Communities in cyberspace-Peter Kollock and Marc A. Smith.

"Technology has its most profound effect when it alters the ways in which people come together and communicate"(Kollack, Smith.M 1999: 1).  Very true to the point.  I think that what Peter Kollock and Marc Smith are talking about is just that.  The technology is moving so fast and being created at a faster pace than most can keep up with and this is what is allowing people around the world to be in touch with one another.  

Landscape of cyberspace

This section talks about the different types of online communications.  Email and discussion lists, usenet and bbs, MUDs, text chat, world wide web sites, graphical worlds, Identity and honesty and deception all of which have their own characteristics to them.

Email/Discussion lists are the oldest and the most frequently used of all the list.  they provide people with the means to contact one another and has a greater control over who gets to see the list.  

Usenet and BBSs (buletin board systems) are discussion forums that allow people to use their system to have a topic of discussion which enables users to interact and see what the others are writing one after the other.   Usenet is an information messaging system that passes the messages through to where it should go - which topic it should be in.  This has no central authority.  

Text chat is basically a type of communication that allows people in real time to communicate with one another on the internet.  An example of this would be in my understanding MSN messenger.

MUDs are Multi User Domains where people come together in a virtual reality rooms to communicate, and other various things.

Graphical worlds are similar to MUDs 

Honesty and deception allow the users of these different forms of communication to make up their own identity or be who they really are.  Users who are accustomed to various forms of communications are almost always aware of dishonest users.  They can tell by the type of text they are using or the history of their text.. (stories don't add up) or just by catching them in a lie.  This aspect of the online communities is what attracts people to the online world.  People can be who they want to be.  Another aspect of this could be that "Despite the utopian hopes of early settlers, it became clear very quickly that some form of monitoring and sanctioning would be necessary in online groups" (Kollock & Smith 1999: 13)

The article explains many different forms of communication that is  affecting these sites and as users or monitors of these sites they must eliminate the negative aspects of these sites providing a safe space for people to communicate.

The article mentions the 'online communities as "real" communities' (Kollock & Smith 1999: 16) as an added aspect of the online communities.  The people who join these forums and groups depend on one another to help build friendship, alliances and help communicate.  

Kollock and Smith(1999:17) write that ' Community is now conceptualized not in terms of physical proximity but in terms of social networks.  Telephones, automobiles, and airplanes have long meant that it was possible to establish and sustain important social relationships outside of ones' immediate physical neighborhood' .  This explains the use of social networks as community through space and time.