Online Communities

Regulatory bureaucracy has replaced civic practice in many nations, a situation worsened by the demise of the extended family.  Place-specific issues determine the nature of public interests and values for public life emerge from a concrete context.  People define themselves in terms of locale.  As Kemmis (1991) notes, "if in fact there is a connection between the places we inhabit and the political culture which our inhabiting of them produces, then perhaps it makes sense to begin with the place, with a sense of what it is, and then try to imagine a way of being public which would fit the place" (p. 41).  Do online communities create a new "place" for people?  Is an online community truly a place?  How are online communities different? What is the connection between online communities and local communities? --- Kemmis, Daniel
Community and the Politics of Place, 1991. 22(1):146.


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