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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
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
Project priorities, needs
---Display pertinent information immediately (vs. a forum thread) ---Setback: Not the best for general community discussion
Potentially scattered conversations in a variety of locations
Difficult for any one user to locate it all
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
May be mitigated with outside resources that direct the user to the appropriate locations
Still blitzable
---Posts added chronologically
Easier to follow conversation
More difficult to sort by subject
Mitigated by good organization of subforums
---Specifically, phpBB?
Alternatives
Markdown: not intuitive
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
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
Created core set of users not dissuaded by unexpected changes
Easier to welcome new traditions
Flexible community
Flexibility fosters sustainability
---Commmunity knowledge that all users have opportunity to contribute own traditions
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
Results in a split userbase
Opposing "sides" with differing goals
Community fights self rather than fostering self
---Social tools inadequate
No private messages
Unmoderated forums
Hundreds of tiny, scattered comment sections that are difficult to find
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