Firstly, it is probably important to consider the question: why do online communities organise themselves? Put simply, there are so many people and so much material on the internet that it is impossible to utilise it all. So how do we make use of the availability of what and who is most useful to us?
Someone I know, who works in nutrition, recently said to me that the fact that the internet has provided a space for all sorts of "thinspire" and "pro-Anna" groups is not actually such a bad thing. He claimed that it provided a space a group of our community, who are often isolated, to feel connected once again. As a result it also provided a space where the problems faced by the individuals were put on the table. The truth and honesty that comes out of such a virtual community may actually assist professionals treating eating disorders to properly understand what they are dealing with.
Attribution-No-Derivatives-By saschaaaAs Terry Flew (2004 p.64) points out the desire to be part of a community is likely to be a direct result of the alienation and individualisation that we have seen as characteristic of modern, industrial, capitalist societies. Perhaps this feeling of isolation and disconnectedness is more common than we would like to admit. Perhaps the ability to become a part of an online community enables us to explore an aspect of ourselves that we wouldn't have otherwise. For example Flickr.com has enabled many people to explore their interest in photography by sharing the experience.
There are all sorts of online communities. Essentially this question is only limited by how we define an online community. In a sense an online community could be anything from a group of people with a shared interest who email each other regularly, say a sporting club who contact each other online, to a highly organised group who interact solely over the internet. An effective online community requires organisation and structure to begin with. From then on participation is the key.
5 comments:
Katherine & Jean think this is a super post. Top marks for the way you use real-life examples (anorexia, sporting groups - nice diversity) to illustrate how & why online communities form.
This post made me SICK!!!! Sorry, the majority of it is good, but the comment about online Anorexic "thinsiration" groups being a good thing is an absolute OUTRAGE. I have suffered from chronic Anorexia for 21 years(since I was 13, I am now 34) and I think these sites are disgusting! One of my major reasons for studying Media and Communications is to find a solution to be able to have these websites shut down. If these websites had have been around when I was 13 I know I would have used them to make myself even sicker than I was and considering I have almost died several times I would probably be dead. I guarentee these sites have contributed to deaths - Anorexia is an insanely complex disorder and HAS to be taken serioiusly!!!! It CANNOT be seen as a "lifestyle choice" as these sites profess - it is a very serious and desperate illness and those girls who call it a lifestyle are very sick. I know this because I am now in the later stages of recovery and I lived in the depths of the illness for 20 years - I look back and see how distorted and irrational my thoughts were when I was in the depths of extreme malnutrition - your brain just doesn't function normally. For a nutritionist to say these sites are good makes my blood boil!! I am the FIRST to tell you how EXTREMELY ISOLATING and LONELY anorexia is, but these sites are NOT the solution!!!! Creating a "community" for anorexics just enocourages the illness - I know that the hundreds of hours I have spent in hospital wards specifically for people with eating disorders made me MUCH WORSE. Since the age of 21 I decided I would never go back to those eating disorder clinics and have been treated in general medical wards for the past 13 years. While neither of these treatment options were adequate, being around other people with eating disorders was actually counterproductive - we never encouraged or talked about how to get better - it was all about how to deceive nurses and doctors and how to lose more wreight. These sites do the same thing for girls not in hospital - they share tricks for deceiving parents and friends about how much they are eating, talk about how much exercise they should be doing and teach each other how to throw up... and BELIEVE ME, when you are that sick you will do ANYTHING to be just that bit thinner - even when you are on death's door. People who suffer from Anorexia are characteristically very high achievers and competitive by nature - communities such as these only encourage competition to be the thinnest and the sickest - something I know I always felt a need to achieve even if it killed me. In addition to Media and Comms I am studying Public Health and it is my BIGGEST goal to set up an Eating Disorders treatment centre here in Brisbane - with a totally new approach from the perspective of someone who knows all the "tricks" and reasons why these girls are so hard to treat. After 20 years of searching for a treatment program which actually HELPED me rather than making me WORSE I know how DESPERATELY NEEDED this is. I have worked with more dieticians/nutritionsts than I could count and admittedly, when you are in the depths of anorexia it is quite pointless to see them..... Anorexics know more about calories and fat etc. than most nutritionsts - it is a TOTAL OBSESSION. When you are THAT driven to lose weight NO advice from a dietician is going to make you eat... The issue is NOT needing to know what to eat - Anorexics know what they SHOULD eat, they are just ABSOLUTELY PETRIFIED to do it - SERIOUSLY, it feels like someone is trying to force you to eat POISON!!!! - THAT is HOW SCARY food feels....... You can tell that nutritionist he can talk to me if he wants to learn more about the illness - PLEASE DON'T encourage girls to KILL themselves just for your educational benefit. I am very, VERY SAD and disheartened to have heard that someone (especially in such a profession as nutrition) could possibly take that attitutude!!!! VERY IGNORANT!!!! MJ
Hey Isha,
Don't worry, I have no problems talking about this issue, I'm very open about it these days and I tend to get a bit carried away with my opinions - it's a protective thing I think, because I HATE thinking about ANYONE ever having to go through what I have been through. I don't view it as insensitivity on your part because I know the illness is very misinterpreted and misunderstood by the general population - even my family can't get their head around it after 21 years! I actually encourage discussions on the topic because one of my big goals is to promote more understanding about it, because too often I hear flippent jokes about it which minimise the seriousness of it as an actual (potentially fatal) illness. Theres a LOT more to it than just wanting to be thin - which is how many people see it. There are complex underlying reasons for this, none of which have anything to do with food. It was really the comment by the nutritionist that perplexed me... coming from a professional working in the field... especially the part about the websites being good because they provide a space for anorexics to connect and become a community - that part I DEFINITELY don't agree with... as I expressed in my original comment, this is more often than not counter-productive as they are sharing tips on getting worse not better. I have been there and the weight loss becomes totally addictive. It has not been the eating disorders programs which have helped me, but rather 1:1 therapy and my phychiatrist (who has been treating people with eating disorders for about 20 years) is just as "ANTI" those websites as I am - she would definately never consider viewing them as an educational tool. Every time someone clicks on to those sites they are encouraging them, whether they intend to or not. The benefits professionals may get from viewing them for educational purposes don't even BEGIN to compare to the dangerous and negative consequences of this illness, which is why I want to have the SHUT DOWN!!!! (Admittedly I'm not sure how I will ever achieve this!)......... Anyway, as usual I am getting carried away and gone off on a tangent again here, since just wanted to tell you I'm cool with it, so no hard feelings at all!!........ Actually I would love to hear some more comments on this so people, post your thoughts!
For the sake of continuity here is the post that I made to mary_jane earlier today...
Hi Mary Jane,
I posted the blog about Anorexic sites in KCB201. Firstly, I would like to apologise for any insensitivity on my part. Hopefully, I can clarify for you the point that I was trying to make.
The person that explained this to me works in health and I believe that he is in the area of eating disorder treatments. His explanation was that they are by no means trying to encourage the use of pro-anna or thinspiration websites.
From what I understand these type of communities have enabled researchers to gain a better understanding of the behaviours and patterns of sufferers of the diseases. There is a hope that this will lead to better support and treatment, a good outcome for members of the community.
Similar approaches have been adopted with other social problems. For example, the internet has been used to identify and prosecute paedophilia rings. What I was trying to say was not that all of these online communities are engaged in positive behaviour but that the existence of such communities can have positive outcomes.
In fact, I truly hope that those researchers and professionals treating eating disorders do utilise these sites to better understand and treat the disorders. I am not suggesting that these sites are necessarily good but that it is possible for good outcomes.
I haven't deleted the posting as it currently forms part of my assessment but please let me know if you'd like me to amend it.
Cheers,
Isha
Hi Isha,
Social networks and online communities constitute the new social change and the diffusion of logic substantially modifies the outcomes in culture, power, experiences and production processes (Castells in Flew 2005, 27). The rise of the networked society has produced a global and informational new economic and technological framework (Castells in Flew 2005, 27). The origins of the networked society rest in the diffusion of ICTS and the consequences affecting development of geographical regions, daily life, work trends, politics and social identity (Flew 2005, 27). The networked society is significant because it draws attention to the relationships between individuals and groups which are deeply embedded in cultural norms.
Online communities allow individuals to express themselves though participations and identify what information is out there in our economy. Flew (2004, 62) states online communities are based upon core principles of an inclusive, convivial and supportive culture. He also adds online networks allow new forms of community to develop which are based on educational learning, democratic citizenship, community-based wellness, economic equity, opportunities, sustainability, freedom of information and participatory media (Flew 2004, 65).
Social networking web sites have emerged as a communication element for young adults in the 21st century. MySpace and Facebook are two leading popular social networking sites which offer interactive services to its users. MySpace is one of the most popular social networking web site in the world, offering blogs, personal profiles, network of friends, photos, music and videos.
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