Summary: Unspun - Chapter 1 (Community)

Chapter 1 – Community

Community, as the writer of this chapter states, “very well may be the most powerful of the aspirations linked to the World Wide Web.” At first glance, the impersonal feel of the internet may put the user off, but the internet can be viewed as a complex network of friends. She compares the notion of the going to a neighbor’s for cookies to the very-different definition of “cookies” in the World Wide Web. Rather than being innocuous, these internet “cookies” are ways for companies to find out and exploit your personal information. Although some cookies are only utilized to make web-surfing easier for the user, the majority of them are mere ploys to attain money from the user-turned-consumer.

The internet is full of these paradoxes and the whole concept of the internet is contradictory as well. The pioneers and early users were seen as a “grassroots” network, but this initial idea of the internet gave way to the commercialism of the late nineties. These communities are vastly different, from a group of equals to a consumer/producer relationship.

Rheingold defines “virtual communities”, basically, as groups that are formed on public forums frequently enough to warrant a feeling of a personal relationship. The people who form these groups have no alliances to each other (unless on a privatized website) and form emotional bonds with their internet peers. Without these emotions, the concept of a virtual community collapses. It is also important to note the use of the word public. While there is a sense of community, the correspondence in these forums is open to the public, thus making it unlike true personal relationships.

The image and opinion of computers as a whole has changed from an imposing technology to the web that is known today. Through small groups like those who were at Berkeley built and developed new technology to take advantage of the wealth of potential that the internet held. The first “message board” was created to evoke community, but technological problems grounded this effort. The hardware and software had not yet adapted to the mindset of the first internet visionaries. However, this was only to be true for a short time, until “The Well” was developed. This, as well as the concept of “BBS” systems, was born through the connection of computers and modems. This brought the concept of the internet and the computer as a communication tool back to the forefront. While the BBS system was limited in content, The Well was home to a plethora of information and a vast variety of people. This was the first true internet community, in the closest sense of the original definition of a close-knit, emotional community. However, the anonymity of the internet still held true. This anonymity turned out to be a boon, as it concentrated on the ideas of the user and not the bodily characteristics, therefore facilitating dialogue between many different groups. The Well was not the idealistic sounding board like it seemed. Although it was “countercultural” in nature, the administrators of this system still managed to make a profit through cheap membership and promotional free accounts for journalists and people of that ilk.

It is not to say that the concept of these communities were not without their drawbacks. “Hacking” became a problem, making the once-secure message boards into messes. As a result, the internet saw the beginning of surveillance software that allowed the moderators a better handle on their property. The virtual community, unchecked, represented a “grassroots connection” that enhanced and allowed “new opportunities” for person-to-person communication.

In the ensuing years of the seventies and eighties, the average user would come face to face with a not-so-wholesome internet, where the past forms were replaced by dangerous and controversial items like pornography and things like that. For the average parental user, this new internet of profanity, teenage innuendo, and “drivel” made them recoil. It was during this time that the Web was at an all-time low and it did not resemble at all the original idea of community.

The original joys that came with anonymity was soon met with suspicion. The possibility of the dangerous unknown was palpable and the new websites were seen as a “corruption” of “community”. The advent of impersonators and online predators, added to the more violent avatars of the internet world, highlighted the lack of constraints that the internet used. Even the database of “LambdaMOO”, created as a true virtual community, was tainted by the profane and dirty influences of the no-restraint internet. Actions were taken and it was resolved, but it displayed what the internet had become, as opposed to The Well. It seemed like the Id had taken over and all the “baser” human instincts were coming to the forefront through this medium. The press jumped into action, eventually provoking Congress to take matters into its own hands in an effort to rein them in. The Web was no longer used to “transform society” and to change the perspectives and mindsets of the users to a higher plane, but was falling into a trap of pure degradation.

The measures of Congress were later overturned by the Supreme Court because they believed that the Internet should not be put at the same level as a community. The ideals that had fallen to the wayside were too “restrictive” for such a large and “inclusive” medium. Plus, the efforts of Congress to mediate backfired when it was brought to their attention that the measures that they were to take would jeopardize not only the “communication between adults”, but also the spread of commerce online. This would later lead to the e-commerce that had become part of the business world. Also, the whole idea of an internet community was turned around. Rather than utilize it for social means, the focus was put back on marketing and commerce. Hagel and Armstrong referred to it as “Community… converted into capital.” That meant, in addition to web services like AOL, each website had an opportunity to make money through the common thread.

This new thinking of “community” merited three major changes: local communities would use the Web for physical concerns, professionals could utilize the web to increase inter-departmental communication through databases and opinion boards, and a new concept of the individual-as-professional made it possible for technology like Amazon’s “user feedback” feature.

The commerce-driven view of the internet has been frowned upon by purists who believed the internet was still a grassroots movement. Still, the return to community-like dialogues is making a comeback and both commerce and personal efforts are co-existing. There is a person-to-person feeling again, with the advent of MP3s and quick communication between groups starting to make the internet what it was supposed to be. Although it still isn’t like a friendly neighborhood, the authors point out, the feeling of “being a part of something larger” does make its presence known.