Defining CommunityMost definitions

Defining Community
Most definitions of a community stress out the same aspects. For example, Schichter (1998) defines a community as a social grouping, which has the following properties: shared spatial relations, social conventions, a sense of membership and boundaries, and an ongoing rhythm of social interaction. According to Preece (2000), groups that share important resources, provide social support and show reciprocity can be considered communities.

In terms of social dynamics, there are many similarities in traditional and Web-communities: both involve developing a web of relationships among people who have something meaningful in common e.g. hobby, profession or political cause (Kim, 2000). Although many characteristics of a traditional community also apply to Web-communities, they probably manifest themselves differently due to the computer-mediated nature of online interactions.

In a Web environment there is a distinction between network communities and community networks. Network communities are born and exist only in the Web, whereas community networks are real life communities that have happened to make themselves Web sites (Carroll & Rosson, 1997). In order to find out, whether individuals can feel a sense of community purely based on online interactions, this study concentrates on network communities.

1.2 Defining Sense of Community
Defining sense of community brings out the individual's perspective: how do individual people feel about their social environment, and do they consider it as a community that they are a part of.

Sarason (1976) defines the psychological sense of community as a sense of mutual responsibility and purpose - a feeling of being a part of a group one can depend on and contribute to. Sense of community has to do with the affinity of community members; they feel they belong together, are similar with each other and like one another.