Editor's Note: Christine Perey writes frequently about communications, networks, and new media.
January 1, 1996 Placerville, California
New Year's Day is a perfect occasion to measure a country's pulse -- however one does that: talking with neighbors, listening to acquaintances, reading newspapers. I've been hearing, reading reports and, most recently a book [1], highlighting what television and computers threaten to do/have done to community and traditionally paper-based forms of communications. I don't know about others, but I detect a slight distrust of electronic communities and communications, and especially suspicion of electronically-mediated relationships. Distrust of their sincerity, of their merit and their depth.
In my life, there is room for cyber- as well as physically-based communities. I enjoy both. To the people I can touch -- those I pass on the sidewalk near the bell tower, the cashier in the grocery store and my children's teachers -- I appear (and am) real. It's reassuring. But, in fact, I know little about them and they know even less about me. And, what's more 99% of these people with whom I share a section of the earth probably mean less to me than the very, large cohesive web of wonderful people I commune with electronically.
There are as many variations on community as there combinations of people, because people are the very essence of community. In my definition of Virtual Community, members can not, in fact really touch, (hug or hit), smell or -- dare I say it -- taste one another, but they hear and see others and in most ways can have Real Time interactions: drink a cup of coffee or wine, share a meal (IBM has virtual dinning rooms), answer or ignore the telephone or other common interruptions, even share a good book. I'm talking about real time audio and video: desktop computer-mediated videoconferencing.
There is a great deal of balance in electronically-mediated communities. Whatever our spiritual underpinnings, I think most "normal" people understand the principles of balance and moderation [the keys not only to good living but to peace and harmony.] If we allow ourselves to explore them further, there is time for store-and-forward interactions, and time for real time energy. For me there is even a balance fostered by seeing and hearing people very far away. I'm not referring to Virtual Workgroups, which I think we understand as professional in origin and outputs, and where videoconferencing is an increasingly accepted means to an end.
I believe the scope of my pondering and the revolutionary impact of desktop videoconferencing is primarily at the community "neighborhood" or civic level. One hundred years ago, families were very closely knit, people didn't move around much. The trials and tribulations, and triumphs of our community were very rich sources of information and entertainment. The neighborhood I grew up in 30 years ago was very different than the one I'm raising my family in today. As a child in suburbia we could see when our neighbors' cars came and left, but, now, with 2 to 5 acres each in a forested landscape, sitting out on top of a ridge, the "place" does not betray the actual density of people or what they are doing, thinking, or anything!
I think I share with my neighbors a sense of place: are communities viable without a defined space? Do virtual communities have a similar sense of place?
I think kindred spirits form a much stronger basis for community and life-long relationships than physical place.
Can we feel affinity for someone we've never met face to face? Of course! About three months ago, I met someone with whom over the past 5 years I have shared many wonderful telephone conversations (personal and professional), but we've never met face to face. I went to her house in Atlanta, GA. When she walked out of her front door I saw someone who could very well have been my sister: same color hair, size, general shape and age. I had no idea until that moment that we shared so MANY characteristics. Visual cues are extremely important for bonding.
There's a sense that in a virtual community there is a common set of tools for communications. I'm starting to feel that in this day and age, where there are many scattered/broken families and a mobile society, maybe virtual community (especially those in which people can see one another while sharing a full duplex aural conversation [is there any other kind of conversation?]) is as comforting as we can expect to have for several generations.
Before we praise or write off the merits of electronic communities, let's ask ourselves "What is the anatomy of community [see www.communities.com for a series of very informative white papers]?"
I encourage us all who use telecommunications technologies, especially desktop videoconferencing, to ponder and share with others: - what is it about our physical communities that make them feel valuable? - what is it about our virtual communities that make them feel deep(er)?
Happy New Year!
[1] If you haven't picked it up yet, consider reading Sven Birkerts' The Gutenberg Elegies. I don't happen to agree with him on everything, especially his doomsday premonitions of people casting books aside. Reading is very important in my household and doesn't appear to be threatened as a Way of Life (e.g., Nikki, my ten year, old can read and understand adult-level books, she devours about 5,000 pages a month!) despite the preponderance of computers in our household.
©1996 Christine Perey PEREY Communications & Consulting cperey@spider.lloyd.com 1455 Cedar Oak Rd. Placerville, CA 95667 (916) 622-3750
THOUGHTS ON COMMUNITIES