat rooms or actual live in online communities where you belong to a certain part of a space within a town only your town doesn't exist physically.  It's like a pretend world where you can't touch it, but you can actually be there.  There are rumors of virtual online communities that involve the user to motion an image of a person to walk, talk, sit, etc.  I personally haven't seen any of these communities.  What was explained over the newgroups of virtual communities was an online user could actually be a part of a town or city or state or even a country and virtually travel any where they want to without leaving their seat.  They would view everything through their eyes just like how a person would physically go on a vacation or someplace as simply as the mall.  Everything would be in images and animation.  It's like playing a videogame.  As it is said before, the basic online interaction exists as a gathering of some sort in some specific place to share and exchange information whether it be physically typing out the words or clicking on icons and viewing messages or images.  Everyone is part of a virtual community the moment they start chatting or relaying email to another person or persons.  The only difference with the basic vs. advanced online communities are the details of imagery and animation.

        Virtually communities to this extent sound and may look really creative and may be able to attract any online user.  The idea of virtual online communities is to have a user travel through space without physically leaving their homes.  If you were to plainly put it, it's like shopping on QVC or whatever home shopping networks there are on television.  The same kind of concept only on technological phase higher using computers and the world wide web.

        What we don't realize is that this may and could end our fears and frustration of the fashion of actuality and reality.  Virtual online communities may work for you or it may not.  Whatever the case is, virtual online communities is there to make life a little easier in some areas of our physical limitation.
 

        Virtual communities make it easier for a person to overcome the fear of interaction.  Many people are not very good in meeting people and making new friends.  With the help of the internet, virtual communities assist a person in building confidence, save time, and saves money.  Online virtual communities eliminates the time it takes to walk around finding that special person to interact with.  The internet offers the chance for these kinds of communities to form alliances and convince them that it is possible for life beyond the computer screen.

        Tuomas Kilpi's report ws quite informative despite the length of his report.  He speaks of his idea of what a virtual community is.  His idea of a virtual community is belonging to different communities without physically moving around.  Tuomas gives two example of places where he escapes to.  One of his favorite places is rec.arts.books.  This is a news group that offers feedback on the topic of recreational activities and certain hobbies of online users.  The second place that he offers as a place to run to when he wants to let off steam is alt.games.doom.  This is the same area as rec.arts.books.  Once in a while these links won't work due to the fact that the news group will be down.  Probably what Tuomas does in these newsgroups is let out his feelings and frustrations.

        Virtual communities offer an online user the opportunity to express any kind of feelings and emotions to anyone out there who is willing to listen.  Even though something as responding or sending messages to a news group can end up to a "no response" back, the online user who is sending the message gets what he or she wants by venting out their emotions via online activity.  Tuomas mentions communication as some kind of key to interaction.  Similar to the physical world, communication is important in forming communities and ties.  Tuomas is right, without communication there will be no interaction and therefore without communication, there can be no community.
 

        Other reports indicate all of the same ideas of how virtual communities should and shouldn't be.  What we most are concerned about is the way the interaction is.  Virtual communities all have their own form of appearance.  The flashy lights, etc, etc.  The important thing is that we support the idea of split second response from another online user on the other side and the desire to process information in the different topics that is offered.

            http://rdz.stjohns.edu/~storm/
            http://www.behavior.net/mhn/bolforum/message/32
            http://www.shassan.com/
            http://www.grohol.com/
            http://www.netaxs.com/~jamesiii/papers.htm
            Virtual Communities
            Exploring Virtual Communities
            Cybertown
            Geocities
            Electric Minds
            The Well
 

        I was once a member of a virtual community.  Although it only lasted for a while, I really enjoyed it for the moment.  I was a member of the Geo Cities community.  The way that I found this was by accident.  I was browsing the web and stumbled to a place where I could get a free web page.  So what happened was Geo Cities took me in and ran me through a sign up and I was already marked as being a new tenant with almost like a real time street address.  It was actually pretty neat.  The set up was the most fascinating aspect of the entire virtual community idea.  When you connected to the site and browsed through to find your address, you would see like a layout of a map with streets and pictures of homes with numbers on it.  You would then try to locate the one that you were assigned to.  I belonged to a university community, because that's the one that I joined.  I think it was called the college campus or something to that extent at that time.  Geo Cities had given me a real numbered address and everything.  There was a map of a house and actual neighbors.  The map tells you if anyone is occupying a certain home or if anyone is home at the time.  You also have the option to move to different homes if you want to only if the home you move into is vacant.

        I really enjoyed being a part of an online community.  Although I was forced to move out and someone moved in, because I was never responding to my home for a while.  I guess that's what they do to a user who hasn't been home for a while.  You can live there for free, but if you have no purpose there then I guess they repossess the property.  I think I really wasn't really ready to completely move into a place like that.  Or more plainly put, I'm probably never going to be ready to transform into a community where I'm not seen and not heard except through the letters scrolling across the screen.
 

        To conclude this report, I just wanted to bring up that it was really interesting to find that many of the virtual communities have one intention in mind and share this intention as a whole, the purpose of online communities is to provide an exchange of information regardless what the topic is.  Virtual communities has two main purposes and they are to serve people or the consumers or to attract business for the company that create these virtual communities.  Communities that offer online purchasing will differ from communities that offer online therapy or counseling.  The needs and the wants of the end user will dictate what community he or she decides to reside in.  It is the soul purpose of the end user that determines where on ends up.