During week 6 on the 12th of March, my ‘Media in the networked society’ module we discussed virtual communities. This was the first I had heard of it from an academic perspective but I found it extremely interesting as I could relate to it in many ways. We were told to read up on Boyd’s ‘It’s complicated. The social lives of networked teens’ and Johnston’s ‘Community and social media’. We then had to make notes on both before attending the lecture and seminar. Both texts talk about how it is being made easier for us to create communities online as the Internet is becoming more easily accessible.
During the lecture we spoke of ‘virtuality’ in detail as others in the class were left slightly confused by the readings. Maria then spent time in detail explaining this theory with examples that fitted to our lives in order to make it more relatable and consequently easier to understand. Again, making this module a good one for our age group. As I believe we are one of the generations that understands the virtual world the most and in the most depth as we are completely involved in it.
We also covered the history of the Internet, social media and online communities, which are an area I touched on slightly in a previous module, so found it easier to understand and get involved. I find learning about the history of the Internet extremely interesting, as we don’t know life without it, so it is somewhat mind blowing to think of a time prior to its existence.
