What is the significance of online community?

The town commons weaves together commerce, civic participation and community-building. As in the rest of society, we need all of theses pieces to make the Internet whole (Sturman &Wershler-Henry, 2001).

More of us are using electronic technologies to communicate. Organizations use communications technologies both internally and externally to collaborate and carry out transactions-- whether or not they are co-located. And more of us are using communications technologies in our personal and social lives-- sharing digital pictures and chatting. How are these experiences re-shaping our expectations of others, and how we work and interact with others? Another critical question is: who will participate in society as it becomes increasingly virtual and as a result reliant on both basic and digital literacy, as well as online access?

Online community and online learning community projects include:

• Janet collaborates with SCoPE to build online community and exchange among educators.
• Janet serves on the editorial board for Opening Stages, an electronic publication of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. dedicated to helping professional performing artists with disabilities pursue their careers. She occasionally writes reviews and articles for the publication. View current and archive issues of the newsletter.
• Janet moderated discussion forums and events about Virtual Community at www.techsoup.org from 2000-2005.
• Vision2Lead provided an evaluation and consultation to the Northern Tier High Technology Corridor, a virtual community bringing businesses, educators and nonprofits together in Northern Minnesota.
• Vision2Lead consulted on concept and plans for Grrlstories.org an educational site about and for young women, their teachers and families.