proposal

A community has traditionally been viewed as a group of people that interact and live relatively close in terms of geographical space. With the invention of the internet a new form of community has been created, a virtual community. The internet allows a community to form in a new medium, where geographical space and even time become irrelevant. As long as you have a computer and can connect to the internet, you can participate in a virtual community. These virtual communities allow people to project their identity so that others can see using computer-mediated communication (cmc). Such as facebook, instant messaging, blogs, vlogs, forums, second life, etc. This virtual world allows members to be completely anonymous to other members in that community. Anonymity has been achieved in other mediums through the usage of masks and pen names. Yet the internet has given rise to a new medium that is evolving rapidly and allows new levels of anonymity. A digital medium that has the potential of allowing one to interact with one to billions of people instantly. Allowing the creation of communities that can be created and then materialized visually on a computer screen. I want to look into the history of cmc's I want to find out when they first started. Why were they formed? Who made them? I want to research the evolution of cmc's and how people have utilized the internet for community forming paying close attention to anonymity in these communities. How have anonymous virtual communities changed through time? How have people viewed and predicted how anonymity will play out in these communities? There are so many questions that I want to answer, but I believe this is a good start.