Community of Practice

I believe online communities are very helpful to the individual, especially when someone feels "alone." In an online community, it's the exact opposite of this where you feel a sense of security. For example, my aunt lives in upstate Connecticut. The closest city is about 2 to 3 hours away and the woods is basically her back yard. I would not say my aunt and uncle are secluding themselves from society, but the property is very "out there," and it always has been. We only see each other a few times per year. Even when I got a cell phone text messaging was not really helping their connection with the rest of the family. Once more and more social networks starting coming out, the family began using them. Me and my aunt have now been part of a great online community for the past three years. With school I am online a lot, but I try to stay away from the social networks because of the addictiveness is entails. However, when my brother, father, aunts, uncles, and cousins are constantly participating in this online community, it gives me great motivation to participate. It has helped keep the family much closer rather than distant. We get the best of both worlds here. The family has been getting into this routine about posting facts and asking questions daily. I do learn something new everyday in the classroom, but I never thought I would be learning something new from an online community we create between our family. So, I am not only learning about each family member's lives and keeping up to date, but I am also learning cool new facts about this life in general. The Internet is a great tool and I suggest everyone to start taking advantage of it.