Internet and Communities of Interest

The most obvious way of examining how IT relates to communities is to look at communities of interest. Essentially, the Internet and surrounding technologies can be thought of as enabling communities to form outside the boundaries of physical space. To find others of similar interests, we need not rely on personal acquaintances, official trade groups or associations, magazines, etc. Combining the ability of anyone to publish with the searchability of the World Wide Web (and now Usenet), it is possible to find people with almost any interest and connect with those people. As a result, many have bragged that the Internet will make us “free” from local communities, create a true society of ideas and other such utopian dreams.
It is true that these dreams are very enticing. It is easy to see a surrounding, established society as limiting, if one chooses to specialize in any direction away from the accepted norm. A gay teenager in the Midwestern United States may feel that his community is something to be escaped, and finds nurturing communities to help him cope with his immediate surroundings; parents of children with rare diseases would never be able to find a support group in their local area. Less extreme, we see academics able to communicate and share research with great ease across institutions, countries, and even disciplines. Hobbyists can find specialty goods; craftspeople can target specific audiences.
There are, however, numerous criticisms to this perspective, and to the entire social phenomenon of the Internet. This text deals with one: what about the local communities? Are they to be a relic of history? How about the communities that lack access to IT technologies? Aside from issues of how IT can be seen to interact with community development, other attacks may be leveled against an Internet-enabled society. Paul Virilio attacks how IT affects human relationships. Studies have shown how Internet use can harm one's social life. We can also grow concerned about the increase of specialization. As academics focus more and more on a interdisciplinary topics of research, should we grow concerned that one might have more to do with a dozen colleagues around the world than ones own department? Attention must be paid to what is being devalued as new potentials are being exploited. Some study has been done on how using the Internet affects the social patterns of individuals.

Allan Friedman
January, 2002