If you are having trouble filling out the online form for your report, you may respond to the following requests using a word processor and then send the final product to the professor ([email protected]). NOTE: If you feel you must use this option, please contact the professor first.
1. Describe why people are members of the site (250 words)
Give both official and unofficial answers.
2. Describe how social order is maintained on the site (250 words)
Is user behavior on the site monitored in any way? What forms of control is provided by the site itself? What forms of control do the members exercise?
3. Describe the content of communication on the site (250 words)
Are people focused primarily on the overt reason for the site’s existence? Have users developed a jargon or vernacular language for the site that they consider distinctive?
4. Describe the structure of communication on the site (250 words)
Do people engage in back-and-forth conversations? Or do they have some other form of communication, such as reblogging or commenting?
5. Determine if the site can be considered a community (500 words)
Using your understanding of the concept of community as defined by Tonnies and modified by Anderson and Rheingold, give your determination of whether the site is a community.