Online Communities :: Internet Technology Computers Papers

Online Communities The Internet...the most exciting, mysterious and phenomenal form of communication to date. It allows people to enter a world where they can explore far off places they would not dare to venture into in the tangible world. It gives people the opportunity to communicate with other human beings from all over the world using nothing but a keyboard. It is an information highway, a place where research can be gathered on any topic capable of entering into the imagination. My exposure to the world of Cyberspace began six years ago when I entered college at California State University, Chico. I obtained a school-based e-mail account. In addition to writing to friends at other colleges, I was able to chat with other people on campus using a "talk" command. Throughout my two-year experience at Chico, I never ventured far out of the school-based e-mail system and never once went surfing on the "net." It wasn’t until I transferred to California State University, Northridge that I began my exploration of the Internet. Since I was commuting from home where I had a computer with no modem, it was at the school library where I did my e-mail. It was on these library computers that I became familiar with the Internet. I was now exposed to a whole new aspect of being online. I began using the Internet to research topics for both papers and recreation. In fact, when I moved back home and started going to CSUN, I became very involved in swing dancing. I wanted to know the "where, when and how" of the swing dancing scene in Los Angeles. The Internet became my source of information. I became part of an online community of swing dancers. I joined a forum where people gathered to post announcements and talk about nothing more than swing dancing. The Internet provided me the opportunity to get hooked into the dancing community via an online community. After the first couple of years at CSUN, upon my graduation in Deaf Studies, I obtained a personal computer with a modem and signed up for America Online. I was now able to have both e-mail and access to the Internet from the comfort of my own home. And now, for the last two years, I have been using this AOL account almost exclusively for e-mail. I never use the Internet unless absolutely necessary and find myself getting impatient and agitated when I can’t find what I am looking for or when I come to a screen saying "Page Not Found.