Towards a Sustainable Online Community

On this page you will find the first results of our investigations about sustainable online communities.

Wait for it. ;)

Unformatted Draft. Formatting coming in a couple of hours.

Goal: To build a sustainable online community.

-Use sustainable tools --Free Software (Open Source Software) ---Example: phpBB ---Not reliant on a single company ---Available to all users ---Freedom to study, modify, redistribute the software

-Benefits --User-controlled content and information feel more secure/comfortable

-Tools to avoid --One-way data relationship ---Company receives data on users, users not privy to company actions ---Information stored there by users liable to be lost with site closure (not sustainable) -Give users full control over data -Respect the privacy of users

-Methods to avoid --Spread students among too many disparate social media platforms with no clear recommendation ---Results in factions that have few intercommunity exchanges

-Steps to form the community --Also known as: creating the "artistic design" of the community --Create the software tools --Attract user interest ---Ongoing public art and/or projects

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Decentralized approach, no single creator

--Maintain the international online community ---Welcome newcomers, ease the transition into the fold

-Potential setbacks --Differences in language

-Potential community platforms --Email list with public archive ---Good for readable resource rather than in-the-moment community ---Ability to scan and skim content ---Decentralized ---Setback: Easy for email to be lost in the inbox shuffle --Wiki ---Managed by the users themselves ---Sustainable: multiple user-editors means multiple avenues for content addition ---Centralized: all users working together on a single resource in one location ---Good for lists

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Project priorities, needs

---Display pertinent information immediately (vs. a forum thread) ---Setback: Not the best for general community discussion

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Potentially scattered conversations in a variety of locations

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Difficult for any one user to locate it all

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May be avoided with clearly designated comment sections

--Discussion forum such as phpBB ---Easily bring new users into the ongoing conversation ---Setback: Less skimmable, harder to find information

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May be mitigated with outside resources that direct the user to the appropriate locations

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Still blitzable

---Posts added chronologically

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Easier to follow conversation

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More difficult to sort by subject

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Mitigated by good organization of subforums

---Specifically, phpBB?

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Alternatives

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Markdown: not intuitive

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User-entered HTML: more freedom, but easily mangled

--Combination of the above --Additional tools ---Something like Dropbox, file-sharing source

-Within the community --Raise the awareness of sustainability

-Names --Sustainable Online Platform --Eierlegende Wollmilchsau ---Very useful, but quite ambitious

-Questions --How can we get those sustainable tools? ---Start with current tools, move to initial platforms, move to more sustainable resources --How can we attract people there to form an online community? ---Social Media Group willing to introduce new students to the sustainable platforms --How can we keep them there and make the online community sustainable? --How can we raise awareness of sustainability in that community? ---Community feeds itself with art and science ---Focus on a topic of sustainability for these projects

-Why is the OTT sustainable? --Traditions that keep the community together ---Versus potentially alienating newcomers (why?) --Friendly population ---Creative, intelligent ---Not what created the OTT, but rather a result of it --Use of Wiki ---Links from signatures in the thread to it ---Well-written ---Kept up to date ---Used to further understand the thread ---Centered around community rather than artwork --Blitzing ---Newcomers encouraged to start at beginning ---Read entire content ---Experience formation of community personally ---Help and motivation from the Present community

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Blitzer tools (Example: mrobdex)

---Means of accessing community history ---Artistic reward while blitzing (the ONGed OTC) --Willingness to assimilate weird new things ---User presentation (avatars), communication formatting (footnotes), manner of speech ---Perhaps result of competing tensions: desire to follow OTC and onset of Madness

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Created core set of users not dissuaded by unexpected changes

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Easier to welcome new traditions

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Flexible community

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Flexibility fosters sustainability

---Commmunity knowledge that all users have opportunity to contribute own traditions

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More apt to participate in others' traditions

-Sustainable community conclusions --Be willing to experiment, hear new ideas, adapt to the unfamiliar --Promote individual creativity and recognize user contributions --Optional traditions rather than mandatory

-Why is Drawception not sustainable? --Very young (in age) community based around a game --Arguments over procedurals (gameplay) ---Reminiscent of heated OTT discussions over "how to blitz" --Game site trying to be social media site ---Tension between game and social aspects

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Results in a split userbase

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Opposing "sides" with differing goals

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Community fights self rather than fostering self

---Social tools inadequate

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No private messages

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Unmoderated forums

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Hundreds of tiny, scattered comment sections that are difficult to find

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Impossible to read it all

--Little sense of heritage ---More focused on current games and daily trends --Potential fix: singular foundation?

Misc -Creation of appropriate forms of expression for furthering awareness of sustainability -Non-technical maintenance of international online communities -catalog of requirements for the implementation of the online platforms according to the goals of the project