Tutorial Six: The Internet and online communities

The purpose of tutorial six is to research an online community related to a chosen topic of my interest.


Provide the web addresses and a hyper link for the three online communities you have chosen:

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Multiple-Sclerosis-MS/support-group 

http://ehealthforum.com/health/multiple_sclerosis.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyHtrv9pfaw&feature=related

Provide a brief description of each community:


- Daily Strength is an online community in which people use to share their knowledge, experiences and support. This online community consists of more than five hundred support groups and Multiple Sclerosis is one of these groups.


- ehealth forum is the second online community i looked at. This is another online  health community forum featuring member and doctor discussions ranging from a specific symptom to related conditions, treatment options, medication, side effects, diet, and emotional issues surrounding and medical conditions.


- The third online community i have looked at is YouTube. This is an online community as it is a way for people to communicate posting comments and have discussions in relation to the video topic. This video is of a women who explains the reactions she has faced when telling people she had MS. People have expressed their feelings towards this video as they have either liked it or disliked it.


What services are provided on each site:


- The daily strength online forum is easy to join because it is free, all you need is an active email address and you can post comments. People contribute to this website in all forms such as: onlince chat, discussion forums, questioning.  It is an interactive community forum as posts are made on a regular basis. When looking into the Multiple sclerosis posts one of the last posts posted was on the 29th of March 2011.


- ehealth forum is an interactive site as posts are made on a regular basis by both health professionals as well as other individuals. People can comment on these posts without being signed up to an account. People contribute do this site by posting their experiences, knowledge as well as questions.


- Finally, YouTube is the last online community i looked at. This is an interactive site as individuals can post their thoughts on videos as well as like or dislike them.


Consider material presented in the online package: 


- For both of the online forums people choose to contribute to this community to express their feelings, seek support and ask questions. They are seeking information regarding the relevant topics on the forum. Information is shared one way sometimes but most of the time it is reciprocal.


- People choose to contribute to YouTube by both uploading their personal videos as well as posting comments on others. Their are responses made to some of these comments however not all the time.


Examples of topics being discussed:


"I spent around 20 minutes walking around the store and when I was driving home, I tried to step on break and my legs were hurting so bad that I was not sure if I was holding down the pedal, I rolled a little and had to use both legs. My shin pain starts in the morning and lasts all day and night...it feels like I have little hairline fractures in my shins the pain really feels like it is in the bone. My feet also hurt when I wake up and hurt most of the day and night. Does anyone have this, and if you are now in a wheel chair does any of this sound like the beginnings of your leg problems?"


Posted on 03/29/11, 05:42 pm
Retrieved from DailyStrength forum

"Hello, I need help, I don´t know what to do in this situation... My father has an MS for almost 1O yrs, and Im 21 now and i have also demyelination disease.. I have tingling on my hands and pain in spine, doctors made all the tests but they all were negative, only on MR they found 3 demyelinations in spine and from lumbar puncture they found only high albuminous results... After 2 months they still don´t know the diagnosis(they are not sure if its MS, it isn´t borreliosis or meningitis ), but they wanna give me Interferon meds even they´re not sure of final diagnose ... So, please, I need someone if he can help me and answer me if it is necessary to take the Interferon... Thanks"

Posted 29th March 2011

Retrieved from eHealth

Potential ethical issues that may arise in this community:

The ethical issues that may arise in these three online communities discussed is possible the fact of individuals loss of identity. Also the fact that any body can see these comments posted online so privacy becomes an issue.

Benefits these communities provide over traditional geographical community:

All of these online communities provide geographical community in the sense that any individual can join to them or post comments. The benefits of this is that there is a wide range of ideas and thoughts posted from each individual.

What do these online communities lack or can not provide which traditional communities can?
Online communities can have a negative aspect in the sense of misinterpretation. People can express how they feel in words and by using symbols however the other person who is reading this could misinterpret the information developing a misunderstanding. Howeve,r in traditional communities it is a lot easier to understand a person or clarify information that has been expressed by the individual.