Title: Building a sense of community through online video

Authors: Rebecca Clothey, Stacy Austin-Li

Addresses: Drexel University School of Education, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. ' Wainhouse Research, 3337 Mingdu Yuan, Beijing, China

Abstract: Globalisation and web technologies have created unprecedented opportunities for worldwide collaboration. This paper will discuss prospects and challenges for building capacity and sharing resources through virtual communities by examining a case study, namely the US-China Virtual Symposium. Planned by Drexel University School of Education, a leader in distance education in the USA and Wainhouse Research, recognised experts in rich media communications, the goal of the virtual symposium was to create opportunities to collaborate across borders, share best practices, and build professional networks without the costs and constraints of travel. The project team selected different modes of communication including real-time and asynchronous interaction, presentations and panel discussions, as well as community building through forums, blogs, and video posting, but early on decided to use multimedia communications extensively in an effort to enhance community building and assist in cross-cultural communication. This paper discusses the challenges and successes in using video to enhance a global online community in the context of an online symposium.

Keywords: online communities; virtual communities; web based communities; US-China virtual symposium; global symposium; virtual collaboration; video technology; online video; USA; United States; China; cross-border collaboration; best practice; professional networks; multimedia communications; community building; cross-cultural communication.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWBC.2010.033754

International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2010 Vol.6 No.3, pp.303 - 316

Published online: 30 Jun 2010 *

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