The internet and online communities

I have chosen gardening from my fieldwork experience to consider online communities. Below are the three online gardening communities I have chosen as examples.
My first online community is Garden Stew the web address for this site is http://www.gardenstew.com/. Here is the information for the Garden Stew site that gives details about the purpose of the community. There is also details of how and what the members can contribute to it. This community has a long history in community online terms, has many members and with posts been added everyday. This tells me that this community is very interactive and well administered.

My next online community is Plant Swap the web address for this site is http://www.plantswap.net/. Here is the information for the Plant Swap site the give details about the purpose of the community. There is also details of how and what the members can contribute. The privacy policy and other legal requirements are also listed. This community has a focus on the swapping of plants which is done at pre arranged plant swap meetings. This are advertised on the site calender, member register and supply name of guests they may wish to bring. The members can also post wish lists which other members can agree to bring to the swap meet.

My last online community is You Grow Girl the web address for this site is http://www.yougrowgirl.com/. Here is the information for the You Grow Girl site that give details about the site and Gayle who is the creator of the site and its main author. I thought long and hard about using this site as it is not very interactive, there is no members and the only way contributions can be made is commenting on Gayle's posts. Gayle did uses the word community on the home page of the site. I did decide to use it as the content is very interesting and the site is very professional with great photos. The main reason is that this site inspires like minded people and has a good size following, going on the amount of comments and likes on face book.

Why do people choose to contribute to these communities. Registering as a member is required for the first two which reflects that those who join are serious about gardening. The members of these communities seem to be mainly experienced gardens who have lot of information to share and a desire to learn more. The 2nd one is interesting, this site gives a reason for members to meet face to face to swap plants so there may be some added social benefits. The last site on which viewer comment regarding the content seems to be about inspiration and even the artistic nature of the content on the site. I read comments mentioning been inspired and other comments around the artistic merits of the gardens, pictures and writing.
All contributor to online communities, according to our online lecture, participate to get back. The contributor expects to gain a response, increased recognition, sense of efficacy & community. Ethical considerations for online communities and in particular these online communities is the need to regulate how the member interact and how the site protects its members and there shared content.

The Garden Stew community have a web page which deals with usage rules and another one detailing its privacy policy. Terms and conditions are also covered.

The Plant Swap site has a page disclosing affiliates and one covering its privacy policy. Informing members and viewers of the affiliations of the site is important for online communities as this brings to light possible conflict of interest and objectives of the administrators of the site. Increase transparency will help members trust the community and encourage membership and contributions.

You Grow Girl does not have pages that deals with these issues, probably because the members to not register and Gayle has total control over the content. She does note when she is receiving something if say a book is purchased through Amazon due to her review. She also is very open about how she chooses the books she reviews.

Online Communities are only accessible to those who have the equipment and the knowledge. There is a term that refers to this, "digital divide", here is the definition. Strangely enough from the digital version of an encyclopedia. " The term digital divide refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. It includes the imbalances in physical access to technology as well as the imbalances in resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital citizen." (Retrieved, 1 May 2012), from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide. It is interesting to note that wikipedia is an online community.

This divide results in occupational deprivation which is a relatively new term that describes a state in which people are precluded from opportunities to engage in occupations of meaning due to factors outside their control. As we face the new millennium, it seems likely that, due to widespread social and economic change as well as increasing civil unrest, occupational deprivation will be experienced by increasing numbers of people globally. (Whiteford, G., 2000, p.200)

The lack of resource due to social and economic change could continue to widen the gap between those who engaging in occupations in the digital world and enrich there realities from accessing information and resources online and those who cannot.

Recent history has shown that social networking been part of online communities are increasing driving social, political and economic changes. Occupational deprivation in this area in the future will increase social divides and isolation for people.