community and context: how physical and virtual communities influence individual identity

7/30/2019 Community and Context: How Physical and Virtual Communities Influence Individual Identity

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Community and Context:

How Physical and Virtual Communities Influence Individual Identity

Assignment No. 2

by

Senthil Sukumar

Group No. G17

Academic Writing

CORE 006, T2 AY 09-10

I declare that this Assignment is my original work and all information obtained from other

sources has been cited accordingly.

_______________________

Signature and Date

Course Instructor: Elizabeth Rankin


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A physical community refers to the real world interaction of various individuals who share a

common history and a common location. The virtual communities of the Internet turn this

concept on its head by removing both shared history and location, yet in a metaphysical manner,

keep the element of interaction intact. Interestingly, even without some of the defining aspects of

physical community, both the rate at which new virtual communities are being created and the

number of individuals who engage in them continue to increase exponentially.

In his article The Heart of the WELL, Howard Rheingold (1993) discusses how virtual

communities such as the Whole Earth Lectronic Link (WELL) can provide fellowship, comfort

and the means through which online intention is transformed into real-world action. However,

John Perry Barlow (1995), a formerly active member of the WELL community, makes a fair

case for the inadequacy of virtual communities in his articleIs There a There in Cyberspace?

Although both articles illustrate the ability of virtual communities to provide a positive

atmosphere of communal support and comfort through stirring examples of personal crises,

Barlow (1995) argues that virtual communities lack many aspects of communal living that are an

intrinsic part of physical communities. The virtual community, while a legitimate source for

support and solace, will never be able to supplant the physical community in shaping an

individuals identity due to the convenient mobility and disembodied nature of cyberspace.

Identity can be defined as the set of behavioural and personal characteristics by which an

individual is most closely recognized as a member of a particular group whose members share

those same characteristics. However, there is a clear distinction between offline and online

identity. Some elements of who a person is are certainly more important than others, and the

ability to selectively promote or obfuscate some of these elements online means that when

translated to the virtual communities of the Internet, identity becomes a pliable and inaccurate

representation of actual personality; an imitation that is best described as a virtual identity.


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virtual relationships, only to realize the incompatibilities of their identities when face-to-face.

The opposite can also be true. Rheingold (1993) cites a suitable instance of this type of failure to

communicate personality when he met fellow WELL resident Albert Mitchell in real life for the

first time. Although their online exchanges had been verbally brutal, and the chances of physical

fistfights negated only because of the geographical distance between the two men, in real life

they got along amiably; their online tussles were merely a product of the impersonal medium that

is the Internet. Were the situation reversed, with the two men meeting in real life first and

exchanging verbal blows over differences of opinion, no one would ever expect them to later log

onto the WELL and become fast friends. The difference between Rheingolds online and offline

interactions with Albert, although told as a healthy anecdote, is a fitting example of just how

misleading cyberspace can be in communicating actual personality. Like a pendulum that swings

on a fixed axis, an individuals actual identity is compatible only with personalities that fall

within its ambit. Virtual communities rarely influence an individuals actual identity sufficiently

for it to swing beyond its fixed axis to accommodate an incongruous personality.

To further understand why virtual communities have little effect in shaping actual identity,

we need to know why individuals seek out virtual communities. Like the Deadheads, people

search for an online community in a bid for the companionship and acceptance that comes with

an atmosphere of commonality. Individuals do not seek out virtual communities hoping to alter

their identities, but rather to find acceptance among peers; and to achieve this they select the

virtual community that best fits their existing worldview. In this respect, virtual communities are

altogether different constructs from physical communities. People dont normally have the

luxury of moving between physical communities as efficaciously as the metaphysical residents

of virtual communities are able to, and so the character of a physical community is determined

by the diversity of its residents; the individuals who involuntarily invest spiritual, material and


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temporal resources towards the edification of their homes (Barlow, 1995, p. 167). However in a

virtual community, the environment is first built to cater to individuals with a specific

worldview, the idea being that the reciprocal nature of that community will then draw in the

corresponding type of virtual inhabitant. These pre-planned and controlled environments restrict

the real world conflicts that naturally accompany human interaction and are intrinsic to identity

formation. As a result, the character of the constructed community is severely limited, and there

is little room for unbiased nurturing of the already established identity.

In addition, the abundance of alternative virtual communities means that when an

individuals adoptive virtual community no longer suits the sensibilities, that person can

effortlessly move to another virtual community. The availability of accessible alternatives makes

it almost impossible for virtual communities to create a rooted and long-lasting society, which is

essential to the formation and preservation of any community (Barlow, 1995, 167). However, the

convenience and accessibility of virtual communities is one area where physical communities

trail behind. Virtual communities are not affected by the same economic forces that till today

continue to draw people away from their physical communities and towards the suburbs (Barlow,

1995, p. 166), and are thus able to sufficiently imitate physical communities by providing a

medium through which the same quantity (but not quality) of discourse and social engagement

can be carried out. Although Rheingold (1993) asserts that these virtual communities are places

of conviviality where the aspects of community that are being lost to the forces of production

could potentially be regained (p. 157), the pliable nature of the virtual identity, coupled with the

generous freedom of movement afforded by cyberspace does little to inspire confidence in the

ability of virtual communities to properly recreate the communal spirit.

In his article, Barlow (1995) mentions another element as being a key characteristic of the

physical community: shared adversity (p. 167). Both Rheingold (1993) and Barlow (1995) agree


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that in times of adversity, virtual communities can be a source of immense comfort and support.

The common experience of death is a hardship shared by every person, regardless of affiliation,

and virtual communities provide a mesh of round-the-clock support that can ease the burden of

loss. However, we must realize that the adversity of death is common to all, and that the

indispensible support of community in times of grief can be found both online and offline. The

highly networked nature of virtual communities does not mean that physical communities are

any less capable of providing solace for the grieving heart. Instead, what virtual communities do

offer is a medium for the expression and amelioration of emotional pain. Sometimes, putting

feelings into writing behind the semi-private veil of cyberspace is simply easier than saying the

words out loud.

Another advantage that virtual communities have over their physical counterparts is speed,

and their ability to disseminate information quickly and synchronously over vast geographical

distances is unmatched by any physical community past or present. Rheingold (1993) mentions

how in 1992, the WELL community had mobilised to effect a rescue plan for Elly van der Pas, a

former member of their virtual community who had moved to the Himalayas and became a

Buddhist nun, and who not long after succumbed to liver failure (pp. 160-163). Within days,

members of the WELL community had managed to leverage their online networks to get the

right contacts, proper equipment, and sufficient funds to save Elly, and they were rewarded for

their expansive efforts. This powerful example of human compassion casts no doubt on the

virtues of virtual communities and the extraordinary possibilities they can engender. But on the

issue of identity, the case of Elly serves to highlight the real manner in which the individual

identity is influenced: through physical experience and human interaction. It was the real-world

exposure to a new physical community at the Buddhist monastery in the Himalayas that had

compelled Elly to devote herself to a new religion and a completely different mode of existence


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from the one she was used to, and in doing so, she had fundamentally reshaped her identity. The

virtual community of the WELL had only played the minor role of facilitating the maintenance

of her ties with her former commune.

Even as we lament the erosion of physical communities, we have to accept the fact that

virtual communities can never truly replace them. They lack a certain quality present in physical

communities that Barlow (1995) describes as prna, the Hindu term for breath and spirit (p.

166), and thisprnais deficient in virtual communities due to their fundamental reliance on the

virtual identity, itself an inadequate and misleading representation of actual identity. However,

for all their shortcomings, it is undeniable that the virtual communities of cyberspace are havens

wherein the support of community thrives even as physical communities continue to deteriorate,

and like most things in life, they should not be subjected to the uncompromising classifications

of moral absolutism. Ultimately, the virtues of physical and virtual communities in influencing

individual identity simply lie along different paths. The physical community shapes and nurtures

identity, while the virtual community serves only to augment it.

References

1. Barlow, J. P. (1995). Is There a There in Cyberspace?Utne Reader, pp. 164-169.

2. Rheingold, H. (1993). The Heart of the WELL.In H. Rheingold, The Virtual Community (pp. 151-163). Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.

community and context: how physical and virtual communities influence individual identity

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