Every evening you will see taxis lined up at the end of Chelsea Bridge in London. It is not a taxi rank, the drivers are visiting a van selling coffee, tea and burgers. The question is whether they are there for the food and drink, or to participate in a micro-community. I think the latter, that they are there for the conversation, the banter, the human connection.
Likewise, you can observe trainspotters every morning in Clapham Junction, London. Are they here to watch trains? Or to interact with their fellow trainspotters?
What can we learn about building micro-communities online from observing these groups offline?
on Dec 21st, 2008 at 6:00 am
Interesting idea.
Reminds of how golf clubs are still very busy on rainy Sundays. It’s not really about the golf, it’s about the people.
on Dec 22nd, 2008 at 2:37 am
Really nice example. Might have to borrow it
on Dec 23rd, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Great post and really good question.
These communities are everywhere, when you think about it. I guess the common interest (like handy take-away food, trains, golf…) is an effective cue that the community members may share more in common than the interest itself; taxi drivers, just like golfers, are probably likely to share similar backgrounds, hold similar values, have similar bank balances, and so on.
Online, you see these communities in the “General” section of special-interest forums. If I’ve learned anything from the thoughts this post has provoked, it’s why these “General” (sometimes called “Off-topic”) sections are often the most popular and that online communities will thrive when “general” interaction is allowed (and encouraged?) as well as interaction around the special interest, topic, niche or whatever.
on Jan 3rd, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Great thoughts Eoghan. I often observe threads (in email, social networks, forums) quickly going off-topic, and the motivation to continue interacting being around the “banter” rather than the original subject.
on Feb 13th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Great catch, it actually reminds me of two things:
1. The difference between “Space” and “Place”: They gather in a physical space, however, the space has diversed meaning for each of the drivers, once they shared something in common, the space will be a place for all of them;
2. The process of “grounding”, people naturely like social activities, but in order to go further, they need to involve more, I bet some guys in the group may like/dislike somebody, and they may (not) talk that much. But the point is that we hope the social connection well comes into play in virtual space, then how we use technology to support it, or perhaps technology is totally unnecessary in this case? ‘cuz basically, some elder people stick to face-to-face conversation.