Community

According to Wellman (2001), community was once synonymous with densely knit, bounded neighborhood groups. This seems to correspond with Oldenburg's idea of community or "third place." The concept of community now has been expanded, and is seen as "a less bounded social network of relationships that provide sociability support, information, and a sense of belonging" (p. 2031)

Wellman reviews a number of studies and provides a good listing of Internet studies of community, such as the Pew Internet and American Life project. I agree with his critique of the debate on online communities being Manichean. His own study has shown that online communities can complement or extend physical communities.
The general impression I have of the studies he cites and this week's readings is that not enough fine-grained distinctions are being made, from people's behavioral and task standpoints. That is, online communities are still being studied too broadly. What people actually do and why deserves more study and construction of theoretical frameworks.

In closing, a quote from ”The Computer as a Communication
Device” by J.C.R. Licklider and Robert W. Taylor (1968): “life will be happier for the on-line individual because the people with whom one interacts most strongly will be selected more by commonality of interests and goals than by accidents of proximity.”