Welcome to the Virtual Communities Resource Center
Welcome
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica,
a virtual community is ”a group of people, who may or may not meet one another face to face, who exchange words and ideas through the mediation of digital networks. With several billion mobile telephones with Internet connections now in existence, many people conduct some of their social affairs by means of computer networks.”
Virtual communities are an extension of our physical communities, however, they allow the user to reach out to a broader audience and geographic area. Because the nature of these communities exist in a virtual space, the user can easily find and become a part of groups that unite around specific backgrounds, professions, hobbies and topics that may be of special interest.
Participation and inclusion among these communities may not be possible in the physical world for a number of reasons which makes the virtual world more accessible for people, hence its popularity and usability. Each virtual community has its relevance for certain uses, groups and users. Virtual communities help people to reach out, learn, share and communicate.
