The NYCKI Board

One major attribute of human beings is our ability to form social bonds and communities with one another. While some in the past have been skeptical about the existence of communities in the online world, there are an increasingly vast number of examples that show that communities do in fact exist online. However, given the nature of CMC, we need to take a new perspective to learn about and study these online communities. The Social Network Approach (SNA) proposed by Haythornthwaite offers an interesting lens to study online communities through.

One community that I am involved in is the District Board for New York District Circle K (NYCKI). Circle K is an international organization for college students that allows them to perform community service, develop their leadership skills, and make lifelong friendships. Because there are members on this board from all across New York State we often have to rely on CMC to communicate with one another. We utilize a GoogleGroup as our main source of communication with each other and also use individual e-mails, phone calls, and instant messaging.

In taking a SNA to analyzing the NYCKI District Board it’s important to first identify a few of the terms that Haythornthwaite has established. First, since it is my social network, I would be considered the “ego” and at the center of the network. In addition to myself there are a number of other “actors” in the social network (the other members of the district board) that all have “ties” with me and each other.

There are two different types of ties within this social network. First, a vast majority of these ties are strong ties. Everyone on the district board knows each other on some level and has communicated with each other. The reason these ties are considered strong is because we’re all college students in Circle K and have a lot in common in that regard. We also have access to similar resources based on our positions on the board and our age. I am in almost daily communication with these strong ties. In addition to the strong ties that exist in my social network are a few weak ties. These are relationships that I have with members on the Kiwanis District Board (the organization that sponsors Circle K) because I am serving as the Governor of the NYCKI District Board. I do not talk to these individuals nearly as much and only one other person has some occasional contact with these individuals as well. I am considerably different from these members because they are considerably older than I am. However, they have many resources in the form of past experience, project ideas, and projects that we can do together that are a great asset to the NYCKI District Board.

As I’ve mentioned previously, there is a great deal of common ground between the members of this network because of a similar passion that we all share for Circle K and the ideals that our organization represents. In addition to this common ground is a great deal of reciprocity. We are all working together as one unit to achieve a set of goals that we have set for the clubs in New York this year, and this can only be achieved through our cooperation and working together, mainly in an online setting due to geographical constraints. The combination of this network, common ground, and reciprocity all leads to social capital that we all get out of being a member of the NYCKI District Board whether it’s through personal development, developing leadership skills, a resume booster, or even a job lead.

Finally, the NYCKI Board does have the opportunity to meet face to face periodically throughout the year at board meetings and other district events. In her article Haythornthwaite sites Etzioni and Etzioni as saying “communities that combine both f2f and CMC systems would be able to bond better and share values more effectively than communities that rely upon only one or the other mode of communication”. My experience with being a member of the NYCKI District Board has exemplified this quote from Etzioni and Etzioni. Through our almost daily communication in CMC and periodic face to face interactions the other members of the NYCKI District Board have become some of my closest friends. We’ve had the opportunity to learn a lot about each other, serve together, bond, and actually work in a way that is congruent with our shared values.

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