Online Communities, History of

An online community is a group of people who interact in a virtual environment. They have a purpose, are supported by technology, and are guided by norms and policies. However, authors differ as to the precise definition of online communities because a wide range of online activities can fall under the heading online community.

In this entry, online community refers to all communities that exist predominantly online. A number of factors shape the character of an online community. The purpose of the community (for example, health support, education, business, neighborhood activities) and the software environment supporting it (for example, list-server, bulletin board, chat, instant messaging, or some combination of those) greatly influence the nature of the community. The community's governance structure and the types of norms and rules that develop provide a framework for social interaction within the community and vary widely among communities. Other factors that contribute to the variability of online communities include the size of the community (small communities of 50 people are very different from those of 5,000 or 50,000), the age of the community and its stage of development, the culture of the members of the community (e.g., international, national, or local, or shaped by politics, religion, gender, professional norms, and so forth), and whether the community exists in the real world as well as in cyberspace.

The characteristics of an online community are determined by the social interactions of the members and the policies that guide those interactions, a concept known as sociability. As mentioned earlier, software design also contributes to the character of an online community. A community that communicates via a synchronous chat system will have quite a different ambience from one that uses an asynchronous bulletin board. The ease with which the software can be used is known as its usability; usability depends on how well the user interface supports human-computer interaction (HCI). Attention to social policies and software design is therefore an important component in community development and evolution.