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Purpose of a Web Based Community
According to Sue Boettcher, “The purpose of
your community and the needs of the group will dictate what tools you use
and kind of community you build” (Sue Boettcher, Online Community Toolkit,
1999). Boettcher goes on to suggest that the needs, interest, location, time
zone and even financial resources of community members must be considered
when designing an online community. She adds that geographically diverse
groups with time zone disparities would find it difficult to meet in an
online chat room. Such a group might find their interest best served by the
use of email or newsletters. Additionally, the needs of the group must be
considered when deciding if the community is to be closed, thus protecting
the privacy of its members, or open to the general public.
Nancy White agrees with Boettcher in that
the purpose of the community must be established prior to actually building
the community (Full Circle Associates, 2002). White describes defining the
“intent” of the community with the following points.
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Does it have a mission or a vision that you can communicate
to potential members?
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Are the benefits measurable and visible to members and
potential members?
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Is the outcome determined by the organizer? Group members?
Both?
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If the group is part of a larger organization, is it
consistent with organizational goals and culture?
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Is the group's purpose something that can only be
done/accomplished online? Will it replace something offline? Or is it some
combination?
Strategies for Designing Successful Web
Communities
As stated earlier in this document, advanced
software has made the creation of web sites, as well as web based
communities, a thing of relative ease. Simplicity however, does not ensure
success. Launching a web site can take only minuets, attracting visitors can
take years. Initially, a new community can be like an open house with no
sign or street address to direct people to its location. Advanced planning
is required to determine not only who the target audience is, but how to
alert them to your presence. In similar fashion, once new visitors arrive, a
host of environmental factors conspire which may convert them into members
of the community, or cause them to leave in confusion. For this reason, Amy
Jo Kim describes on her website what she has titled, “Nine Timeless Design
Strategies” for designing web communities (www.naima.com). Confirming Sue
Boettcher’s admonition that the purpose of a community must be defined, Kim
begins her list of strategies on the foundation of purpose. Kim states that
communities come to life when they fill a need. This is why she stresses the
need to understand not only why you want to build a community, but who you
are building it for. This vision must then be communicated through design,
ease of navigation, policy and technology.
1. Define and articulate your purpose
2. Build flexible, extensible gathering
places
3. Create meaningful and evolving member
profiles
4. Design for a range of roles
5. Develop a strong leadership program
6. Encourage appropriate etiquette
7. Promote cyclic events
8. Integrate the rituals of community life
9. Facilitate member-run subgroups
(www.naima.com)
Implied in the word “successful”, is the
potential for failure. There are no sure things on the web and community
building is no exception. Adding to the above, Derek Powasek states,”Every
Community site comes with a set of rules… The challenge then, is to set the
rules wisely, communicate them clearly, and enforce them fairly.” (Powasek,
2003).
Characteristics of Web Based Communities
A report was prepared from the brainstorming
workshop held at an ACM Computer Human Interaction (AHI) Conference which
dealt with the theory and practice of physical and network communities in
which the following characteristics were identified. .
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Members engage in repeated, active participation and there
are often intense interactions, strong emotional ties and shared
activities occurring between participants.
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Members engage in repeated, active participation; often,
intense interactions, strong emotional ties, and shared activities occur
among participants.
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Members have access to shared resources and there are
policies for determining access to those resources.
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Reciprocity of information, support and services between
members is important.
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There is a shared context of social conventions, language,
and protocols.
(Whittaker, Issacs, & Day, 1997, p. 137)
It was also agreed that the following
characteristics, though not essential, could impact online interactions to a
significant degree.
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Evidence of people having different roles.
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People’s reputations.
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Awareness of membership boundaries and group identity.
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Initiation criteria for joining the community.
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History and existence over a period of time.
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Notable events or rituals.
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Shared physical environments.
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Voluntary membership.
Types of Web Based Communities
Dependent on ones definition of
community, an authoritative list of community types may be difficult.
Donovan’s definition of an online community as previously stated, gives us a
reference from which to begin. Agreeing that, “an online community is a
medium of interaction to connect people in different locations based on a
common interest or need”, (Donovan, 2005) we will attempt to identify and
describe some of the various types of web based communities.
1. Email Groups: Email groups are formed with a
list of email addresses and then using email to generate discussions between
them. Though there are other web based approaches for this, a special
program called a “list-bot” is typically used to facilitate the mailing
activities. Because everyone on the recipient list receives the email, the
emails may become too large or eventual accusations of spamming may occur.
a. A simple definition of email is
“messages that are sent electronically via computer networks” (Library
Skills Online – Glossary). Though the word email is today freely bantered
and rolls off the tongue of preschoolers as if a fifth appendage, it was a
bit more cumbersome in it youth. Prior to the email that we are familiar
with today, an early version existed in which an electronic message could be
sent to a user on the same computer. In 1972, a network adaptation of email
was created by Ray Tomlinson of BBN (Bolt, Beranek and Newman). The @ symbol
was chosen to link the user name with the network address. Using a program
that he wrote called “SNDMSG”; Tomlinson sent the first email over the
APRANET. Today there are over 684 million email users worldwide (The
Radicati Group, July 2005)
2. Newsgroups: Essentially a collection of
electronic bulletin boards, newsgroups are one of the earliest forms of
public discussion on the net. Typically accessed through Microsoft Outlook,
newsgroups may present a bit of a technical challenge for the first time
user..
3. Chat Room: A chat room is a virtual meeting
area over the internet where users can communicate with others in real time.
Exchange of communication is rapid and can be interrupted by others. Due to
the generally unsupervised nature in the environment, topics can change
quickly or be difficult to follow.
4. Discussion Board: Although sometimes used
synonymously with “newsgroup”, a discussion board is a general term used to
describe an online bulletin board in which the user can leave a message and
wait for a response. Commonly, an administrator or moderator will review
forum post and edit or censor if deemed appropriate. Members who violate
accepted board conduct may be suspended or banned. Discussion boards
represent the most common means of online communication in the bodybuilding
community.
5. MUD’s: MUD’s (Multi User Dungeons), are
multi player computer games that combine elements of role playing and social
interaction. Exchanges can occur by way of instant messaging or chat rooms.
6. Meetup: Meetup is an online social
networking portal that allows users in various locations to connect via
common interest. Users can enter their zip code or city location, topic of
the meeting and then attempt to arrange a meeting in a physical location.
Technical Aspects
Online Community building in made
possible by means of software applications which are published to a specific
web address. It is vital therefore, that the community builders understand
the technical aspects of the online environment that they are creating. Not
all software applications are created equally, thus serious consideration
must be given to the usability of the user interface prior to launch. If the
community software is confusing and difficult to navigate, potential members
are likely to become frustrated and move on to other things. In an article
titled, “Building Communities – Strategies for Collaborative Learning”,
Soren Kaplan states “Community members should spend more time learning about
the topic than about how to use a given technology” (Kaplan 2002). Adding to
this, McDermott (2001) states “Ease of use is more about how the software
integrates with people’s daily work, the knowledge they need to share, the
way they think about their community’s domain.”
Recognizing that the community software must
be manageable by the community builders, and functional to the members, user
support which includes online documentation should be provided. The builders
must also decide on the types of discussion tools that will be used.
Synchronous discussion tools such as instant messaging or chat may serve the
community well if managed properly and lead to instability if not. Personal
profiles and avatars may lend a degree of familiarity or serve as a
distraction. Polling, collaborative writing and search tools are among other
features that may be considered as well. While the technical array of
software features may be tempting, it is important to remember that a
community is comprised of individuals. For this reason, McDermott further
states “There is so much good technology for collaborating and sharing
information that it is tempting to focus on the functionality of products.
But the real challenge is to design the social side of information
technology.”
Defining Success
In
her book “Community Building on the Web”, Amy Jo Kim asks the question,
“What is a successful community” (Kim, Amy Jo. 2000). Kim responds to here
own question with a series of further questions, each of which is best
answered by the person’s who created the community. After presenting a list
of scenarios, Kim suggests that any one of them may be considered successful
“depending on how the people who create, manage, and participate in that
group define success”. Adding to this, Kim states that a community of only
12 members may be considered successful if it meets the needs of all of its
members.
Certainly there are other considerations which come to mind when
questioning a community to be successful. Richness of content and depth of
interaction will not suffice to maintain a community that fails to meet the
financial concern of its sponsors. Similarly, a community that fails to
enforce its own standard of ethics is likely to implode from within.
Therefore, when adapting the definition as success as “a community that
meets the needs of all of its members”, it is important to remember that the
word “members” is not limited to subscribers who check in regularly, but to
anyone who has a direct interest in the maintenance and existence of the
community.
To the above, the writer
would also add that a successful community should be able to continue in the
absence of key individuals. With the possible exception of fan clubs,
communities are built around topics, needs, concerns, goals or common
interest, not individuals. Therefore, if a community disbands with the
departure of a key individual, one would have to question if the community
had truly been successful to begin with. |
