Hello. :-) My thesis was actually about virtual communities in social networks. The idea was to explore how communities would appear in social networks, but not considering communities just an structure (as part of literature does) but also as a group of people with strong ties and social capital ( Rheingold's concept and sociological concepts). The original point was to track the structure of a cluster in the network of a social network site (in the end I just analyzed Fotolog, but I started with weblogs and Orkut as well) through reciprocal social interaction within the users (comments in fotologs and weblogs and scraps in Orkut). Then, after observing the network structure and identifying the nodes in the cluster and their ties, I analyzed the comments contempt (interaction, social ties and social capital) and afterwards, the cluster structure within time (dynamics). Well, there is a lot to talk about that but the conclusions were, basically: - it is possibile to find at least 2 types of clusters in fotologs: One is created through interaction between users and represent a type of community very close to sociological concepts of VC. Those usually have strong ties and also strong social capital within users. The second one is created through association and is not related to social interaction at all. - Most of the interaction-centered clusters are strongly related to geographic spaces and language; - Users recognize these nodes as their "group of friends" most of the time. So, I think virtual communities are a part of social networks as you said. But I also think there is a very important difference between the community (the users and their ties) and the space (or system) where they share these interactions. Orkut, for example, is *not* a virtual community but it can help people create one. Most of the "communities" in Orkut, for example, have no interaction between users at all, only spam. People join these communities as a statement (an addition to their profile, for example, to show likes and dislikes). So are those *real* communities? In my opinion, a VC is basically a group of people so, orkut communities may help them appear, but they are not a VC just because they exist. []s Raquel

Raquel, I would also like to read more. Could you provide reference information for your thesis? Thanks, Heather Coates MLS & MS Health Informatics student Indiana University at Indianapolis On 9/14/07, richard.ling@telenor.com <richard.ling@telenor.com> wrote:

Hi,

This is interesting stuff. Is it possible to get a copy of your work?

Rich Ling

-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Raquel Recuero Sent: 14. september 2007 14:45 To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] Interrelations of "Virtual Communities" and"Social Networks"

Hello. :-)

My thesis was actually about virtual communities in social networks. The

idea was to explore how communities would appear in social networks, but

not considering communities just an structure (as part of literature does) but also as a group of people with strong ties and social capital ( Rheingold's concept and sociological concepts).

The original point was to track the structure of a cluster in the network of a social network site (in the end I just analyzed Fotolog, but I started with weblogs and Orkut as well) through reciprocal social interaction within the users (comments in fotologs and weblogs and scraps in Orkut). Then, after observing the network structure and identifying the nodes in the cluster and their ties, I analyzed the comments contempt (interaction, social ties and social capital) and afterwards, the cluster structure within time (dynamics).

Well, there is a lot to talk about that but the conclusions were, basically: - it is possibile to find at least 2 types of clusters in fotologs: One is created through interaction between users and represent a type of community very close to sociological concepts of VC. Those usually have strong ties and also strong social capital within users. The second one is created through association and is not related to social interaction at all. - Most of the interaction-centered clusters are strongly related to geographic spaces and language; - Users recognize these nodes as their "group of friends" most of the time.

So, I think virtual communities are a part of social networks as you said. But I also think there is a very important difference between the community (the users and their ties) and the space (or system) where they share these interactions. Orkut, for example, is *not* a virtual community but it can help people create one. Most of the "communities"

in Orkut, for example, have no interaction between users at all, only spam. People join these communities as a statement (an addition to their

profile, for example, to show likes and dislikes). So are those *real* communities? In my opinion, a VC is basically a group of people so, orkut communities may help them appear, but they are not a VC just because they exist.

[]s Raquel

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-- "I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it." Vincent Van Gogh

Raquel: Do you know where to look for conferences regarding Digital Divide or Community Informatics in Brazil? Your neighbour Cristian Berrío Zapata Colombia -----Mensaje original----- De: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] En nombre de Raquel Recuero Enviado el: viernes, 14 de septiembre de 2007 11:25 a.m. Para: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Asunto: Re: [Air-L] Interrelations of "Virtual Communities"and"Social Networks" Hello :-) Unfortunately, my thesis is in portuguese, since I'm Brazilian (but if anyone can understand portuguese, I'll be happy to send it). But I'll be presenting part of the study at the AIR Congress in Vancouver (and in english!). I'm finishing the translation of the paper and soon it will be on the congress website. :) []s Raquel Heather wrote:

Raquel,

I would also like to read more. Could you provide reference information for your thesis?

Thanks, Heather Coates MLS & MS Health Informatics student Indiana University at Indianapolis

On 9/14/07, richard.ling@telenor.com <richard.ling@telenor.com> wrote:

...

Hi,

This is interesting stuff. Is it possible to get a copy of your work?

Rich Ling

-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Raquel Recuero Sent: 14. september 2007 14:45 To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] Interrelations of "Virtual Communities" and"Social Networks"

Hello. :-)

My thesis was actually about virtual communities in social networks. The

idea was to explore how communities would appear in social networks, but

not considering communities just an structure (as part of literature does) but also as a group of people with strong ties and social capital ( Rheingold's concept and sociological concepts).

The original point was to track the structure of a cluster in the network of a social network site (in the end I just analyzed Fotolog, but I started with weblogs and Orkut as well) through reciprocal social interaction within the users (comments in fotologs and weblogs and scraps in Orkut). Then, after observing the network structure and identifying the nodes in the cluster and their ties, I analyzed the comments contempt (interaction, social ties and social capital) and afterwards, the cluster structure within time (dynamics).

Well, there is a lot to talk about that but the conclusions were, basically: - it is possibile to find at least 2 types of clusters in fotologs: One is created through interaction between users and represent a type of community very close to sociological concepts of VC. Those usually have strong ties and also strong social capital within users. The second one is created through association and is not related to social interaction at all. - Most of the interaction-centered clusters are strongly related to geographic spaces and language; - Users recognize these nodes as their "group of friends" most of the time.

So, I think virtual communities are a part of social networks as you said. But I also think there is a very important difference between the community (the users and their ties) and the space (or system) where they share these interactions. Orkut, for example, is *not* a virtual community but it can help people create one. Most of the "communities"

in Orkut, for example, have no interaction between users at all, only spam. People join these communities as a statement (an addition to their

profile, for example, to show likes and dislikes). So are those *real* communities? In my opinion, a VC is basically a group of people so, orkut communities may help them appear, but they are not a VC just because they exist.

[]s Raquel

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Thanks everyone for your opinions. I've come to the following "working definition": using Ervin Goffmans frame-analysis concepts we can (?) say, that "social network services" are material basis of the frame of "network communities" and "virtual community" is it's symbolic basis. Best wishes, Alexander Semenov.

Jose Abdelnour-Nocera schrieb:

Hello:

I think that this comparison is similar to that of VCs and 'Networked Communities', a term that has been there long before 'social networks'.

My perception of this is that we should not confuse tehcnological platforms with the social affordances of technology. Because of this, 'old' technology used to support VCs will continue to exist insofar as it helps fulfill the expressive and normative objectives of those communities.

José

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for me there are different forms of social activity on the net: on the one hand more cognitive forms, which is more a durkheimian idea of the social as all-present social structures. communicative forms that can be explained by weber's and habermas' notion of the social. communication can result in emotional ties, but must not necessarily. if it does, then i think the notion of the social as community (as in the sense of tönnies' concept of community or marx's concept of co-operation) is present. i would argue for conceiving the internet as evolutionary model of different forms of the social, the social evolves on the net, it takes on different forms and there is no automatism for the transition from one level to another. what troubles me is that people talk about e.g. "social software" without developing concise theoretical notions of what exactly sociality means in this term and how it can be grounded in the tradition of social theory. the notion of network can in my opinion either refer to building links, i.e. to the communication network. then not each online communication forms a social network that exists at least temporaly, but not each social network is a community, but has a potential to transform into a community... christian -- _____________________________ Univ.Ass. Dr. Christian Fuchs Assistant Professor for Internet and Society ICT&S Center - Advanced Studies and Research in Information and Communication Technologies & Society http://www.icts.uni-salzburg.at University of Salzburg Sigmund Haffner Gasse 18 5020 Salzburg Austria christian.fuchs@sbg.ac.at Phone +43 662 8044 4823 Fax +43 662 6389 4800 Information-Society-Technology: http://fuchs.icts.sbg.ac.at http://www.icts.uni-salzburg.at/fuchs/ Managing Editor of tripleC - peer reviewed open access online journal for the foundations of information science: http://triplec.uti.at