What does "community" mean? August 6, 2009 2:58 PM Subscribe
What does "community" mean? My friend Akim is working on a project on American communities. As member of an online community, I thought Mefites would have some constructive dialogue on his question...
Akim writes:
"Online community" can be a marketing buzzword. What distinguishes an actual and thriving online community?
*I initially posted this on Ask Metafilter, but Jessamyn thought it would be more appropriate on MetaTalk, as this is somewhat of a survey.
Akim writes:
I’m working on a project about American communities. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of this project is trying to nail down a definition of “community.” I’ve spent a couple of years mulling it over, and I’m eager to get wide ranging input. I’d like to get your personal definition of the word “community.” It can be long or short. Just tell me what the word means to you.Mefites may have a lot to say about both traditional and online communities. How do you define "community"?
I plan to gather as many definitions as I can and place some of them (anonymously) in an appendix at the end of the manuscript. If you’re not comfortable with your definition appearing in the book, that’s perfectly fine; just let me know and I’ll keep it out. But either way, I’d love to have your input. The more ideas and definitions I get, the more it will help me in building my own understanding.
"Online community" can be a marketing buzzword. What distinguishes an actual and thriving online community?
*I initially posted this on Ask Metafilter, but Jessamyn thought it would be more appropriate on MetaTalk, as this is somewhat of a survey.
This post was deleted for the following reason: I hate to make you feel like you're getting mixed messages here, but one of the problems with your original askme was the totally unclear "project for a friend" impetus of this, and since this is basically a cut and paste of the original question without any clarification there it doesn't really feel cool as a use of metatalk or really any part of the site. -- cortex
Have you seen the MetaTalk posts in the past couple days? COMMUNITY.
posted by gman at 2:59 PM on August 6, 2009
posted by gman at 2:59 PM on August 6, 2009
Community: Geolocalized group of people with common, shared, and/or complimentary goals.
Online community: Group of people who visit the same website.
Metafilter: Taglines.
posted by carsonb at 3:03 PM on August 6, 2009
Online community: Group of people who visit the same website.
Metafilter: Taglines.
posted by carsonb at 3:03 PM on August 6, 2009
"Family": the people who take you in when you have nowhere else to go.
"Community": the people who talk about those people.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:11 PM on August 6, 2009 [2 favorites]
"Community": the people who talk about those people.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:11 PM on August 6, 2009 [2 favorites]
What distinguishes an actual and thriving online community?
I'd say that a thriving/active online community probably incorporates the latter bit of my 'Community' definition.
"Community" is a subjective term.
I think that's why he's surveying everybody.
posted by carsonb at 3:11 PM on August 6, 2009
I'd say that a thriving/active online community probably incorporates the latter bit of my 'Community' definition.
"Community" is a subjective term.
I think that's why he's surveying everybody.
posted by carsonb at 3:11 PM on August 6, 2009
Well, uh, like some of the others, I gotta say that a lot of the problem your friend seems to be having is that there are different meanings for "community," something that's such a recurrent definitional issue in sociology and political science that it makes me wonder if your friend has done an adequate literature review. TO THE LIBRARY!
Off the cuff, having just had a MeFite offer me a loan to make sure I could get back into the country (thankfully unnecessary but totally sweet), I'd posit a community to be a shared social project defined by synergistic altruism. But there are communities of place, inquiry, participation… even the rather meta idea explored under organizational studies as community of practice, which is generally understood as a theoretical framework for discussing communities.
posted by klangklangston at 3:19 PM on August 6, 2009
Off the cuff, having just had a MeFite offer me a loan to make sure I could get back into the country (thankfully unnecessary but totally sweet), I'd posit a community to be a shared social project defined by synergistic altruism. But there are communities of place, inquiry, participation… even the rather meta idea explored under organizational studies as community of practice, which is generally understood as a theoretical framework for discussing communities.
posted by klangklangston at 3:19 PM on August 6, 2009
A community is a group of people — or animals — with whom you spend time. The fellow that drives my bus to the library is a community. My pet dog is a community. You can extend this definition to objects as well. My favorite pair of jeans is a community. The coins in our collective pockets makes us a community of coin carriers.
I know this definition is pretty broad, but it works for me. If I were to gulp down gin each night before falling on my pillow, I'd be in a community of gin drinking pillow droolers. If I enjoyed cheap 1980's animal suit fetish porn films, I'd be in that community too. If I carried a dead goldfish to work and carefully deposited it in the potted plants around the office, I'd be in that community too. Incidentally, I do all of these things.
The real question is, "What isn't a community?" And that's a pretty simple question because you only need to come up with things that people cannot do, like jump and smoke at the same time.
posted by anonymuk at 3:22 PM on August 6, 2009
I know this definition is pretty broad, but it works for me. If I were to gulp down gin each night before falling on my pillow, I'd be in a community of gin drinking pillow droolers. If I enjoyed cheap 1980's animal suit fetish porn films, I'd be in that community too. If I carried a dead goldfish to work and carefully deposited it in the potted plants around the office, I'd be in that community too. Incidentally, I do all of these things.
The real question is, "What isn't a community?" And that's a pretty simple question because you only need to come up with things that people cannot do, like jump and smoke at the same time.
posted by anonymuk at 3:22 PM on August 6, 2009
See here and here. People pulling together for one another.
posted by netbros at 3:25 PM on August 6, 2009
posted by netbros at 3:25 PM on August 6, 2009
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by shmegegge at 2:59 PM on August 6, 2009