Do online communities take on real-world values?

14 Comments

Early communities (before we had cities and the like) often had both a male and female dominant figure and then a network reaching below it, eventually including everyone at some part of the structure.

Do digital networks model that structure? Does social networking fit with the tenets of past society? Does is it normal itself reflect that society? Should real world societies have a hierarchy? Should digital societies like is it normal have a hierarchy? What would be the difference and why?

Yes 5
No 10
Maybe 7
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Comments ( 14 )
  • howaminotmyself
    11 years ago

    I like this question. But I don't have an answer for you just yet.

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    • howaminotmyself
      11 years ago

      Most communites, or families, will look towards an alpha to lead them. And healthy ones tend to have both a male and female figurehead to look up to. The bigger the group, the more complicated it becomes. And there will always be challengers to the structure. You can see many examples of this in mythical stories.

      I think it is interesting to place social networks in the same context as family groups and larger societies. This is new and there are no myths to guide us. So I believe it will take some real world values, as that is all we know, and apply them to the internet world. But we are also creating a new type of group as we move forward. A global group with much different boundaries than anything the world has experienced before. But we have to be willing to let go of old patterns that do not suit this new way of being.

      Does IIN fit this new ideal? It's helping to shape it. I guess one could say that social networking is aiding a paradigm shift in what it means to be a community.

      Should there be a heirarchy? It's human nature to create one. As I stated earlier, groups usually choose an alpha to look up to for guidance. Most group animals do this, it is part of what makes them a group. And each member has a role to play.

      I don't think heirarchy should be demanded of IIN, but one will likely form. But maybe we can make it look more like a circle, rather than a pyramid...one can hope.

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      • Anonymous Post Author
        11 years ago

        That's a very interesting answer. I knew you'd come up with something given your field of study.

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        • Riddler
          10 years ago

          Online world is dictated by popularity. Popularity is dictated by different things depending on the website. So each site has a different set of values. On some sites being religious is bad on other not being religious is bad. Some sites are a little more racist, and some people are little more strict about the rules. I think the easiest site to be popular on has to be YouTube.

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        • howaminotmyself
          11 years ago

          Hmmm…you know my field of study? Hopefully I did my professors proud. I'd hate to think all that money went to waste. It's nice to use that knowledge every now and again. Although I think my thoughts were a little scattered. There were a lot of questions to address and I’m not sure if I was very clear. I did find the question very interesting and I'm curious to see what others may think.

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          • Anonymous Post Author
            11 years ago

            Of course I do. Although I'm anonymous right now, I'd be upset to think you and I were anything other than good friends for the past couple of years. :P

            But, oh, the temptation to mess with your head and pretend I'm someone else.

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            • howaminotmyself
              11 years ago

              Oh, don't mess with my head. I might cry, or get even, or some weird combination of the two. My poor brain doesn't function quite like it use to. But you're safe, for now...

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  • bananaface
    11 years ago

    I see no need for hierarchy on a place like IIN, not at all. If 2 people end up becoming the most popular, then fair enough, not much can change that. But to act like they're dominant figures, and that everyone below are mere subjects or something like that is beyond a joke. I would not want to take part in that. I find it quite repulsive actually. People leave comments to posts, they leave their opinion or anecdotes or whatever, that's all. I feel like in real life it's different.

    Although, I do think it does mirror society a bit, in the way any group of people would.:S And yeah, I think some people may be perceived by a few as having "authority" in that their comments and opinions somehow are deemed as more important or valuable than others. Makes sense, I guess, when you compare great users to people who just leave hateful troll messages. I don't like the idea of someone on here having genuine authority or being top of a hierarchy (or bottom). It's weird.

    I'm not sure, I feel like I'm being a bit contradictory here:S. It makes sense in my head, but I can't write it properly. Sorry:P. Edit: as for the title, they definitely take on some real world values. Why wouldn't they?

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