Identity & Online Community

"The experience of participating in a story, as teller or audience, is typically that of being caught up in it while it is being told...Stories convey meaning about the social context and identity of the teller and audience. However, stories also have an effect on that identity and context." {John McLeod}

This quote has me reflecting about online communities and the web, especially in an e-learning and web-based training context. As you *join* online communities, it's important to view the exchange between members of the learning community as "participating in a story" of sorts where the members are writing the "script" using asynchronous threads in a newsgroup or via sychronous technologies such as instant messaging.

Sometimes you are the storyteller, and sometimes you are the audience. A shift between active and passive participation in the community. Ultimately, the lines blur, and it becomes a symbiotic relationship.

Finally, think about the effect that these "stories" have on both the identity and context of the information shared in the learning community and how these factors effect your own participation.

Technorati Tags: education+technology education online+communities learning+communities identity