Internet and Online Communities

1139 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: A research on the history and development of the internet

Internet and Online Communities

The internet was designed initially by the department of defense for their own purposes. But now it has evolved into a complex network not limited to some specific area or region but extending over every part of earth. The Internet now is a form of communication to us. It has become not only a source of information and technology, but it also now houses other different kinds of things. e.g. communities(something we are going to discuss in this paper), educational institutions, online classes etc. In this paper we will look at different aspects of this technology (internet) and analyze some of its impact on our society. In particular we shall see how media interprets the internet and its services. We will compare the article by Howard Rheingold The Heart of the Well to Ourtown.net by Jill Harrington, an article appearing in the Access section of Daily News about online communities. Howard Rheingold in The Heart of the Well and Jill Herrington in Ourtown.net both agree that online communities have become an essential part of our lives today. The article called The Heart of the Well by Rheingold talks about the WELL (Whole Earth Lectronic Link) an online community started in California. In the article he talks about the Well being a center of all kinds of people: parents, professionals, doctors, nurses and others. In the article the author cites a particularly interesting line from Ray Oldenburgs work The Great Good Place. In it Oldenburg affirms that there are three essential places in our lives: the place we live, the place we work and the place we gather for conviviality.

Rheingold in his article argues that internet and online communities have become not only a kind of convivial place wher...

... middle of paper ...

...h is revolutionizing our lives and may prove to be even more successful and efficient for us in the future. Internet is basically a tool in our society. Internet supplies us with a vast number of facilities like online communities and a whole lot of other things. Most of us use internet for one reason or another. For example, I as a student use internet to find information on various kinds of topics ranging from Hitler to NASA. By the same token internet can be useful to virtually everyone in our society. Thus, internet is increasingly becoming part of our lives and it has certainly becoming one of the places where can hang around for conviviality.

Works Cited

Rheingold, Howard. The Heart of the WELL. Composing Cyberspace. Ed. Richard Holeton. San Francisco: McGraw Hill, 1998, 171-180.

Harrington, Jill. Ourtown.net. Access Daily News 25 Feb. 2001: 8-10

Show More
Related

  • My Antonia

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story begins with Jim Burden being separated from his family after their deaths. Since he loses his parents, he must travel to Nebraska to live with his grandparents, a journey that he set out on with one of the farm “hands” of his father. This journey to Nebraska offers for Jim a new and different life. Jim’s forced separations “orphaned and expelled from the East by his relatives, feels the same sense of having ‘left behind’ forever the things and people that matter to him” (Holmes); a loss from what he knew and where he grew up, leaving behind everything, even his parents’ spirits. He expresses his journey as setting out to “try our fortunes in a new world” (Cather, 49). Jim knows that there is a separation all around him especially the separation from his coach car to the immigrant car, where Antonia and her family are traveling in: “their initial separation is a durable dividing line that foresh...

    Read More

  • Globalization: The Case for Contamination an Article by Kwame Appiah

    1315 Words  | 3 Pages

    Okpych, : Nathanael. "Policy Framework Supporting Youth Aging-out of Foster Care through College."Children Youth Service Review (2012): n. pag. Science Direct. Web.

    Read More

  • Haiti: Earthquake, Aftermath and Condition

    2033 Words  | 5 Pages

    Rodgers, L. (2013, January 11). Haiti quake: Why isn't aid money going to haitians?. BBC News. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-americar

    Read More

  • Haiti Case Study

    1510 Words  | 4 Pages

    The media in the United Sates is accustomed to portraying Haiti as a failed state without referring to the external influences of other countries on Haiti’s problems including the 1915 to 1934 occupation of Haiti by the United States. Haiti has suffered at the hands of numerous dictators who have robbed the country of its resources, but little is said of the U.S support of some of the dictatorial regimes that have ruled over Haiti and plundered its resources (Maus, 2015). The natural disasters that have wrought havoc in Haiti in the form of hurricanes and floods are solely blamed on Haitians who have decided to destroy their land using destructive agricultural methods. Little is said of the destruction of Haiti’s natural landscape

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Privatizing The Foster Care System

    1236 Words  | 3 Pages

    The foster system intends to place children in homes where they will remain until they can find permanent residence with an adoptive family. Sadly, this is often not the case with children placed privatized homes and they end up bouncing from home to home until they eventually age out of the system forced to enter into adulthood with no permanent family ties. Over the past decade the number of teenagers aging out of the system without a permanent family has risen from 19,000 to 23,000 per year. These teenages enter into the world without emotional, relational, or financial support and therefore possess a greater risk of poverty as well as low academic achievement. This causes many of these teenagers to rely on government benefits during their adult lives which places a heavier burden on taxpayers. The National Council for Adoption reported that the 29,000 teenagers that aged out of the system in 2007 will cost over one billion dollars per year in public assistance and support. These teenagers who age out are also found to be at greater risk of concerning behaviors, such as: creating disciplinary problems in school, dropping out of school, becoming unemployed and homeless, becoming teenage parents, abusing alcohol and drugs, and committing crimes. The privatized system does not have the best interest of the children in mind and

    Read More

  • Smoking Bans

    1478 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Edmonton considers expanding outdoor smoking ban." Canadian Broadcasting Corporation [CBC] 13 June 2011. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 24 June 2011.

    Read More

  • Foster Care Challenges

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    Moving into adulthood comes with its challenges for any teen. Of the 300,000 youth in foster care, the 25,000 currently facing transition experience even more challenges. Most youth leaving the foster care system do not receive enough support to succeed while living independently. Youth that have been placed in the foster care system are more likely to be imprisoned, unemployed, and uneducated. Together, those three things often lead to homelessness. These kids are thrown into a system that they do not understand, leaving them unprepared for the challenges that adult life includes. The issue is whether or not the foster care system provides a sufficient transitional living program for youths that are beginning to age out of the system (Courtney).

    Read More

  • Children In Foster Care

    1622 Words  | 4 Pages

    Foster care has become an important topic to researchers today. Studies by various sources like Children and Youth Services Review, Child Welfare, Child Abuse and Neglect, Pediatrics, Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, and Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, show that foster children are more likely to fail out of high school and end up in jail than non-foster children. The researchers say that the majority of foster kids are not prepared for the world after foster care. Researchers point out that children outside of the foster care system have their parents for housing, money, and overall care, well past their 18th birthday. Foster children on the other hand, are dropped by the system and left to fend for themselves

    Read More

  • The Affordable Care Act (ACA)

    1553 Words  | 4 Pages

    Young adults who are over the age of 18 that have not signed up for Medicaid can also immediately enroll if they were part of the foster care system. This establishment is anticipated to provide adolescents and young adults insurance without any setbacks until they are age 26 because youths that have not been placed in foster care are able to stay on his parent’s health insurance until the age of 26. Foster care youths should be given the same rights as children that were not placed in foster care.

    Read More

  • The Foster Care System

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    Each year, six hundred and fifty thousand children in the United States spend time in foster care (Children’s Rights “Adoptions” 1). But most people do not know that because most people are among the other seventy three million, two hundred and ninety one thousand, eight hundred and forty eight people who live in stable homes. The majority of the population does not know the faults of the foster care system, because most have not lived it. In the mid nineteenth century, the foster care system was established. Since then, there have been many developments to the system, and today it is imperfect and inadequate. All across the United States, the foster care system needs to be reformed and now is the perfect time because there is a growing number

    Read More

  • Easy Access For Children on Pornography Sites

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Finding One's Own in Cyberspace." Composing Cyberspace. Richard Holeton. United States: McGraw-Hill, 1998. 171-178. SafeSurf. Press Release.

    Read More

  • Why Should Smoking Be Banned

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    Could you imagine a world without secondhand smoke, harmful effects to the environment, and a world that is more supportive of quitting smoking? As impossible as it seems, it’s actually not as far out of our grasp as you may think. Over the course of this paper I will be arguing for smoking to be completely banned in public places because of the numerous health concerns as well as environmental hazards. To smokers this may seem as an attack on their freedoms. By banning public smoking we are removing their freedoms so to speak. The point isn’t to remove freedoms from anyone, but to avoid imposing our choices, such as how we handle our health, on others. Smoking is a serious health risk for smokers and non-smokers alike. While it is unrealistic for smoking to be completely banned anytime soon, I don’t think banning smoking in public is out of our reach. It isn’t legal for people to go around killing each other, so why should smokers be able to affect non-smokers with secondhand smoke, which has the same effect? While comparing smoking to murder may seem a bit extreme, I believe it helps emphasize just how bad secondhand smoke and smoking in general really is. Smoking should be banned in public because of secondhand smoke, environmental damage, and it would influence people to stop smoking.

    Read More

  • Online Dating

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    Technology nowadays has an influence on our lives, it has affected everything in it. When this technological revolution started, we didn't expect that it would affect our emotions, and our feelings. All we expected is that technology would develop our ability to have easier life and control nature. But what really happened is that the technology started to be part of us that we can't live without. The Internet is one of the technologies that appeared in our lives, and now it is dominating our lives.

    Read More

  • Essay: Coping with Technological Change

    1452 Words  | 3 Pages

    Change has always been for the better, but when it comes to change in technology; it’s not necessary that the change is going to be good. Technology has been advancing rapidly and is given more importance now than ever before. Every day, technology enhances our modern lifestyle. Although electronics allow us to connect and communicate our ideas with people, they also brainwash us into spending more time using our devices rather than spending quality time with friends and family. It may be hard to believe, but statics show us that almost sixty percent of teens that were surveyed said that they had a slight addiction to the internet and more than forty percent of teens are addicted to their phones. There is no doubt that the internet is very useful, keeping in mind all of its benefits, however its advantages are not the only things we need to focus on. Some of the negative effects internet is leading to are harming us online and in reality. The internet is negatively affecting major parts of our lives, such as affecting us online and in reality, internet becoming an addiction and lastly its negative effect on our culture and religion.

    Read More

  • The Impact of The Internet in Your Daily Life

    2351 Words  | 5 Pages

    Internet as part of the history is the most important invention around the world which connects people thru phones, satellites and cables. People all over the world have access to it as it is everyday usage, and internet becomes globally real and in demand. To mention here, the usage for permits technically for travelling or getting tickets are electronically through internet, paying bills, shopping thru nets without going out (just browsing), playing games, and mostly the merit of possibly downloading music and movies in no time (just a click).

    Read More

More about Internet and Online Communities

Open Document