What is the difference between an online and offline community? How is each term defined? An online community is one that is non-physical and involves conversation one-on-one or between one or more people in an online forum. An offline community may be a social group you belong to. This article gave me some insight into what an online network has (or doesn't have) in comparison with the real 'offline' world. The first example stated that there are no physical cues online, like when IM'ing you cannot read signs (body language, facial expressions etc) so you know if the reader is interested in you or not. In addition, there is an 'asynchronous' interaction occuring in the virtual world, so for example, an email you send that doesn't receive an instant reply may result in misunderstanding. This would not happen in a real world interaction, because the person is right there. Nancy White tells us that conversations can be anonymous online, which can lead to the breakdown of 'norms of typical behaviour' so the user may end up displaying an 'attitude' that is atypical of their normal self.
From this perspective, the offline world is not necessarily a 'better' or more 'wholistic' means for communication. I disagree with Phoebe when she says 'who i am in the online world may be completely different from who i am in the offline world...neither is a true and complete representation of myself.' Well, i can see how you act in the 'physical world' may be in some ways concurrent with how you have acted on a blog site or on MSN, but why should the physical world not be a true representation of yourself? If this is the case, the world has gone completely mad.
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