Community of interest : Further reading Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Community of interest

Type of affinity group

Community
Part of a series on

Academic studies
Social sciences Community studies Community practice Community psychology Social work Computational sociology Cultural anthropology Internet studies Philosophy of social science Rural sociology Social geography Social philosophy Sociocultural evolution Urban planning
Key concepts
Affinity (sociology) Collectivism and individualism Community engagement Community cohesion Community of interest Community practice Community of practice Community of place Community service Communitarianism Community politics Group cohesiveness Group (sociology) Group dynamics Imagined community Organization Prosocial behavior Sense of community Small-group communication Sobornost Social alienation Social capital Social death Social exclusion Socialization Social rejection Social support Solidarity (sociology)
Community development
Community-based management Community building Community economic development Community development planning Community organizing
See also
Outline WikiProject Community Category:Community building Category:Community development Category:Localism (politics) Join the Community community
v t e

A community of interest, or interest-based community, is a community of people who share a common interest or passion. These people exchange ideas and thoughts about the given passion, but may know (or care) little about each other outside this area. Participation in a community of interest can be compelling, entertaining and create a community where people return frequently and remain for extended periods. Frequently, they cannot be easily defined by a particular geographical area.

In other words, "a community of interest is a gathering of people assembled around a topic of common interest. Its members take part in the community to exchange information, to obtain answers to personal questions or problems, to improve their understanding of a subject, to share common passions or to play."^[1] In contrast to a spatial community, "a 'community of interest' is defined not by space, but by some common bond (e.g. feeling of attachment) or entity (e.g. farming, church group)."^[2]

"Online communities" connect to communities of interest in that often, they develop out of interests in a particular topic.^[3] A benefit of online communities over place-based communities is that of non-physical access to group involvement.^[3]

References

^ Henri, F.; Pudelko, B. (December 2003). "Understanding and analysing activity and learning in virtual communities: Activity and learning in virtual communities" (PDF). Journal of Computer Assisted Learning. 19 (4): 474–487. doi:10.1046/j.0266-4909.2003.00051.x. S2CID 14040518.
^ Ramsey D, Beesley KB (2007). "'Perimeteritis' and rural health in Manitoba, Canada: perspectives from rural healthcare managers". Rural and Remote Health. 7 (4): 850. PMID 18081449.
^ ^a ^b Hopkins, Liza; Thomas, Julian; Meredyth, Denise; Ewing, Scott (November 2004). "Social capital and community building through an electronic network" (PDF). Australian Journal of Social Issues. 39 (4): 369–379. doi:10.1002/j.1839-4655.2004.tb01188.x.