Editing Virtual community (section)

==Effects==

===On health===
[[File:Virtual reality PTSD therapy.jpg|alt=an image of  an ongoing virtual therapy session for PTSD|thumb|A Virtual  therapy session for PTSD]]
Recent studies have looked into development of health related communities and their impact on those already suffering health issues. These forms of social networks allow for open conversation between individuals who are going through similar experiences, whether themselves or in their family.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Eysenbach|first=G|year=2008|title=The Impact of the Internet on Cancer Outcomes|journal=CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians|volume=53|issue=6|pages=356–371|doi=10.3322/canjclin.53.6.356|pmid=15224975|citeseerx=10.1.1.526.4309|s2cid=10192148}}</ref> Such sites have so grown in popularity that now many health care providers form groups for their patients by providing web areas where one may direct questions to doctors. These sites prove especially useful when related to rare medical conditions. People with rare or debilitating disorders may not be able to access support groups in their physical community, thus online communities act as primary means for such support. Online health communities can serve as supportive outlets as they facilitate connecting with others who truly understand the disease, as well as offer more practical support, such as receiving help in adjusting to life with the disease.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/04/04/135106113/patients-with-rare-diseases-connect-online|title=Web Communities Help Patients With Rare Diseases|website=NPR.org|publisher=NPR|access-date=10 July 2012|archive-date=18 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018152136/http://www.npr.org/2011/04/04/135106113/patients-with-rare-diseases-connect-online|url-status=live}}</ref> Each patient on online health communities are on there for different reasons, as some may need quick answers to questions they have, or someone to talk to.Involvement in social communities of similar health interests has created a means for patients to develop a better understanding and behavior towards treatment and health practices.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Neal|first1=L.|last2=Lindgagarrd|first2=G.|last3=Oakley|first3=K.|last4=Hansen|first4=D.|last5=Kogan|first5=S.|last6=Leimeister|first6=J.M.|last7=Selker|first7=T.|year=2006|title=Online Health Communities|journal=CHI|pages=444–447|url=http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb7/ibwl/leimeister/pub/JML_109.pdf|access-date=10 July 2012|archive-date=12 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712151749/http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb7/ibwl/leimeister/pub/JML_109.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Cocciolo|first1=A.|last2=Mineo|first2=C.|last3=Meier|first3=E.|title=Using Online Social Networks to Build Healthy Communities: A Design-based Research Investigation|pages=1–10|url=http://www.thinkingprojects.org/bhc_paper.pdf|access-date=10 July 2012|archive-date=15 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015141134/http://www.thinkingprojects.org/bhc_paper.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Some of these users could have very serious life-threatening issues which these personal contexts could become very helpful to these users, as the issues are very complex.<ref name="Huh-2016">{{Cite journal|last1=Huh|first1=Jina|last2=Kwon|first2=Bum Chul|last3=Kim|first3=Sung-Hee|last4=Lee|first4=Sukwon|last5=Choo|first5=Jaegul|last6=Kim|first6=Jihoon|last7=Choi|first7=Min-Je|last8=Yi|first8=Ji Soo|date=1 October 2016|title=Personas in online health communities|journal=Journal of Biomedical Informatics|language=en|volume=63|pages=212–225|doi=10.1016/j.jbi.2016.08.019|pmid=27568913|pmc=5268468|issn=1532-0464}}</ref> Patients increasingly use such outlets, as this is providing personalized and emotional support and information, that will help them and have a better experience.<ref name="Huh-2016"/> The extent to which these practices have effects on health are still being studied.

Studies on health networks have mostly been conducted on groups which typically suffer the most from extreme forms of  diseases, for example cancer patients, HIV patients, or patients with other life-threatening diseases. It is general knowledge that one participates in online communities to interact with society and develop relationships.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Cocciolo|first1=A.|last2=Mineo|first2=C.|last3=Meier|first3=E.|title=Using Online Social Networks to Build Healthy Communities: A Design-based Research Investigation|pages=1–10|url=http://www.thinkingprojects.org/bhc_paper.pdf|access-date=10 July 2012|archive-date=15 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015141134/http://www.thinkingprojects.org/bhc_paper.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>  Individuals who suffer from rare or severe illnesses are unable to meet physically because of distance or because it could be a risk to their health to leave a secure environment. Thus, they have turned to the internet.

Some studies have indicated that virtual communities can provide valuable benefits to their users. Online health-focused communities were shown to offer a unique form of emotional support that differed from event-based realities and informational support networks. Growing amounts of presented material show how online communities affect the health of their users.  Apparently the creation of health communities has a positive impact on those who are ill or in need of medical information.<ref>{{cite book|title=Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Communities and Technologies|pages=31–40|publisher=ACM|location=New York|year=2009|doi=10.1145/1556460.1556466|isbn=9781605587134|series=C&T '09|citeseerx=10.1.1.589.9656|chapter=Supportive communication, sense of virtual community and health outcomes in online infertility groups|last1=Welbourne|first1=Jennifer L.|last2=Blanchard|first2=Anita L.|last3=Boughton|first3=Marla D.|s2cid=8243700}}</ref>

===On civic participation===
[[File:Civic Engagement.jpg|alt=An image of young citizens involved in civic engagement|thumb|Young citizens involved in civic engagement]]

It was found that young individuals  are more bored with politics and history topics, and instead are more interested in celebrity dramas and topics. Young individuals claim that "voicing what you feel" does not mean "being heard", so they feel the need to not participate in these engagements, as they believe they are not being listened to anyway.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rheingold|first=Howard|date=2008|title="Using Participatory Media and Public Voice to Encourage Civic Engagement." Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth.|url=https://www.issuelab.org/resources/881/881.pdf|journal=The John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning.|access-date=18 November 2022|archive-date=27 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027153406/https://www.issuelab.org/resources/881/881.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Over the years, things have changed, as new forms of civic engagement and citizenship have emerged from the rise of social networking sites. Networking sites act as a medium for expression and discourse about issues in specific user communities. Online content-sharing sites have made it easy for youth as well as others to not only express themselves and their ideas through digital media, but also connect with large networked communities. Within these spaces, young people are pushing the boundaries of traditional forms of engagement such as voting and joining political organizations and creating their own ways to discuss, connect, and act in their communities.<ref>{{cite web|last=Carvin|first=A.|date=1 December 2006|title=Understanding the impact of online communities on civic engagement|website=[[PBS]]|url=https://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2006/12/understanding_the_impact_of_on.html|access-date=17 September 2017|archive-date=2 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102081959/http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2006/12/understanding_the_impact_of_on.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Civic engagement through [[online volunteering]] has shown to have positive effects on personal satisfaction and development. Some 84 percent of online volunteers found that their online volunteering experience had contributed to their personal development and learning.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.unv.org/annual-report-2014/index.html|title=UNV Annual Report 2014, Innovation and Knowledge|access-date=28 June 2015|archive-date=24 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150624015400/http://www.unv.org/annual-report-2014/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===On communication===
In his book ''[[The Wealth of Networks]]'' from 2006, [[Yochai Benkler]] suggests that virtual communities would "come to represent a new form of human communal existence, providing new scope for building a shared experience of human interaction".<ref name="Benkler-2006">{{cite book|last=Benkler|first=Yochai|year=2006|title=The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom|url=http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_10.pdf|access-date=26 November 2013|archive-date=10 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910191017/http://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks_Chapter_10.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Although Benkler's prediction has not become entirely true, clearly communications and social relations are extremely complex within a virtual community. The two main effects that can be seen according to Benkler are a "thickening of preexisting relations with friends, family and neighbours" and the beginnings of the "emergence of greater scope for limited-purpose, loose relationships".<ref name="Benkler-2006" /> Despite being acknowledged as "loose" relationships, Benkler argues that they remain meaningful.

Previous concerns about the effects of Internet use on community and family fell into two categories: 1) sustained, intimate human relations "are critical to well-functioning human beings as a matter of psychological need" and 2) people with "[[social capital]]" are better off than those who lack it. It leads to better results in terms of political participation.<ref name="Benkler-2006" /> However, Benkler argues that unless Internet connections actually displace direct, unmediated, human contact, there is no basis to think that using the Internet will lead to a decline in those nourishing connections we need psychologically, or in the useful connections we make socially. Benkler continues to suggest that the nature of an individual changes over time, based on social practices and expectations. There is a shift from individuals who depend upon locally embedded, unmediated and stable social relationships to networked individuals who are more dependent upon their own combination of strong and weak ties across boundaries and weave their own fluid relationships. Manuel Castells calls this the "networked society".<ref name="Benkler-2006" />

=== On identity ===
In 1997, [[MCI Communications]] released the "Anthem" advertisement, heralding the internet as a utopia without age, race, or gender. [[Lisa Nakamura]] argues in chapter 16 of her 2002 book ''After/image of identity: Gender, Technology, and Identity Politics'', that technology gives us iterations of our age, race and gender in virtual spaces, as opposed to them being fully extinguished. Nakamura uses a metaphor of "after-images" to describe the cultural phenomenon of expressing identity on the internet. The idea is that any performance of identity on the internet is simultaneously present and past-tense, "posthuman and projectionary", due to its immortality.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nakamura|first=Lisa|title=After/Images of Identity: Gender, Technology, and Identity Politics|publisher=MIT Press|year=2002|location=Cambridge, MA|pages=121–131}}</ref>

[[Sherry Turkle]], professor of Social Studies of Science and Technology at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], believes the internet is a place where actions of discrimination are less likely to occur. In her 1995 book ''Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet'', she argues that discrimination is easier in reality as it is easier to identify as face value, what is contrary to one's norm. The internet allows for a more fluid expression of identity and thus people become more accepting of inconsistent personae within themselves and others. For these reasons, Turkle argues users existing in online spaces are less compelled to judge or compare themselves to their peers, allowing people in virtual settings an opportunity to gain a greater capacity for acknowledging diversity.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Turkle|first=Sherry|title=Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet|publisher=Simon and Schuster|year=1995|location=New York}}</ref>

Nakamura argues against this view, coining the term [[identity tourism]] in her 1999 article "Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet". Identity tourism, in the context of cyberspace, is a term used to the describe the phenomenon of users donning and doffing other-race and other-gender personae. Nakamura finds that performed behavior from these identity tourists often perpetuate stereotypes.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Nakamura|first=Lisa|chapter=Race In/For Cyberspace: Identity Tourism and Racial Passing on the Internet|title=Works and Days: Essays in the Socio-Historical Dimensions of Literature & the Arts|publisher=Allyn and Bacon|year=1999|location=New York}}</ref>

In the 1998 book ''Communities in Cyberspace'', authors [[Mark A. Smith|Marc A. Smith]] and [[Peter Kollock]], perceives the interactions with strangers are based upon with whom we are speaking or interacting with. People use everything from clothes, voice, [[body language]], [[gesture]]s, and power to identify others, which plays a role with how they will speak or interact with them. Smith and Kollock believes that online interactions breaks away of all of the face-to-face gestures and signs that people tend to show in front of one another. Although this is difficult to do online, it also provides space to play with one's identity.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780203194959/communities-cyberspace-peter-kollock-marc-smith|title=Communities in Cyberspace|year=2002|publisher=Routledge|editor-last=Kollock|editor-first=Peter|doi=10.4324/9780203194959|isbn=9780203194959|s2cid=154281450|editor-last2=Smith|editor-first2=Marc|access-date=18 November 2022|archive-date=27 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027153413/https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780203194959/communities-cyberspace-peter-kollock-marc-smith|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Gender ====
The gaming community is extremely vast and accessible to a wide variety of people, However, there are negative effects on the relationships "gamers" have with the medium when expressing identity of gender. [[Adrienne Shaw]] notes in her 2012 article "Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity", that gender, perhaps subconsciously, plays a large role in identifying oneself as a "gamer".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Shaw|first=Adrienne|date=2012|title=Do you identify as a gamer? Gender, race, sexuality, and gamer identity|journal=New Media & Society|volume=14|issue=1|pages=28–44|doi=10.1177/1461444811410394|s2cid=206727217}}</ref> According to Lisa Nakamura, representation in video games has become a problem, as the minority of players from different backgrounds who are not just the stereotyped white teen male gamer are not represented.<ref name="Nakamura-2013">{{Cite book|last=Nakamura|first=Lisa|date=13 September 2013|title=Cybertypes|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203699188|doi=10.4324/9780203699188|isbn=9780203699188}}</ref>