Global Connections Essay -- Research Papers Internet Communication Ess

Global Connections The cyberculture of the World Wide Web has created virtual communities by means of bulletin boards. These bulletin boards give any individual the ability to instantly publish their thoughts and advice on a particular subject to a mass audience. This capability to connect with strangers across the globe, as well as the ability to publish to a mass market without the support of a large publishing house was once impossible. The introduction material to the Future of Print Culture series at Benoit College in February of 1997 stated, â€Å"Before the advent of the internet, writers who were not published by major editing firms had little hope of reaching a mass audience. Now thousands of readers can be reached with the touch of a button.† Today the World Wide Web gives anyone with web access the ability to publish their words and communicate with strangers instantly, as well as globally. New kinds of international communities are created by this new type of communication. These virtual communities are built around groups of people who probably did not know one another before meeting on line. They are often organized around specific interest or affinities; for example car enthusiast, adventure seekers, sports fans, teachers, etc. They are usually inhabited by people who do not live close enough to meet face to face regularly. (Rheingold, Mobil Virtual Community) The technology of the cyberculture has not only created a new type of community but has had an interesting effect on the way people communicate. In her essay The Virtual Driving Forces in the Virtual Society, Magid Igbaria states that, â€Å"Electronic interactions in which people don’t know each other make new kinds of communication p... ... Future of Print Culture, 14-15 February 1997: On-Line. Internet: 16 June 2003. Available WWW: http://www.beloit.edu/~confer/print.html Igbaria, Magid. â€Å"The Virtual Driving Forces in the Virtual Society.† Communications of the ACM, December 1999, Vol. 42, No. 12. Murali, J. â€Å"Weblogs: Instant Publishing.† 29 March 2001: The Hindu On-Line. Internet. 16 June 2003. Available WWW: http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/03/29/stories/082 90001.htm Rheingold, Howard. The Virtual Community, Electronic Version. Internet. 16 June 2003. Available WWW: http://www.rheingold.com/vc/book/1.html. Chapter 1 Sosonoski, James. â€Å"Hyper-readers and their Reading Engines.† Tribble and Trubek. 400-409 Tribble, Evelyn B. and Anne Trubek, eds. Writing Material: Readings from Plato to the Digital Age. New York: Longman, 2003.