Types and purposes of online communities

Types of websites within online communities blogs chat rooms forums social networking wikis.

Blogs A blog is a website that has only one main page and is like an online journal or diary. One main author who makes entries such as comments, descriptions, news, images, and videos and audio clips. Entries are in reverse chronological order with the most recent entry at the top. It includes side bars with links Visitors can leave comments.

Creating a blog Free software and an account on a host site are needed Examples are ◦Blogger ◦Wordpress ◦Myspace

Examples of blogs Blog is a combination of two words ◦web ◦log.

What are Widgets? Widgets are mini web applications that you can put onto your website (i.e. blog, wiki, homepage) e.g. the Clustrmap on the next slide is a widget.Clustrmap ◦Search - so readers can easily search your blog ◦ subscription – for readers who prefer to be notified of new posts by ◦RSS feed - not all feed readers are able to detect the RSS feed from the site URL; this is why I add a Feed burner feed to my sites to make it easier for readers to subscribe ◦Categories and Tag Cloud – to make it easier for readers to locate posts on your blog.

Widgets

Widgets

Chat rooms

Forums Forums are online message boards or discussion websites that allows communities to exchange information. Users can leave comments called posts. A thread is a collection of posts, from oldest to newest

Forums

Forums on Masterchef

Social Networking Social networking sites are websites which allow users to share their interests, stories, thoughts, photos and videos with other members of the community. Users set up online profiles, describe their interests and add links to other users. Examples: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flikr,YouTube etc

Twitter

Statistics MySpace - 50 million accounts since its launch in 2003 Between early 2006 and late 2007, MySpace was recorded to have the most pageviews per day on the web - more than Google!

Wikis A wiki is a website which allows users to edit its content. It can be private, public or protected. The website is made up on interlinked webpages. A collaborative way of adding and editing what the community has written. E.g. elearning.wikispaces.com/ICT+Toolkit elearning.wikispaces.com/ICT+Toolkit

Characteristics of online communities Characteristics to consider when developing an online community are: ◦Gender ◦Special needs ◦Culture ◦Age ◦Access (private or public)

Gender Gender affects ◦Colours used on website ‘man friendly’ and ‘woman friendly’ ◦Membership – restricted to males or females  E.g. post natal depression may be restricted to women who are sharing their experiences ◦Verification process

Special needs Visually impaired. Certain colours may not be used, consider font size Websites that rely on Flash and other multimedia tools can make it difficult for those with special needs to access and read.

Culture Cultural groups such as Aborigines and Native American Indians may be offended. Often disclaimers are placed on websites to remind the viewer there may be pictures of aboriginals that have passed away.

Age restrictive websites Age targeted websites include kids chat rooms Adult only content websites