Over at Tale Spin, Tim Chesterton has posted Tim’s late night questions about the Internet,
in which he poses a series of questions about the nature of community in general and Christian Community in particular on the Internet.
Some of his questions include:
Does real community not necessarily involve physical presence, body language, shared meals, hugs and so on?
If you said “No”, to the above, aren’t you some sort of Gnostic?
Why do so many people use pseudonyms on the Internet?
How is it possible to find real community with people when we aren’t even willing to tell them our real names?
Why is it so easy to demonise people we meet on blogs?
Why do so many blog discussions degenerate into name-calling?
Why do so many blogs become gatherings of the like-minded instead of places of genuine dialogue?
Is it possible to have real community amongst the like-minded? Don’t we need dissent and difference? Isn’t it a bit of a snare to be able to choose our community, rather than having to learn to love the real community we find ourselves in?
Why do I let myself get so involved in blog arguments and discussions, when experience in the real world has taught me many times that argument hardly ever changes anyone’s mind?
Would you say that this scripture describes the Christian blogosphere?
‘Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you’.
I do not have answers to all Tim’s questions, but they certainly parallel my own. Tim is an Anglican minister, a folk musician, author, and a heck of a nice guy. I’m going to respond to the spirit of his questions using examples from my own experience, in this case the growing community around Catholic Podcasting. I started this blog to participate in and explore the possibilities of the growing Catholic Christian community on the Internet. I have found my personal faith strengthened by listening to Catholic Podcasts, by reading Catholic Blogs, and by becoming acqainted with other Christians involved in the new Social Media, It was reluctantly that I let down my 20 year fear of “anonymous chat” and started participating in Internet community.
One of the things I have discovered is that Internet Friends are not necessarily the same as Face to Face Friendships and Internet Community is not necessarily the same as Flesh and blood community. Andrea Ross of the Just One More Book podcasts describes her Internet Acquaintances as her Imaginary Friends.
As I’ve become more involved in EZfolk.com (for folk musicians and enthusiasts) , Librivox.org (recording public domain audiobooks), The Podcamp Movement, Rosary army, SQPN and Catholic podcasting, I have found some wonderful, lively, supportive internet communities and I have moved some of the people I’ve met in these communities over from the or ‘Internet Friendships’ category in my heart to consider them as genuine friendships
.
One of the key draws of podcasting for Podcasters, besides being able to share your thoughts and talents with the world cheaply and easily, is the community developing around podcasting and new media. It is truly a pleasure to be considered a peer by so many wonderful and talented people.
Then we move to the Catholic podcasting community that I’ve become a part of. I sincerely believe that with the community forming around SQPN, Disciples with Microphones and Father Chris Decker’s Catholicon, that we are being called (in the spiritual sense) to a deeper sense of community, as the understood by Christians for 2000 years. Father Bill Kessler’s tag line of, “Paul used letters. I think I’ll try podcasting” is an excellent example of what I see happening here. Just as St. Paul used modern communication tools (letters) to spread the gospel, so Father Bill (and many others) use podcasting and blogs.
Back to my point that Internet Communities are not the same as “flesh and blood” communities but can develop into them. I firmly believe that the new social media tools are enabling us to seek out genuine communities of “like minded” individuals from anywhere in the world. This leads right back to Tim’s post. Tim’s questions very clearly point out many of the shortcomings of Internet community but I believe that we can overcome these shortcomings to develop “genuine” communities through use of social media tools.
I hope we can figure out the hows together, and maybe answer some of Tim’s late night questions.
Blogged with Flock
Tags: TimChesterton, Tale Spin, CatholiCon, SQPN, Rosary Army, catholic, Anglican, Christian, community
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