Archive: eModeration presents at Digital Eve networking event::
(Originally published 18 September 2003)
What type of community do you belong to? Is it — a community of practice where people share a profession? a community of interest where a common interest is shared? a community of purpose where common objectives are shared? a community of circumstance — ie sharing a life event such as pregnancy or bereavement? all of the above? none of the above?
OK, so the last two have been thrown in as the devil's advocate. Most of us signing up to online communities don't usually pay attention to the type of community we're signing up and giving away our details to.
Tamara Littleton of eModeration outlined these four communities and also demonstrated what made for bad moderators monitoring online forums at DigitalEve's April event "The strength of online communities". At what was again a full house, Tamara deftly outlined how to abuse the right of free speech by citing a well-known ISP providing a platform for racist, sexist and homophobic views, which on other sites would not even see daylight and would be illegal in any event.
However, and on a much lighter note in some aspects, speaker Maxine Benson of Everywoman explained how she and co-partner, Karen Gill set up Everywoman, which now boasts an online community of 10,000 members. It's a number that has got the attention of big business and government bodies, as Maxine said at the event: "Everywoman is asked for views on all sorts of subjects from it's members."
It's nice to be asked for your opinion, especially when you run an online community that strong in numbers...and is considered to be one of the leaders in that genre. Everywoman has reached that number by organic growth and listening to what women want — and paying attention to how women use the internet.