Online Communities

The internet and the rise of online communications media has effectively revolutionized the way in which people interact on all scales, whether its within a school, town, state, country, or international. On a personal level, I know that online communities dictate how I contact or keep in touch with teachers, my parents, and friends from the past and present.

For example, Blackboard is a way to contact my teachers, and a way for teachers to share documents and information with me. There are many tools that we are able to use to have discussions and ask questions with the larger class, as well. My studio professor from last semester was often unavailable to drive to Clemson, so we used "virtual crits" (usually done through Skype) instead. We would prepare electronic presentations and discuss our projects virtually. It was efficient and a still-beneficial process for the class.

To keep in touch with friends and family, facebook and blogger have been essential. These two communities allow me to have conversations, share photos, and upload videos with nearly anyone I want. These two websites are extremely public, however, so Skype is a nice alternative to communicate in a more private sense. It allows all of the options concerning file sharing and conversation, as well. It has already been a convenient way to speak with my parents this first week in Spain--for free.

Without the readily available sources for online communication, it would be much more difficult and inconvenient to keep tabs on those who are important to me--even more so to complete an online course such as this. While the drawbacks of some communities such as Facebook include the increasing lack of privacy, the benefits of these media allow a plethora of options that were formerly not available.