Tute Six

Tutorial Six: The internet and online communities

Provide the web address and the name of the community you are investigating
Book crossing: www.bookcrossing.com

What is the brief or focus of this community
The focus of this community is to share the love of books. People join the website because they like books and wish to share their books or talk about books with others. People can send off their books with a special cover on the inside page that tells about the website. People pick up the book, read it, find the blurb about the website and then go to that site to investigate and most become members or already are. They then pass the book on.

What services are provided? How interactive is this site? How can people contribute?
People can join the website as members free of charge. They can register their books they want to give away, they then can send off their books and watch as their books are picked by other people and sent out again. They can pick up other peoples books, read and review them, and then send them on again. There are special book crossing items such as envelopes, postcards, bookmarks, bags and more that can be bought. There are discussion forums where people can talk with other members all over the world.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment on why people choose to contribute to this community. What is it they are seeking?
I believe that people contribute to this community because of a love of books, or because they want to socialise or be part of something that is bigger than themselves, to give themselves a certain identity, as a hobby, because they find the idea of sending out books to be picked up by others as a novel and unusual idea, because they are bored or because they want to chat about books in the forums, and maybe because they have a message they want to bring across.

Cut and paste an example of the type of topics being discussed (you may have to provide a context to your excerpt).
“by KrazyKatLaydee > Small communities might not have a well- > stocked library nearby, and in larger > cities there is often a long waiting list > for the most popular books.
Don't get me wrong, I love my public library, but it's very hard to get books that aren't on the NYT best seller list. They just don't have the funds to get all the books I want to read. Inter-library loans are great, but it can be a very long wait.
Re: You don't get free libraries in the Netherlands?
by Covert 6 mins ago
I'm not aware of any law requiring that libraries be free in the States, and I was under the impression that some libraries here DO have membership fees. Perhaps I'm wrong. Can anyone give me a definitive answer to that?”

Considering material presented during the course and make comment on the potential ethical issues that may arise in this community e.g. lack of identity and accountability.
Some ethical issues that might arise would be around accountability. People might post discussion in the forums that is inappropriate, however if this was the case most people would reply and let that person know that his imput is not appreciated. People also could release books that are inappropriate and give book crossing a bad name. The worst thing that could happen is if someone were to collect all the books released and sell them in a second hand book store. This would not be ‘against the rules’ but it would be very unfair.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment on the benefits this community holds over traditional notions of community e.g. communities reliant on geographic proximity
The benefits of this community are; it has a common theme for people who love books, it has a forum where people all over the world can talk, it can be accessed whenever, it doesn’t cost to join or to attend, its quick and easy, people can converse at the same time and yet no information is lost.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment what this community lacks or can not provide which traditional communities can.
The one thing this community lacks is the ability to see people face to face and communicate with them in the more traditional way. The more traditional way gives much more meaning and longer lasting friendships and relationships.