The internet and Online Communities

The community that I drew on is from my fieldwork 1 experience in first year, which was in a community mental health setting. I am concentrating on specific online communities for people with depression. 

The down low is a New Zealand online community that concentrates on support for young people with depression or that know of people with depression. The intent of this site is to provide education to youth about depression and provide support in an age appropriate delivery through text lines, emails and specifically message boards. The down low uses national celebrities and average New Zealanders who share their experiences and knowledge on the site.

The down low is very interactive, as it would have to be to pull in the youth group are aimed at. The users can listen to music by home-grown artists while writing on the message board. People can contribute through going into the “chat” page, registration is then needed but once registered you can share your questions and problems on the message board to be answered. The replies may come from other users or from the down low team themselves.Topics discussed are : Anxiety, Loneliness, is there a cure?, I feel like I don't have a personality. To make comments on these topics go to the blog by clicking here.

About.com> This forum is a public place where discussion surrounding all aspects of depression can occur. Even though anyone can read the post you must register before you are able to add comments to topics. About.com strive for a safe online community for the users through the constant moderation of posts. This forum wants to reach a wide base of users to facilitate the sharing of information in turn benefiting more people.

About.com is the same as the down low, registration is needed and then the guide of the forum or one of her colleagues will answer the question, as well as anyone else who is interested in the topic that has been raised. After a topic has been posted replying is as easy as pushing the “reply” button and you post will also be joint into the conversation. This site has interesting emoticons and cartoon characters that users can use to give their post a bit of individuality.

Topics discussed on about.com are for an older age group so topics include:

Family relationships, self injury/cutting,suicide and abuse. There is also a general discussion area where sleep and other daily activities are posted about. To make comments go to the forum. 

Depression understood forum> This forum is constructed and run by volunteers who pull from their own experiences to help others dealing with depression. This forum also is centred around depression however strives to encompass anxiety and other health issues relating to them. This like about.com is public to view but you have to be registered to have you input in the forum.      

  Depression understood also needs registration to post discussions. This web site also so has interactive chat rooms and blogs to read and comment on. People can be involved in this online community through joining in on discussions and commenting on posts. Also with personal communication through the chat stronger support can be gained.  

The types of topics on this forum included, family & friend, phobias, arts , music crafts and hobbies, comforts thoughts and feelings. To read post and to add to duscussions go to the website depression understood. 

 The reasoning behind people wanting to be part of this online community is the attraction of being able to ask questions while staying anonymous, they also look for advice from either professionals or peers whom may be going through similar experiences with depression as they are. People may choose between the different communities depending on their life stage. As the younger population will gravitate towards the down low because that is for whom it is aimed at. The type of information they want to gather would also make a difference to the type of forum they post on. If they want more professional perspectives they will look at using about.com and for personal experiences the depression understood would be more appropriate. Information is shared reciprocally, questions posted are not particularly single answered questions and so the post turns into a discussion which many people can feel passionate to write about if it applies to them. It is this sharing of information that makes online communities such an important support network which is specifically valuable to people with depression. 

These communities are dangerous as anyone can read and once register have their input. Trust is gained in these supportive communities and so is very venerable. The positive is that the people posting are also staying confidential and so not putting their personal details on their profiles. The information and advice cannot be guaranteed to be true which if people are trying new things that people suggest on posts could be another ethical issue.  

The things that online communities miss out on is that common place which they can all meet, this is because the users can be from different towns, islands or even countries. While they may get a good perspective from all views of life, cultural differences would arrise. By having a common place to visit they can have face to contact with trust worthy people even get into ocupations that they have not been yet introfuced to. By having a traditional community the members can feel they are part of group and will give them a chance to get out of the house or away from the computer to talk and actually do things with others in their situatuion.      

To visit any of these forums click on the hyperlinks below:


The down low 
About.com
Depression understood 

References

Depression understood, (n.d.). Depression forums. Retrieved from (http://depression-understood.org/forum/)

Schimelpfening, N. (1998) About.com: Forums. Retrieved from (http://depression.about.com/gi/boards/proxicom/welcome.htm)

The lowdown. (n.d.). Helping youth with depression. Retrieved from (http://www.thelowdown.co.nz/message-board/?start=0)