Online Community Agency

From this weeks reading it looks as if a lot of online communities can suffer from issues related to user agency. So while many architects of online communities have very specific purposes for creating the communities, perhaps the agency of the user should be part of the foundation of the community, not added in as something extra. Howard says that online community architects, “almost always have a clear idea of the topic around which they intend to build their community or network and how it’s supposed to function” (Howard 50). But he states that, while “functionality of a site and the business model behind the community,” are necessary for longevity, “creating opportunities for people to connect with other people” is what makes for sufficient conditions when creating an online community (Howard 51). 

I like keeping the notion of online communities within the realm user interactions, because these communities must meet the basic requirements for human interaction in everyday life. We make meaning through social interactions, wherein we “eliminate cognitive dissonance” (Howard 56-7), and are then able to see our actions having an effect on our environment. So through our social interactions we need to be able to ‘see’ the influence we have on the forces around us, in order to reaffirm our sense of self, and our ability to act from that position. Howard notes a very common occurrence, that while common, has large implications if it goes unrecognized in the creation of online communities: “when we can’t influence and change the environment, we leave and we find new environments that we can influence and change” (Howard 82). In other words, users need evidence of their participation, or they won’t believe they are really participating. As Erik Erikson says in Young Man Luther, humans at the very least need the appearance that they are in control of their actions (Erikson 111-113).

We need to see that our actions are helping to transform our worlds in a way that can benefit us.

Howard notes that historically when our agency is denied, we move on to other places, as seen in the various groups of people who have migrated to new lands because they where limited in their abilities to shape their world (Howard 82). But we can also see this in one to one relationships, wherein a person ends the relationship because they feel “trapped.” Once our agency has been compromised in those situations, and we don’t appear to have the option to change our circumstances, people have a natural tendency to try and break free. I think this is very important to note in the creation of online communities. From personal experience, most of the online comminutes I have left; I left them for that very reason.