Introduction
Life in the era of extensive use of information, computers and the Internet
has surely undergone certain changes. Before the invention of computers people
had no idea about the existence of other reality than usual reality they used
to live in. Nowadays, everybody is aware of the second reality, so-called virtual
reality. No one can exactly explain what it really is, besides that this is
an artificial space created by computers with the help of special technologies,
such as sound, 3-dimentional pictures and videos. Do people exist in virtual
reality? They do exist; otherwise, the topic of the topic of virtual communities
would have never been discussed. People can enter and interfere with virtual
reality while using computers. Indeed, by means of computers and the Internet
such a term as “Virtual Communities” appeared. The concepts of virtual
reality and virtual communities are similar. As virtual reality exists only
virtually, virtual community consists only of people that use their computers
as the means of communication, however, they never meet personally for a cup
of tea, for example. People discuss various ideas, share common interests, and
find friends and partners with the help of virtual communities, which were designed
for all of the stated above purposes. Virtual communities exist, and there are
a lot of them nowadays. So, probably, they have the right to exist in future.
People like communicating on-line, thus, virtual communities also have some
advantages in comparison with real communities. Both real communities and virtual
ones serve the same purpose – communication, which creates lasting relationship
between people.
The current study was designed to speak about real and virtual communities,
to analyze the importance of both communities for the development of communicative
skills in people and to compare the features, which are peculiar to either real
community or to virtual community or maybe to both.
Real Communities versus Virtual Communities
Before comparing two types of communities, it is necessary to define the meaning
of the term “community”. First of all community is a group of people,
which is characterized by common place of living, religious, cultural, racial
or ethnical similarities. Usually a group of people that shares common interests
or ideas is also called a community, not necessarily inhabiting the same area.
So, these are real communities. They can be found everywhere. Congregation of
one church is a community, sharing common religious beliefs. Students of one
university comprise a community, as they live at the same area, study at the
same educational establishment and surely have common interests, such as sports
or music. A group of countries can also be considered a community if they share
common policies and interests, such as countries of the European Union, or countries
supporting NATO. People of such communities live and interact with one another,
developing certain communicative skills.
As we know a person is a social creature, thus, communication with other people
is one of the essential elements influencing on the development of a person’s
mind. In real communities people cannot avoid communication, due to the common
place of living. Things are different with virtual community. The term “virtual
community” appeared not so long ago in comparison with the term “community”,
however, it confidently came into our vocabulary to describe a group of people,
who share common cultural, religious or other beliefs or possess similar interests
and likings. However, members of virtual communities never meet personally,
but only communicate with the help of their computers and internet. Virtual
communities are widely represented by various discussion groups, chat rooms
or newsgroups. Participation in such communities is absolutely voluntary. If
a person doesn’t want to communicate, he/she just doesn’t connect
to the internet, which cannot be done in real communities. However, virtual
communities also contribute to the establishment of strong bonds between people,
and possess similar benefits to those of the real communities. Various websites
offer free communication to people, who are interested in music, reading, sports,
fashion, traveling; to people who are looking for new acquaintances or just
have nothing to do at home. For some people it is even easier to be a member
of a virtual community than of a real one, because virtual community doesn’t
require personal communication, so people don’t see each other while communicating.
That’s why people start to feel more self-confident while meeting new
people, which is obviously helpful for future communication in real communities.
These and other advantages and disadvantages of both real and virtual communities
will be discussed further in the study.
Participation in any kind of community is very important for any member of society.
First of all it makes people feel comfortable while communicative with each
other. This develops necessary skills for further communication. Because members
of communities possess similar interests and beliefs, it is easier for them
to find common language than communicating with people from other communities.
However, if a person feels comfortable in one community, it does not necessarily
mean that he/she would be also comfortable in other community; however, chances
of such people to become more communicative are somewhat higher than of people
who don’t belong to any community. Another advantage of a community is
that is helps to preserve customs and traditions of certain cultures. Inside
a community people can practice any religion and follow and traditions and customs,
which is not always possible outside the community. Living at the same area
grants people an opportunity of constant communication and interaction with
one another, this feature is obviously not peculiar to virtual communities.
Inside the community people can freely express their points of view, share ideas
and interests. Thus, members of a community can discuss the matters that are
important only to them, rather than the rest of the world. Ideas expressed by
the communities are more noticeable to the government and the rest of the society
than ideas expressed by a single person. Thus, communities possess some sort
of power, which they can use while convincing others of their ideas or needs.
This power becomes evident during elections to the government, for example,
when every candidate, trying to win as many votes as possible, promises certain
improvements to the whole community rather than one person. It appears to be
very effective, because in this case the whole community will vote for the candidate,
making his chances to win the elections higher. So, the role of community is
essential in the modern world. Community affects many spheres of people’s
life. It influences our space and time structuring, reorganization of cities
and towns, various economic activities in the country, because community is
a part of work force. Being affected by globalization, communities also impact
this process, shaping the pace of globalization in separate countries and world
as a whole. Importance of communities cannot be underestimated, because community
is a group of people, and a group is always more powerful than one individual
is. However, the main role of community is that it promotes the development
of relationship between people. People would never feel lonely belonging to
any community.
Having spoken about the meaning of real and virtual communities, and their role
and importance in the modern world, it is necessary to compare real communities
with virtual ones with the help of qualities these two communities possess.
The first and the most important characteristic feature of real community is
people. People create a community, thus, without people community does not exists.
People also serve as a key characteristic of virtual community, as virtual communities
are also created by people. However, there are certain differences between people
constituting real communities and people constituting virtual communities. Real
communities consist of people who live on the same territory, who may be of
the same race, culture and religion, while virtual communities can consist of
people of different nationality, color of skin, culture or religion. People
are united in virtual communities not by the common place of living, but they
are united by common interests, ideas and beliefs. Communicating in virtual
communities gives an opportunity for people of different race, culture and religion
to share interests, to talk on the topics that are interesting to them, and
to make new acquaintances. While people in real communities are almost always
united by common place of living, people in virtual communities might live in
different cities, countries or even at different continents. Another quality
of community is common religion, culture, political or social views on life.
Inhabiting the same territory, people in real community will surely practice
the same culture and religion, most of them will be of the same race, possessing
similar political and social views. Indeed, this is why a group of people is
called a community. However, virtual community unites people who may have only
one thing in common. For example, some people like rock music, while other people
in the same city prefer pop music. Despite of the fact that all of them are
of the same race, religion and culture, and have a common place of living, these
people may belong to different virtual communities. The first part of them may
belong to the virtual community of rock fans, while people of other part would
be members of the virtual community of pop music listeners. Here obvious advantage
of virtual community can be seen. For example, if two real communities, living
in the same city, possess opposite views on politics, conflicts between them
will inevitably appear, causing harm to people of both communities. However,
conflicts are not likely to appear between virtual communities, where people
actually never meet each other. The following feature of community is acceptance
of new members. Sometimes real communities can be rather unfriendly and not
welcome new members, due to certain reasons or just because a person is a newcomer.
In contrast virtual communities welcome every new member, because the main goal
of virtual communities is sharing interests regardless of belonging to any race,
culture or religion. On the other hand, virtual communities that unite people
of the same nationality, race, religion or culture also exist, and there are
many of them. Virtual communities consisting of people of the same nationality
exist in the countries inhabited by many immigrants. Immigrants organize virtual
communities in order to follow their customs and traditions, in order to practice
religion, in order to discuss events taking place in their home country, while
inhabiting different countries worldwide. Despite of the fact that virtual communities
will remain virtual for ever, and members of virtual communities will never
meet personally, virtual communities possess qualities similar to real communities,
because they are organized by a group of people, who share common interests
and beliefs. Virtual communities can unite people of the same race, culture
or nationality, however, virtual communities can also be composed of people
of different nationalities, living in different countries and possessing different
views, because virtual communities are organized on the basis of common interests
and desire to communicate.
In spite of all benefits of communities, people who would like to become members
of communities need to have certain skills in order to become successful. Participation
in community requires open mind. Being a member of any community implies being
an easy-going and open-minded person. It is necessary to be able to find common
language with people you are going to communicate with. For this reason a person
should possess qualities of not only a good speaker, but also of a good listener,
which is sometimes even more difficult than being a good speaker. All members
of community should be attentive to one another, understanding that all people
are different in spite of possessing common interests or being of the same descent.
In order to be successful in real community, it is necessary to be sociable,
active, honest and respectful; however, it is also important to perfectly fit
in the community, meaning that it would be more complicated for a person who
is of different descent than other members of community to become a full member
of it. As for virtual communities, it is also important to be sociable and active,
possess certain personal views and be respectful towards other members of community.
Conclusion
Having spoken about real and virtual communities it is necessary to make a conclusion
and find out weather virtual communities can become real. Indeed, the major
difference between real and virtual communities lies in common place of living
and communication face to face. Members of real communities see each other daily,
they inhabit the same territory, and thus their communication is sort of inevitable.
Things are different with virtual communities, members of which never meet,
however may possess the same close relationship. From my point of view, virtual
communities cannot become absolutely real, because people can understand nature
of each other only when they see each other and communicate face to face. However,
modern virtual communities have made certain advances at this point by using
web cameras, microphones and other gadgets allowing them to develop closer relationship.
Bibliography
1. Biocca, Frank. (1995). Communication in the Age of Virtual Reality. Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates.
2. Rheingold, Howard. (1999). Virtual Community: Another Metaphor. Whole Earth.
3. Putman, Robert. Resnick, Paul. (2000). Closing the Divide: Turning virtual
communities into real ones. June 25. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/focus25.shtml
