Here is my parti for our capstone project

Online Communities #3 Friendster

Friendster is a community that is described in its name. This is a network that allows people to connect to other users.

Features


• Groups - Like previous networks mentioned Friendster allows people to form groups and organizations.


• Profiles - Again another important feature is the profile. Here as mentioned beofre users can update thier information regarding thier martial status, interests zodiac signs and more.


• Blogs - I think an important feature that Frienster does offer is the ability to blog. This is key in keeping others up to date with any aspect of thier life. I think people enjoy these becuase they are not restricted to the information that the system only supplies.


• Dating Advice - One piece of information I found particularly interesting was the 'dating tips' section. Of course this most likely wont apply to our system but, it does offer people in need of help some advice on getting dates.
  

Link to a blog that discusses what the author thinks is the success of Facebook
Success

Online Communities #2 MySpace

My second community I chose was MySpace The reason for choosing this site, is that it was none for its success with the musical community. According to an article located by this link the success of Myspace is due to the following.

MySpace's Success



• They made sure influentials in Hollywood (stars, bands) were among the first users.


• They listen to their users and add features frequently (usually noticeable new features every week).


• They let the users tell them what to do. He mentioned that other services, like Friendster, tried to tell their users what not to do.


• When MySpace visitors first log on they already had a friend: the founder Tom. That was in contrast to other services where you had to work to find your first friend. His page also gave you a template to get started.

What we can use



• Suggestions - I think the biggest thing we can take from MySpace is a type of 'Suggestion box' where users can add input to our system. Expanding on thier suggestions will keep users interested and add more functionality to the website.


• Versatility - The 'openness' of MySpace also plays a huge part in keeping peoples interests. MySpace allows the use of videos and music on its site. People can upload videos and music this versatility is one thing that we will also need to incorporate into our system.

Online Communities #1 Facebook

The next step in my research is finding what online communitie have succeded and why they did. For my first online community, Ill examine Facebook. The reason why I have choosen this is because alot of people use this program to network between friends.

Facebook concepts that can be intergrated into our system



• Profiles - I believe that one of the most important apsects facebok has to offer is its profile. Integrating some type of profile in our system will allow otner users to search for common interests and look up contact information regarding the indivual.


• Search - The next important feature is having the ability to search for individuals, by certain categories. If we created a system that allowed users to add profiles but didnt add a function to search through profiles we would lack the ability to connect people with common interests.


• Messages - Allowing users to post messages also draws users into the system. Having this allows them to keep current with other people. In terms of our system we will need a type of messenging system that will allow members working on the same projects, to tell other users what they have worked on and what needs to be done.


• Groups - Probably one of the most important features that our system will need is the ablility to start a group and allowing the administrator of the group to add members and remove them from the groups. This is closely related to general messages except that only group members will be able to access group items. For example some of the features that groups may be able access are updates on current projects, message boards relating to the project and files associated with the projects.

Wikipedia also has a great description of online communities and some helpful suggestions and links. One of the more important points made is that all online communities should have some type of user rating system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community


We also need a system for advice. Building a system that allos users to read project descriptions and adding suggestions to the projetcs is again essential in the growth of our system. Allowing multiple users the ability to contribute will increase the functionality of every project that is in the system.

Great site I just found regarding php and the internet. Has resources regarding scripts, hosting, mysql and other code snippets relating to php.
http://www.bigbangworkshops.com/

After reading more of the last post to my blog, Ive thought a little more about the needs of our system, and came to the conlcusion that it may be of some use to develop a messenging system for users to talk to each other and possibly an asynchronus system, like an instant messenger. Another thing that we will also need to develop is a type of resume system, where users can search for, update and view resumes.

I also think that we should integrate some type of grouping system Where people must contact group users before they are given access to projects and information. Each project will be viewable by registered users, each user can only access images, and any write-ups that they feel like posting. Once people find projects that are interesting to them they can then contact the administrator of the project, so they can get access rights to the materials that are uploaded. For instance once they have been added to the group the user could then access say a .psd file or any type of file associated with the project. If they didnt have access they could only view images, and a quick write-up.

The Dynamics of Online Communities
Breaks online communities into seven topic

• Trust


• Reciprocity


• Purpose


• Roles


• Control
• 
  Getting past "knowledge is power" to "Shared knowledge is shared power"


• Communications (techniques and styles)


• Learning dynamics
• 
  Getting overwhelmed
• 
  Separating wheat from chaff

Good write-up for online communities and how to develop them. For instance it lists how to find ways to develop trust among users. A couple of ways that are listed are actually having online conversation to test the other users knowledge, or having them post really extensive resumes. Another great suggestion is giving users certain defined(by a timeline) task to see how they operate.

Good link for descriptions of online communities and information regarding them. Has listings of online communities and some brief descriptions of what the communities offer people.
http://www.fullcirc.com/community/jaravosis.htm


A sublink also containing some online community resources.http://www.fullcirc.com/commresources.htm

One of the first things that came to mind while thinking about our Capstone was the 'search' feature that del.icio.us. has. I like the idea, of a tag cloud helps narrow searches. I think this would be a great feature to find projects that require certain programming languages or talents needed for projects that are listed in the system. I like how you can also have multiple links for mulitple words. In the case of the of our project we could have multiple projects listed uner multiple tags, so people can then view those projects by associated tags that users give to thier projects.

Delicious Link
http://del.icio.us/