A community that I am active in is the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) community.
Caroline Haythornthwaite articulates on Tonnies idea of community. She defines Gemeinschaft as community and Gesellschaft as society. More specifically, Gemeinschafc are all the nuances and subtleties that define a community. These can include strong interpersonal ties, face-to-face interaction, a shared focus and common purpose, language and identity. This is characteristic of perhaps a small village. By contrast, Gesellschafl describes all that we associate with a failed community. This can mean people living near each other yet not connected by any interpersonal commitment, lacking any connective purpose or concern with nearby surroundings. This is probably more relevant in large bustling city-type environment.
My commitment to GMS reflects the Gemeinchafc community in that most GMS scholars have built a strong CMC relationship guided by academics, hobbies and interests. Many of us belong to the GMS facebook group, but far more of us know each other through GMS forums on the site itself. It is here we post questions of all sorts, ranging from global issues to leadership. Being part of this community is constantly motivating and inspiring.
This is a picture of the tabs on our homepage that push for this Gemeinchafc community:
Haythornwaite further looks at social communities and uses Social Network Analysis to determine what is exchanged, communicated, and shared within a community. Most GMS members form a “web of affect-laden relationships that criss-cross and reinforce one another” (Etzioni & Etzioni)- this is what defines any community. Our “affect-laden relationships” have transitioned us from being academic buddies, to online friends to best friends. We are always in this constant cycle of exchanging, communicating and sharing that further bolsters our GMS community.
Haythornwaite further elaborates on the different kinds of social capital, including networking, common ground, and reciprocity. We have a strong social network mediated by the computer. We know each others interests and based on that, if we come across something of interest to someone else, that person should prepare to have their mail-boxes flooded. Also, through video chat and photos people tag of us, we are able to keep track of the GMS member’s life outside the GMS circle.
What forms our common group is this GMS identity. We are all GMS scholars, and so this is our uniting factor. Reciprocity is defined as being an ongoing relationship where neither party expects anything in return. We are always informing each other of new updates on the GMS site, learning of the new perks for GMS members, and pretty much anything else, from help in a subject, to help in personal issues. Literally, I describe the GMS circle as an online family.
I completely agree to what Etzioni & Etzioni said regarding how the CMC and FtF modes of communication form stronger networks. At first, I only knew GMS members through the CMC environment. Afterwards, we were flown into D.C. It was here, that GMS members met and were able to talk face to face. Something about face to face interaction puts things into perspective. Before FtF interaction my conversation with the GMS member can be likened to a mere chat with a robot. After I met these GMS members in D.C., we formed strong ties. Since then I have visited universities just to meet my GMS friends. It’s interesting to note that the limiting CMC conversation I had with Kim, is now not so limiting- she has probably become one of my closest friends. The GMC circle is a perfect example of Gemeinschafc- a community of closeness.
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It’s actually really interesting to see you describe GMS community, because I don’t often hear about communities based around a scholarship. In this day and in age, information is most definitely important social capital, and you are absolutely right when you describe “something of interest to someone else” as such. Also, I’m not surprised that GM scholars contact each other online, since they are probably displaced far and wide geographically, but the fact that they visit each other in their respective schools implies that the ties between the members of the community are very strong indeed. Not only would that increase the intersection frequency between the GM scholars, but the fact that they are willing to make what may be a very long and expensive trip indicates that the ties between them are not weak ties but strong ones.
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