Construction Of Collective Identity In Virtual Community

Internet initially appeared in1969which used as U.S. military’s communicationtool. It could provide a communication network to maintain normal work even if somesites were destroyed. At that time, internet was only available for scientists, engineersand computer experts. They had to learn a complex system to use the internet. With theimprovement of information technology, the internet has become an indispensable partof the lives of the majority of the public. It provides a platform to communicate andexchange information with each other without geographical boundaries. No matter youare in any corners of the world, you can communicate with others if you can connect tothe internet. The ways of communication are well diversified such as text, voice andeven video that bring us a lot of convenience.The styles of communication in internet are different and formed virtualcommunities that are similar to real communities. These virtual communities areconstructed based on certain common characteristics of the users such as interests.Internet users exchange their views and information about these common characteristics.Base on the interests, hobbies or other factors, internet users will choose differentvirtual communities which are suitable for themselves. These virtual communities are indifferent forms and styles. Internet users will build up their collective identity in thesevirtual communities.In this paper,“Orange” is chosen as the site of the research and community-building edition is the major source of the information. From a view of process, we tryto find out internet users how to build up their identities.“Orange” is aninterest-oriented, not-for-profit website. It provides a platform for web users who likeoutdoor activities to share information, make friends and organize activities. Defining,coding, affirming and policing are the four parts of the process to analyze “Oranger”,from participating in the community, performing deviant behaviors and correcting thesebehaviors in order to agree with the community cultures again, how to construct theircollective identity. Defining is to create of a social image and make an identity exist;coding is to create a series of rules to signify an identity; affirming is to enact andvalidate claims to an identity; policing is to protect the meaning of an identity and enforce the code.The mass discussions in the community-building edition show that senior users areinterested in and determined to police the collective identity of “Oranger”. Facing thedeviant behaviors, senior governor will reiterate the definition of the identity and correctthese behaviors according to the codes. Other users will agree with these policingactions to affirm their collective identity. Finally, these affirming will make up thecodes of the community. Discourse has a great impact on the process of identityconstruction, power and the result of the punishment.