What is a Community?

This video blog was done in response to Cole Camplese's video posting asking, "How do you define community?" For me, the definition of what makes a community has not changed from the one anthropologists have been using for over a hundred years. That is, a community is a collection of individuals who are held together by common interests and proximity. Well, at least the first part of that statement has not changed. But what has changed is the notion of proximity.




Originally proximity meant geography. In order to be a member of a community you had to reside close enough to one another to experience the sense of intimacy required that transforms a collective into a community. Over time advances in travel and communication technologies allowed us to expand our notions of space and time. For example, I can travel by car or plane to meet with other members of my community. Or we could write letters and talk on the phone and sustain that sense of being connected.

Then the world wide web came along and, in some sense, obliterated the constraints of space and time. It's immediacy gratifies us. It makes it possible for me to feel just as close with other members of my community who are spread around the globe as I feel with the people my office adjoins.