Building Trust in Virtual Communities

2008 ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
István Mezgar
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Communities ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Normal Behavior ◽  
Networked Society

Information processing and communication technologies are developing so rapidly today that it can said that there is a communication technology explosion. The new technologies widen the world for the individuals to reach other human beings regardless of where they are on the globe. Various groups of people can come together according to their private or business interests, forming a virtual community. In the generation and operation of these communities, cooperation and collaboration have significant role. On the other hand, these technologies deeply modify traditional forms of social connections, communication, and cultural habits as well. These modifications can be observed in particular in hierarchies, social rules, norms, conventions, familiarity, and reputation. A very important element of human contacts is trust. In a networked society, trust is the atmosphere, the medium in which actors are moving (Castelfranchi & Tan, 2001). Trust can bridge cultural, geographical, and organizational distances of members. Trust is the basis of cooperation, the normal behavior of the human being in the society. As the rate of cooperation is increasing in all fields of life, the importance of trust is evolving even faster. In this new communication environment new methods and techniques of trust building have to be developed, as the conventional rules of face-to-face approach cannot be applied. According to different experiments, the level of trust is highly influenced by the way/mode of communication and by the duration of contact.

Building Trust in Virtual Communities

2011 ◽  
pp. 4-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
István Mezgar
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Communities ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Normal Behavior ◽  
Networked Society

Information processing and communication technologies are developing so rapidly today that it can said that there is a communication technology explosion. The new technologies widen the world for the individuals to reach other human beings regardless of where they are on the globe. Various groups of people can come together according to their private or business interests, forming a virtual community. In the generation and operation of these communities, cooperation and collaboration have significant role. On the other hand, these technologies deeply modify traditional forms of social connections, communication, and cultural habits as well. These modifications can be observed in particular in hierarchies, social rules, norms, conventions, familiarity, and reputation. A very important element of human contacts is trust. In a networked society, trust is the atmosphere, the medium in which actors are moving (Castelfranchi & Tan, 2001). Trust can bridge cultural, geographical, and organizational distances of members. Trust is the basis of cooperation, the normal behavior of the human being in the society. As the rate of cooperation is increasing in all fields of life, the importance of trust is evolving even faster. In this new communication environment new methods and techniques of trust building have to be developed, as the conventional rules of face-to-face approach cannot be applied. According to different experiments, the level of trust is highly influenced by the way/mode of communication and by the duration of contact.

Definition, Antecedents, and Outcomes of Successful Virtual Communities

2011 ◽  
pp. 1298-1306
Author(s):  
Anita L. Blanchard
Keyword(s):  
Financial Support ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Bulletin Board ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Virtual Groups ◽  
Electronic Frontier

Howard Rheingold’s (1993) book The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier was the first to bring virtual communities to the attention of researchers and practitioners. Although virtual groups have been examined previously, Rheingold’s descriptions of participating in the WELL, an Internet-based bulletin board, vividly portrayed the potential of online social groupings. Rheingold told stories of people who had never met face-to-face providing socio-emotional and even financial support to each other through times of crisis and celebration.

Online Communities and Community Building

2011 ◽  
pp. 2893-2898
Author(s):  
Martin C. Kindsmüller ◽  
Sandro Leuchter ◽  
Leon Urbas
Keyword(s):  
Online Community ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Bulletin Boards ◽  
Real Community ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Tacit Assumptions

“Online community” is one of today’s buzzwords. Even though superficially it is not hard to understand, the term has become somewhat vague while being extensively used within the e-commerce business. Within this article, we refer to online community as being a voluntary group of users who partake actively in a certain computer-mediated service. The term “online community” is preferred over the term “virtual community,” as it denotes the character of the community more accurately: community members are interacting online as opposed to face to face. Furthermore, the term “virtual community” seems too unspecific, because it includes other communities that only exist virtually, whereas an online community in our definition is always a real community in the sense that community members know that they are part of the community. Nevertheless, there are other reasonable definitions of online community. An early and most influencing characterization (which unfortunately utilizes the term “virtual community”) was coined by Howard Rheingold (1994), who wrote: “…virtual communities are cultural aggregations that emerge when enough people bump into each other often enough in cyberspace. A virtual community is a group of people […] who exchanges words and ideas through the mediation of computer bulletin boards and networks” (p. 57). A more elaborated and technical definition of online community was given by Jenny Preece (2000), which since then, has been a benchmark for developers. She stated that an online community consists of four basic constituents (Preece, 2000, p. 3): 1. Socially interacting people striving to satisfy their own needs. 2. A shared purpose, such as interest or need that provides a reason to cooperate. 3. Policies in the form of tacit assumptions, rituals, or rules that guide the community members’ behavior. 4. A technical system that works as a carrier that mediates social interaction. Not explicitly mentioned in this characterization but nevertheless crucial for our aforementioned definition (and not in opposition to Preece’s position) is voluntary engagement.

Online Virtual Communities as a New Form of Social Relations

2010 ◽  
pp. 2226-2238
Author(s):  
Almudena Moreno Mínguez ◽  
Carolina Suárez Hernán
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cyber Culture

The generalization of the new information technologies has favored the transformation of social structures and the way of relating to others. In this changing process, the logic of the social relationships is characterized by the fragility and the temporality of the communicative systems reciprocity which are established “online” in a new cybernetic culture. “Virtual communities” are created in which the interaction systems established by individuals exceed the traditional categories of time and space. In this manner the individuals create online social webs where they connect and disconnect themselves based on their needs or wishes. The new online communication technologies favor the rigid norms of the “solid society” that dilute in flexible referential contexts and reversible in the context of the “global and liquid society” to which the sociologists Bauman or Beck have referred to. Therefore the objective that the authors propose in this chapter is to try new theoretic tools, from the paradigms of the new sociology of technology, which let them analyze the new relational and cultural processes which are being generated in the cultural context of the information global society, as a consequence of the new communication technologies scope. Definitely the authors propose to analyze the meaning of concepts such as “virtual community”, “cyber culture”, or “contacted individualism”, as well as the meaning and extent of some of the new social and individual behaviors which are maintained in the Net society.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Social Visualization Within Virtual Communities

2010 ◽  
pp. 783-801
Author(s):  
Diana Schimke ◽  
Heidrun Stoeger ◽  
Albert Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Visualization Tool ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Actual Effectiveness ◽  
Social Visualization

Participation and system usage is crucial for virtual communities to develop and sustain. However, many communities report very low participation rates of members. Finding and studying strategies for fostering participation in virtual communities is therefore a growing field of research and different approaches for strengthening participation in virtual communities exist – among them social visualization. While many tools for visualizing social interactions have been developed, not much empirical evidence about their actual effectiveness exists. To find out more about the effectiveness of social visualization on the participation rate (number of logins, forum posts, personal messages, and chat posts) the authors conducted an empirical study within CyberMentor – a virtual community for high school girls interested in science and technology. In their sample of N=231 girls the authors did not find a significant difference between the number of logins in the phases before and after the introduction of the visualization tool. The number of forum post, chat posts and personal messages however increased significantly after the incorporation of the visualization tool. Long-term effects were found for one-to-many communication technologies (forum, chat), but not for personal messages (one-to-one)

Virtual Communities and E-Business Management

2011 ◽  
pp. 1163-1168
Author(s):  
Carlos Flavian ◽  
Miguel Guinaliu
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Proper Management ◽  
The Future

As a result of the new possibilities offered by Internet managers are increasing options provided by the new technologies in strategic planning. The virtual community has become one of the more interesting options. The general aim of this article is to explain the concept of virtual community, paying special attention to the most important strategies and management suggestions. Firstly, we will analyze the concept of community from a sociological viewpoint. We then define a virtual community and what causes an individual to belong to one. Secondly, we will show the main strategic implications of the development of virtual communities. Next we will detail a series of recommendations for the proper management of virtual communities. The two final sections present the future trends of research and the main conclusions of the article.

New Technologies, Old Practices: The Conservative Revolution in Communication Between Reporters and News Sources in the Israeli Press

2005 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 552-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zvi Reich
Keyword(s):  
Relative Stability ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
News Sources ◽  
Daily Press ◽  
Conservative Revolution ◽  
Physical Presence ◽  
Before And After

The study explores to what extent new communication technologies have played a revolutionizing role in the ways in which news reporters acquire information. Reporters reconstructed how they used different technologies in order to obtain each of their sampled items, both before and after the introduction of new communication technologies into the Israeli daily press. Changes appear to be minor. Reporters continued to contact sources directly, negotiate their versions orally, and use technologies to replace physical presence at news scenes and face-to-face interviews. This relative stability might reflect the fact that, in the interplay between forces for continuity (represented by the ongoing patterns of newswork) and forces for change (suggested by the new technologies), the role of the former has been dominant.

scholarly journals Public Service Interpreting and Translation: Moving Towards a (Virtual) Community of Practice

2012 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle D’Hayer
Keyword(s):  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Public Service ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Sign Languages ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Virtual Community Of Practice ◽  
Professional Recognition ◽  
Virtual Conference

Following many battles, Public Service Interpreting and Translation (PSIT) is gradually evolving towards professionalisation. Wherever it is practiced, common issues have been identified: defining the profession, providing interpreting services for rare or minority languages, educating stakeholders, moving from training to education, and last but not least interpreting and translation quality. The lack of funding for PSIT courses within the current financial context is forcing stakeholders to work differently. The community of practice model can help PSIT stakeholders share resources and knowledge beyond the traditional boundaries set by courses, schools or countries. New technologies such as virtual conference tools and shared repositories are the essential “missing link” towards the progress of PSIT education. PSIT stakeholders need to join forces and pool efforts towards a constructive and innovative dialogue that would enhance the profession. Some forms of PSIT, such as legal interpreting and translation, have already broken barriers and gained professional recognition. However, PSIT should include all forms of PSIT contexts, including the medical or local government. Finally, once fully defined, PSIT and conference interpreting for spoken and sign languages could finally come together under the Interpreting profession umbrella. This is the achievable ultimate aim when working as communities of practice, small or large, language specific or generic, face to face or virtual.

scholarly journals Sense of Community in Professional Virtual Communities

2011 ◽  
pp. 1805-1820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Blanchard ◽  
David A. Askay ◽  
Katherine A. Frear
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Group Identity ◽  
Employee Performance ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Occupational Commitment ◽  
Group Norms ◽  
Professional Networks ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Essential Component

Sense of virtual community (feelings of identity, belonging, and attachment) is an essential component of virtual communities. In this chapter, we develop a model of how sense of virtual community develops in professional virtual communities. Based on sense of virtual community models in social virtual communities, we expect that the exchange of support, development of a group identity, and group norms will lead to a stronger professional sense of virtual community. Unlike social virtual communities, we also predict that employee/members occupational identification will increase professional sense of virtual community, particularly when the virtual community can provide support and information not available in the employee/member’s face-to-face life. Finally, we propose that increased occupational commitment, professional networks, and employee performance are outcomes of sense of virtual community in professional virtual communities.

Online Virtual Communities as a New Form of Social Relations

2010 ◽  
pp. 435-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Almudena Moreno Mínguez ◽  
Carolina Suárez Hernán
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
New Information ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cyber Culture

The generalization of the new information technologies has favored the transformation of social structures and the way of relating to others. In this changing process, the logic of the social relationships is characterized by the fragility and the temporality of the communicative systems reciprocity which are established “online” in a new cybernetic culture. “Virtual communities” are created in which the interaction systems established by individuals exceed the traditional categories of time and space. In this manner the individuals create online social webs where they connect and disconnect themselves based on their needs or wishes. The new online communication technologies favor the rigid norms of the “solid society” that dilute in flexible referential contexts and reversible in the context of the “global and liquid society” to which the sociologists Bauman or Beck have referred to. Therefore the objective that the authors propose in this chapter is to try new theoretic tools, from the paradigms of the new sociology of technology, which let them analyze the new relational and cultural processes which are being generated in the cultural context of the information global society, as a consequence of the new communication technologies scope. Definitely the authors propose to analyze the meaning of concepts such as “virtual community”, “cyber culture”, or “contacted individualism”, as well as the meaning and extent of some of the new social and individual behaviors which are maintained in the Net society.

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