Searching for Teachers :: Online Communities Web Essays

Searching for Teachers Section I- What I Know? When I was first assigned to write about online communities I thought the first thing I need to find out is, "What is an online community?" I was told online communities are places where people come together and communicate online. After I found out what online communities are I had somewhere to start, know the question is "What is my online community experience?" That is not a hard question being that I do not have much experience with online communities. My computer experience is somewhat limited. I have done some research on the computer, but as far as living in a community online or even visiting a community online I have very little experience. On a few occasions I have visited some chat rooms. I've heard a lot about online chat rooms and I've heard chat rooms are supposed to be the "in" thing know-a-days. This is one aspect of online exploring that doesn't interest me so much. I think the name "chat rooms" should be changed. Yes, it is a place where people go online and "chat", but I think it should be called the "creative world." Chat rooms are a great place for people to explore their creative side. Anyone can go into a chat room and create a different life for themselves or just create different stories. My cousin for example goes on line and "chats" with people. She doesn't necessarily create a different life for herself, but she does create different ways to avoid telling people about herself. She may talk to the same person for months and never even tell them whether she is female or male. She just creates new ways to avoid the questions. I believe in a way it keeps her stimulated, it lets her explore her creative side. It stimulates her imagination. Most of what I know about the Internet comes from what others have told me. Until recently I didn't use the Internet often. It is not like I am on all the time now, but I've just recently started exploring more and fearing less of the Internet. I was very intimidated and in a way I still am. But it is always fun and exciting to explore, after all that is who America got discovered.