Reading an article by Denise Carter from the UK. Trying to research how virtual communites impact not only students - but individuals in general. Set within the wider context of the Internet and society it investigates how geographically distant individuals are coming together to inhabit new kinds of social spaces or virtual communities. People 'live in' and 'construct' these new spaces in such a way as to suggest that the Internet is not a placeless cyberspace that is distinct and separate from the real world. Building on the work of other cyberethnographers, the author combines original ethnographic research in Cybercity, a Virtual Community, with face-to-face meetings to illustrate how, for many people, cyberspace is just another place to meet.
Second, she suggests that people in Cybercity are investing as much effort in maintaining relationships in cyberspace as in other social spaces. This analysis suggests that by extending traditional human relationships into Cybercity, they are widening their webs of relationships, not weakening them. Human relationships in cyberspace are formed and maintained in similar ways to those in wider society. Rather than being exotic and removed from real life, they are actually being assimilated into everyday life. Furthermore, they are often moved into other social settings, just as they are in offline life.
However, experience shows that they can harbor the same emotional issues that real-life relationships do - further implications ensue as a result of role playing and the "gaming" mentality of some of the inhabitants.
Issues to examine as more and more educational institutions have a presence on these communities.
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