Creating and Sustaining Community in a Virtual Environment - Information Communication Technologies for Human Services Education and Delivery - page 112

When one goes to the theatre to see a play it
is easy to recognize the actors by the way they
are dressed. It may be easy to recognize the other
members of that theatre community by the roles
they play—ticket taker, concession stand worker,
etc. Every virtual community is a performance of
sorts. We should be able to recognize the members
of the community by how they interact with the
people they meet and we can figure out who to
turn to in times of need or for help. If we look
carefully enough we can find the visual identifi-
ers in each member's public profile.(Kim, 2000)
However, all of these players are interconnected
under the umbrella of the organization, in this case
the theatre. This is the same in any online or face-
to-face community. We become interconnected as
we continue to be active in the community.
It is important to consider the type of feedback
and interactions members of a community want
to validate their participation in the virtual com-
munity. Curtis (2004) conducted a study where
he sought to supplement threaded discussion with
social interactions to better support meaningful
learning and allow students to make knowledge
their own. He discovered that many members of
the community wanted individual responses to
questions sent via emails to avoid showcasing
their ignorance on a topic in front of their peers.
Members wanted the opportunity to get to know
each other especially when new members joined
the group. As the group begins to solidify the
members share experiences or activities. When
the veterans of the group interacted, they wanted
to have time to make conversation.
Interactions and guidance as mentioned
above can extend face-to-face interactions or
physical communities to virtual communities
and strengthen the membership of such a group.
They also work to lessen the space and time con-
straints. As the members become more familiar
with one another they extend the opportunity to
create international “families” of learners where
participants work on shared interests at their own
convenience. This creates a community where

its members “engage in idle conversation” in a
supportive environment in which members feel
comfortable enough to publicly share and express
their ideas within a collaborative context.
Collaboration is another factor that needs to
be fostered in an online setting. Collaboration
is defined by Lock (2002, p. 398) as 'a process
that involves interaction amongst individuals in
a learning situation'. This type of learning asserts
that knowledge is constructed through social inter-
action. Where better to find social interaction but
in a virtual community of interest? Participants in
a collaborative setting, even a virtual one, need to
have opportunities to shape the style and degree of
their participation within the group. It is possible
that the participants will perform multiple roles
within the community. Depending on the needs
of the members, the participants may interact
as discussion moderators, and at other times as
discussion participants.
The members of the virtual community need
to be aware of the pedagogical framework of the
community. Participants need to be open and will-
ing to reframe their roles within the community.
An effective community requires its members
to be active, to use teamwork, and to be interde-
pendent. They also need to understand that the
community is the basis of authority (Lock, 2002,
p. 399). No one within the community works
independently from the others. It does take time
for the members to shift into an active learning
environment where everyone is responding to
the needs of the others within the group. There
needs to be a fostering of the network of social
relationships and a promoting of leadership and
collaborative learning. The collaborative nature of
a learning community helps to foster the overall
learning process.
Communities need a gathering place. Similar
to that of a face-to-face setting, those in a virtual
community need a “place” where they can meet
others and carry on a dialogue or engage in an
instructional session. In the virtual environment,
this usually means a listserv, or a chat room, a