Tut Six Technical Desription

Tutorial Six: The internet and online communities

Either search online for a community which interest you or choose one of the provided online communities to investigate. Make sure your selected a community that comprises some form of online forum, discussion page or chat room. You may also wish to see if your community has a Wikipedia entry.

Provide the web address and the name of the community you are investigating Tree Hugger: http://www.treehugger.com/

What is the brief or focus of this community TreeHugger is a media outlet that is dedicated to incorporating ideas of sustainability into mainstream society. They strive to be a one-stop shop for green news, solutions and product information. They provide information to the public through a daily blog, newsletters, video segments and radio shows.

What services are provided? How interactive is this site? How can people contribute? Advice on green news, solutions and product information. Very interactive, includes links to videos of interviews and methods of living green. People can contact any of the 36 writers via the site for contributions or further information. People can also contribute to the open discussion forums held by the site.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment on why people choose to contribute to this community. What is it they are seeking? This site aids people in becoming more ‘green’ and in networking people together who are on the same crusade. People join this online community to share their attitudes and innovations online. Tips, advice and news on what is happening in this area around the world is shared between writers, subscribers and members of the internet surfing community. I think that people who regularly use this site are searching for a network of people who are full of information that they find useful in their everyday lives and who they can share their experiences and ideas with.

Cut and paste an example of the type of topics being discussed (you may have to provide a context to your excerpt). ‘The Go Green Initiative’s School of the Week: Pleasanton Middle School in Pleasanton, CA!’ Well folks, it seems the student Panthers at Pleasanton Middle School in California are going "wild" for food scraps. They began in January putting together a lunchtime food scrapping effort that is truly amazing, with ten different stations set up around the lunch area so that students can separate their food and paper waste into large green cans, recycle their cans and bottles into special receptacles, and throw the small amount of remaining trash out the old-fashioned way. And so far the results from our Go Green Initiative school of the week have been incredible! Japan Post announces plans to convert entire mail delivery fleet to EVs. Japan Post announced on June 2nd that they intend to replace their entire fleet of 21,000 mail collection and delivery trucks with Electric Vehicles (EVs) over the next eight years. Despite the high price of EVs, this will apparently translate into savings of several billion yen when compared to the projected cost of continuing to use increasingly expensive gasoline. It doesn’t stop there.

Considering material presented during the course and make comment on the potential ethical issues that may arise in this community e.g. lack of identity and accountability. In this site anyone can access the public forums however you need to register to take part in asking and answering questions. To register the user must agree to the visitor’s agreement and the privacy policy set out by the Discovery Communications who govern the site. In addition the to the formal policy the forum has a group of moderators selected from the community who are responsible for keeping the forum friendly, polite and on topic. All of this decreases the risk of ethical issues becoming present as it lays grounds to what can be said while leaving plenty of room for individual comment. It also holds the individual accountable for what is said as warnings are issued when material is removed by the moderators

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment on the benefits this community holds over traditional notions of community e.g. communities reliant on geographic proximity This community is different to a tradition community as members can come from anywhere. The site is not internationally censored and includes relevant information from all parts of the globe.

Consider material presented during the lecture and make comment what this community lacks or can not provide which traditional communities can. This community can not provide members with the physical aspects that a traditional community has. There is no physical interaction between the members rather it is more a virtual one.