Chapter 4 Discussion Threads, Composing Cyberspace

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1. re: Rheingold and Barlow
2. re: Rheingold, Barlow, and Bruckman
3. re: Barlow and Bruckman
4. re: Barlow and Foster
5. re: Ramo and Forster
6. re: Virtual Community
New Threads for CC Online:
7. re: Rheingold, Barlow, Bruckman and Reid
8. re: Virtual Community and Reid
9. re: Rheingold, Bruckman, Reid, and Hu

re: Rheingold and Barlow
1. How would you compare and contrast Howard Rheingold's and John Perry Barlow's experiences on the WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link)? Based on those experiences, what similar and different conclusions do they draw about virtual community?

re: Rheingold, Barlow, and Bruckman
2. How would you apply the advice offered by Amy Bruckman for designing virtual communities to the actual online experiences described by Howard Rheingold and John Perry Barlow on the WELL? How does the WELL seem to measure up, according to Bruckman's criteria?

re: Barlow and Bruckman
3. How do you think Amy Bruckman would respond to the specific objections that John Perry Barlow raises about virtual community? How do you think arlow might reply to Bruckman? Imagine or construct a dialogue between these two writers in which you explore areas of agreement and disagreement.

re: Barlow and Forster
6] 4. One of John Perry Barlow's primary objections to computer-mediated interaction is that "'the prana is missing,' prana being the Hindu term for both breath and spirit" (¶ 17). Kuno, in E.M. Forster's "The Air-Ship," says that "the Machine is much, but it is not everything. I see something like you in this plate, but I do not see you. I hear something like you through this telephone, but I do not hear you" (¶ 25). Use Barlow's arguments and your own experience to analyze Forster's story as a cautionary tale about virtual community.

re: Ramo and Forster
5. In Joshua Cooper Ramo's article, Sherry Turkle is quoted as saying, "People see the Net as a new metaphor for God" (¶ 29), and William Gibson says, "It seems as though the Net itself has become conscious" (¶ 30). To what extent do you think the citizens of E.M. Forster's "The Air-Ship" see the Machine as Godlike or conscious? Has Vashti "found God on the Web"?

re: Virtual Community
6. According to different views, computer-mediated communication (CMC) tends to pull people apart or to bring them together, or perhaps both. Discussions of the social effects of CMC and virtual community often focus on one or both of these competing tendencies. Address these tensions in your own argument about virtual community or its potential with reference to several selections from this chapter and your own experience.

re: Rheingold, Barlow, Bruckman and Reid
7. Elizabeth Reid suggests that community on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is expressed through the creation of shared significances, mutual support and a respect for subcultural conventions, and several other factors. How would you compare her measures of virtual community with the criteria suggested or implied by Howard Rheingold, John Perry Barlow, or Amy Bruckman?

re: Virtual Community and Reid
8. Elizabeth Reid writes, "The threads holding IRC [Internet Relay Chat] together as a community are made up of shared modes of understanding, and the concepts shared range from the light-hearted and fanciful to the personal and anguished." How does her analysis of the tensions inherent to CMC compare with those of other writers in Chapter 4 (see Discussion Thread 6) How would some of those other writers answer Reid's questions about the potential of virtual community to be democratic or liberating? To what extent do they, and you, agree with Reid that "moral judgement of IRC is fruitless"?

re: Rheingold, Bruckman, Reid, and Hu
9. Based on Elizabeth Reid's study, how might you extend student Yu Ping Hu's analysis of the IRC channel "stuy95"? How would you compare and contrast "stuy95" with the virtual communities with The WELL (as described by Howard Rheingold) or MediaMOO (as described by Amy Bruckman)?