What's a Virtual Community?

In order to explain what a virtual community is, first we need to understand the meaning of the concept of community itself. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a community is a group of people living together, having interests in common. However, the concept of virtual community does not necessary refers to share the same physical space; a virtual community is more related to share interests and goals.

Wren (2006) a writer from whatis.com defines a virtual community as “A virtual community is a community of people sharing common interests, ideas, and feelings over the Internet or other collaborative networks.” By reading this definition we can infer that, the people involved interact through internet and share their knowledge, opinion or materials.

I hope that this explanation helps you to better understand this term and get familiarized with it, because it’s the core concept of this virtual communities course.

References:

Oxford Online Dictionary (2012) Retrived on August 31st, 2012, from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/community?q=community

Wren, S. (2006) Virtual Community. Retrieved on August 31st, 2012, from http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-community