Accompanying computerized communication is an expected convergence between electronic communication and media that is to lead us to the long promised mingling of radio, television, and computer. Acknowledging that medium theory allows for the existence of contingencies in the impact of media technology, this paper proposes to input contingent conditions as factors that work with technology in the formation of Internet communities.Īlthough communication via computers is not a new subject, the recent exponential increase of such an activity has reached the point that for many people electronically distributed communication supplants the postal service, telephone, and even the fax machine. However, other conditions are also found relevant for explanation. Explanation for the substantial autonomy of the bulletin board community is sought from the technological characteristics of the bulletin board and of the Web. Using content analysis, an online survey, interviews and observation, I found that a community substantially autonomous of the offline group was formed on the bulletin board. This paper investigates the impact of technology on community formation on the Internet through studying a bulletin board created on the World Wide Web by a women’s group in Hong Kong, the Queer Sisters. Technology has captured the attention of researchers in computer-mediated communication from early on but there is yet little attempt to assess the impact of technology on community formation on the Internet.
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