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Thread: La Liga: Real Madrid vs. Valladolid. Started: 2/9/2008. Views (by 2/15/2008): 1,862. Replies (by 2/15/2008): 146. Location of the people that posted in this thread: Ceylon, Poland, Trinidad, Brazil, Estonia, Toronto, Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, Missouri, San Diego, Nepal, New York, Uruguay, Sweden, Latvia, Russia, London…
This is just a random thread (one of many) from the football (soccer) forum I wrote about in my last post. I thought that it illustrates well one thing I personally find great (or perhaps the greatest) about online communities: it brings people from all around the world together. Not so many years ago who would think that I would be able to discuss a game in Spanish football league with fans from Brazil, New York, Sweden? That I would be able to interact with them during the game, so it almost feels like I am watching the game with them? And trust me, it is an enthralling feeling to have so many people from different places in the world watching and talking about the same game. Suddenly a win or a lost feels quite different than when you are watching a game only by yourself (or with your wife who usually falls asleep when soccer is on).
The winners tease the losers; that is the nature of any sport. But somehow the threads do not morph into a disrespectful bashing of the supporters of the opposing team. And that is very important for us, librarians, to notice and to acknowledge: that the users themselves are capable of taking charge of their online communities. We can give patrons a platform for them to come together (similar to the football forum I talked about or any other online community), we can guide them in their efforts to participate (set the rules they need to adhere to, moderate discussion boards, etc.), but we cannot control them. It must be the patrons’ space not the librarians’. Only then we can create truly participatory library services.
