The GeoCities community is quite structured in regards to the organization of what it
offers the user. When users first enter the GeoCities community, they are introduced to
GeoCities News of the Day, that lists news stories or events pertinent to the day. If
something exciting is happening that relates to a topic of discussion within one of the
chatrooms, it will link to that neighborhood. For example: On November 5, important
news for the day was the Election, so the newsbrief linked to the Capitol Hill Chat.
Following this newsstand, users enter the community and find many different choices
(links) as to where they can go and what they can investigate, under the main headings of
Neighborhoods, Information, What's New? What's Cool? and Utilities.
The Neighborhoods, which are as follows:
Area51, Athens, BourbonStreet
Broadway, CapeCanaveral, CapitolHill
CollegePark, Colosseum, Heartland
Hollywood, HotSprings, MotorCity
NapaValley, Paris, RainForest
RodeoDrive, SiliconValley, SoHo,
SouthBeach , SunsetStrip, TheTropics
TimesSquare, Tokyo, Vienna,
WallStreet, WestHollywood, Yosemite
are the basic foundation of GeoCities because they are the hub of the chatrooms and the
sites for the personal home pages, therefore the rest of the analysis will focus on this
portion of the community's physical structure.
The Personal Community Structure
The community structure is loosely grouped with open relationships among the members.
Everyone in the community seems to have an equal footing in regards to a hierarchical
position. Within each community there are members that have resided in the community
for a long period of time. They are well known among other members due to their active
involvement in their neighborhood, but they do not gain any special rights or privileges as
a result of this. These members seem to be more respected than other members or visitors
that aren't as devoted. There isn't a presence of a governing body within this relaxed
community. The chatrooms within each neighborhood are void of strict laws, having only
a general set of guidelines that are as follows:
- Please don't post large or animated images in the room.
- Abusive language will not be tolerated.
- If the room stops updating, hit the "Reload" button on your browser
- Be nice to eachother and have fun!!!
The neighborhoods are mainly self-regulated. Each individual neighborhood sometimes
has its own additions to the guidelines, such as in the Heartland Front Porch which adds,
"Discussion in this room should be responsible and respectful. Please don't
be insulting or close-minded. We treat each other with compassion here, like
a family."
Quite often if users do something that offends or bothers others on-line, they will "call"
the troublemakers on their actions, and let them know what is and is not acceptable. If they
continue, the other people in the room ignore them until they leave. This usually works
because it follows the same idea of a comedian needing an audience, if no one pays
attention to someone who is seeking attention, they will go elsewhere to find someone who
will listen, sometimes to new chatrooms, and eventually to new virtual communities.
Another alternative is a personal one, users have the option to change the configuration
settings for the chat room and choose the name of the person they wish to block out of the
scrolling conversations on their screen.
Communication Processes
Within the Neighborhoods, most communication happens in real time through the
chatrooms, via a slowly scrolling screen that allows the user to go back and view past
voiced ideas. It is a very user friendly processes, unlike some chatrooms in which the text
scrolls so fast it is hard to follow, or reloads before he users are ready to continue. There
are no codes used just basic conversational language typed in as if the users were having
face to face conversations. Another option for real time conversation is the VRML (Virtual
Reality Modeling Language) 3-D Interactive Chat. This chatroom is very similar the basic
real time chat, except that the users are in a 3-dimensional space and are able to take on the
personas of characters physically present in the room. In addition to these real time chats,
members have the option to post messages on the Community Bulletin Board, for all to
see. This secondary communication process could be used in a similar fashion to an e-mail
or confer group for a real life community, allowing the members to check in on important
news before they go into their face to face group meetings.
What do They Talk About?
Within each of the themed communities, the communication varies due to many different
factors. There are three basic example of the types of conversations and communications
that take place. Some of the communities have a very specific focus, therefore all
communication revolves around a particular issue or topic that directly relates to the theme.
For example, on Capitol Hill chat, all of the discussions revolve around government or
political issues. With the elections drawing near, the republican vs. democratic
on-line debates were especially fired up. People here discuss bills that are currently
proposed, how they feel about what Clinton has been doing, ect... Often the conversations
are between two people over a lengthy amount of time and dive quite deep into the issues.
Here is an example of a recent conversation:
(13:44:45) CrazyChick says to Fat Cat: Who are you? Get real. If everyone had to
pass a test to buy a hamburger, the capitalists would loose millions of dollars.
Besides, a 7 year old can't necessarily read..... also, you are pandering to
stereotypes.
(13:47:12) Fat Cat says to CrazyChick: I'm making fun of Clinton's proposed law
that you have to pass a drug test to get a drivers license and making fun of his
spending even more money on schools because high school grads cant even read
their own diplomas.
(13:52:16) CrazyChick says to Fat Cat: OK, but drugs are illegal, so having a drug
test before getting a license is not implausible. Also, republicans are always
stressing the war on drugs....admittedly, the drug test idea is not the best, but you
think of something better or quit whining about there being too many drugs. I am
sick of people complaining about things and then tearing apart every proposal
Clinton makes. As to spending more on education, the present was schools are run
is inefficient. It is not a bad idea to spend more money necessarily, but obviously
there is a deeper problem with the way that the schools are being run in the cities.
(13:53:59) CrazyChick says to Fat Cat: Health care reform started as Clinton's
platform last election, and has been taken up by the Republicans.
(13:57:02) Fat Cat says to CrazyChick: OK, look at Clinton's first two years with a
democratic congress, he didn't get much done and CNN repeatedly reported how
the congress despised him. And as far as spending money on schools , we keep
doing it but it doesn't work, why not try something else.
In others, the Neighborhood has a general theme that brings people in, not necessarily to
talk about any specific issues, but just because of the general purpose or sentiment present
there. For example, the Heartland chat is "A family-oriented neighborhood that
represents Main Street in cyberspace. This is the place to find parenting, pets, and home
town values." In this chatroom the people are genuinely nice. The content of the
conversations, which are often among friends, do not focus on anything in particular, but
revolve around real everyday life. It is a closer knit community, with a large number of
active citizens that speak out in the community often. Most of the younger users congregate
in this neighborhood, almost as if they were hanging out at a corner at "home." In the
following excerpt, the conversations taking place are among junior high girls that met, and
became friends on-line and between a mother (dott) and her daughter (dott's dottir) along
with their friends:
(14:04:54) JEN says to BettyBoop/Muffin: HI!!!!! How are you today??? I
amfine!!! IT IS ALMOST HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(14:06:46) dott says to JEN: Hi sweetie!
(14:08:11) JEN gently hugs dott: HI!!! How are you today??? I am fine!!
(14:09:10) dott's dottir says to dott: You're right! I'm a selfish, little brat! I want
him all to myself! Who wouldn't? He's terrific!
(14:09:52) dott says to JEN: I am fine, I am going to dress up tomorrow! I told all
the kids here at school that I was going to scare them!!!!! and I will!!!!!! Lights out
in the library tomorrow!!!!
(14:10:53) Betty Boop says to BettyBoop/Muffin: Hey, Betty I've been dying to
meet you!!
(14:11:02) dott says to dott's dottir: Did I hear YOU agree with me? Lord help us!
ha ha ha!
(14:15:41) Betty Boop says to BettyBoop/Muffin: Are you the Betty Boop from the
porch? Everyone is so excited when they see Betty Boop. They said that she was
such a sweet lady!
(14:20:46) Betty Boop says to BettyBoop/Muffin: yes, you are the one every was
talking about! They all miss you very much. They said they haven't talked to you in
quite a while.
Lastly, some Neighborhoods have loosely constructed themes, seen more as just a place to
stop by and talk about anything. These rooms most often become "pick-up joints". An
example of this would be SouthBeach chat. A place that is "The high-style hot spot for
hanging out, meeting and greeting, seeing and being seen." In this chat people often ask
the same basic questions, are you m/f? what do you look like? where are you from? how
old are you? These questions seem to be a result of the importance of appearance in our
real-life societies. When users come to this neighborhood in search of an online
relationship, they operate in the same modes that they do in real life, making appearance of
utmost importance. In real life, first impressions are initially based upon appearances, but
online this is not the case. People must base their opinions on the person's words and
thoughts. It seems quite ironic how it takes an artificial scenario, to force people to look at
what is truly important. This neighborhood seems to resemble a dimly lit, smoke-filled
cheesy night club.Here is an excerpt of conversation from SouthBeach:
(13:24:47) Bingo : Not really friend. I'm just going around hugging and kissing
today.:) *Bingo kisses sweet*
(13:24:56) Sassy-girl says to 7 inches: sorry, dont believe it :)
(13:25:35) 7 inches PRIVATELYwhispers to Sassy-girl: if i could i would show
you
(13:25:40) sweet winks at Bingo: how *sweet* of you
(13:25:40) ESLUPMI : my bolagna has a first mane
(13:25:45) A Handsome Black Guy : Hi everybody!
(13:26:00) Bingo gently hugs Jake: *Bingo kisses Jake on the lips with
a gentle
nudge*;)
(13:26:31) Sassy-girl says to 7 inches: So, where are you from big boy
(13:26:43) Bingo says to sweet: Thank you.:)
(13:26:56) :-) shouts to 2Hot2hold : still adding??? LOL
(13:27:12) Jake says to Bingo: on the lips...what soft lips you
have...thanx!
How do They Talk About It?
In these virtual neighborhoods, the conversations are a bit disjointed because the
users are most likely chatting with more than one person at a time. What is said, is rarely
found in complete sentences because it is conversational English, (or sometimes other
languages,) just like in real life. Everyone seems to look past grammatical, spelling, or
typing errors because they are understood and accepted due to the nature of the
conversations.
There are also often identifiable patterns of communication between females and males
On line, the users tend to take on stereotypical gender roles. Females often speak with
sugar-coated language, tending to be submissive and meek when speaking to a male user.
The male users on the other hand tend to act quite tough, and macho. They attempt to "out-
do" or "one-up" other male users, in order to win the attention of the females in the room.
Sometimes though, men will portray the "New Age Male," the strong, yet sensitive,
perceptive type, that is very much the hype in the media today, as a way of enticing a
female user. What they don't realize though, is that their charade does not come across as
the truth and they often look foolish and cheesy through their use of clichŽs. These
scenarios are most often true with the neighborhoods that function best as a meeting place,
or "pick-up joint." The characteristics of these neighborhoods facilliate the adaption of
virtual personae because the users do not have to bring any views or personal
characteristics with them in order to carry on conversations or discuss specific issues. The
users have a chance to be who they want to be, or what they think the other person likes,
and can then use their findings as a frame of reference back in the real world. People love a
challenge and find one in the online chase, but without the fear of rejection. If you succeed,
it is a great rush. If you don't, you just try again, maybe as someone else. Also due to the
anonymity within the community, the users are much more free with their thoughts and
words because there is no serious threat of retribution.
VC vs. RL (Virtual Community vs. Real Life)
In general this virtual community is a fun, entertaining extension to real life. The
chats are real-time, but the users must always remember that the conversations may not be
too real. The greatest difference between the Virtual Community and Real Life is the lack
of a visual reference during communication. Human nature relies on body language to help
convey a thought verbally. Online, the visual cues do not exist, which can stir up confusion
about the speakers tone, and lead to a misunderstanding. Although GeoCities is a large
community with over 140, 000 users, in comparison to its real life counter-parts, it is a
much smaller, close knit community allowing people in a "city," to talk as if neighbors.
With neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, Virtual communities can be a great way to meet
other people who are interested in talking about the same issues that are important to their
lives. According to its statement of purpose, GeoCites has succeeded. Between the 27
themed communities, the content is unique and diverse, and the process is simple to set up
your own free personal home page. GeoCities is an interesting, entertaining electronic city
that creates a fun, user friendly environment for inter-city, inter-state, or even inter-country
communications.
Give GeoCities a Try!
http://www.GeoCities.com/