b3ta presentation

Contents

  1. Welcome to b3ta
  2. A little history
  3. What is b3ta?
  4. 5 areas of interest
  5. So, is b3ta a virtual community?
  6. Conclusion

Welcome to b3ta

A little History

b3ta began as a mailing list on Yahoo Groups (July 2001) which linked to interesting media around the web. The b3ta website was already up and hosted some of the items mentioned in the newsletter. Around September 2001 the message board was opened.

What is b3ta?

b3ta is a forum where people can share interesting media they have created and share links to media available around the web. To some degree the site has a lot in common with Fark and Something Awful. All three sites are dedicated to the strange things people make and then place on the web for all to see.

5 areas of interest

Message board

The largest section of b3ta is the message board, which uses a fairly simple threaded model (latest page) .

Best of the Board

This section consists of highlights from the b3ta message boards. These images are frequently selections from the latest challenge.

b3ta Challenge

The weekly challenge provides a theme for board members. Members are selected as judges and may select their favorite entries. These selections are mentioned in the weekly newsletter.

Newsletter

b3ta began as a newsletter (actually a Yahoo Group) published every Friday around lunch time. The newsletter links to interesting items on the web and highlights the recent productions of b3ta people.

Weblog

Provides site news and announcements, along with even more links to stupid web stuff.

That's not all!

So, is b3ta a virtual community?

b3ta has many of the tools of a virtual community available, but having those tools doesn't mean that the site truly represents some kind of community. In this section I will review b3ta using the theory that we've covered in class. I'll use Howard Rheingold and Nan Lin to review b3ta from a social networking perspective, and then use Jenny Preece's ideas to review b3ta from a usability perspective.

b3ta vs. Howard Rheingold

b3ta certainly looks like a virtual community form the perspective of early Howard. It has a regular membership who actively participate in the message boards and sense of common identity. b3ta is very much like a usenet newsgroup (and developed out of a mailing list) in that it presents a means for people to converse about a narrowly defined topic. Howard certainly saw this as a form of virtual community at one time (see TVC 118-120). However, given that (like many web forums) b3ta allows it's users pseudonymity and that the level of conversation is closer to idle banter than meaningful discussion, I suspect that Howard would find b3ta somewhat superficial. So let's review his definition of community:

  1. Social Capital
  2. Knowledge Capital
  3. Communion

Social Capital

Social capital in b3ta is embodied in the "Best of the Board" section of the frontpage. Particularly interesting images can be selected by the b3ta staff and placed on the front page. Each users front page contributions are then linked through their profile. Particularly prolific members will be asked to participate in some of the editorial tasks of the site, such as judging the weekly challenges.

This provides a means for members to gain status and recognition from the other board members, and a certain status conferred on them by their participation in the weekly challenge judging.

Knowledge Capital

This is an are where b3ta certainly falls short. The level of discussion in the board largely consists of comments on images and links posted by members. There is little exchange of knowledge beyond this. However, given that the site is dedicated to the oddities of the web, one could argue that the links and images posted by members are knowledge capital within the this particular community.

Communion

Once again it is worth noting that the level of conversation does not often rise above idle banter. For the purposes of the boards, this is quite acceptable. What this does is provide a foundation for more personal conversation. Occasionally member's personal lives will come out.

So?

Compared to the WELL b3ta is not a place for very deep conversation. But it does provide it's users with knowledge they seek, a level of social status within their circle, and certainly some level of communion.

What about Smart Mobs?

b3ta works as a dissemination point for the strange creations that pop up on the web from time to time. Things like kitties playing punk, rabbits with pastries on their heads, and talk like a pirate day find their way from one side of the web to the next because people like the board members at b3ta are there to create and disseminate these ideas.

b3ta vs. Nan Lin

  1. Information
  2. Influence
  3. Social Credentials
  4. Reinforcement

Information

Information exchange is the reason b3ta exists, and the reason the b3ta message boards are so popular.

Influence

As a social network b3ta has had an impact on the larger web community. The animations of board member Joel Veitch have been particularly popular (and even got him a job). It certainly appears that b3ta serves as a means for disseminating media across the web at large (though I wonder how successful it really is) much as sites like Fark and the blogosphere do.

Social Credentials

One aspect of the site that impresses me is the lengths to which the b3ta staff go to promote and encourage the contributions of its members. By highlighting the products of their labor and by reinforcing their social position by involving them in the site's editorial content (reviews of past challenges by members Spacefish and Kittywaste in the Newsletter) members become integral in developing the content of the site (and again, the content of the web at large).

Reinforcement

As mentioned before, the board staff have developed a number of ways to recognize the creations and contributions of board members, helping to encourage further participation and raising the social capital of frequent contributors.

It is also worth noting that b3ta is based in the UK, and that a large portion of the b3ta board members are from the UK. This means that a large portion of the boards membership lives in (relative) proximity. This allows for real world events to reinforce the b3ta community identity.

b3ta vs. Jenny Preece

The b3ta website is very well designed. The site is well organized (with only a few sections to learn about), and each section of the website is easy to reach, and content is archived for later access. The boards themselves are very straightforward to use and employ a threaded design similar to many other web forums. Each post has a unique id and can be linked, as can each page of the forum.

Looking beyond the interface, let's review Preece's criteria for an online community:

  1. People
  2. Purpose
  3. Policies

People

b3ta certainly has people. The message boards are very active, with over 2.3 million posts since September 2001.

Purpose

The purpose of b3ta is a little more hard to define. The site's purpose is probably best stated by the site's title: WE LOVE THE WEB. Even if this purpose is a little fuzzy, it is certainly embraced by the site's members. The output of the boards is prodigious, and nary a web meme goes unlinked (see the newsletters in particular).

Policies

b3ta policies are listed in the FAQ. The FAQ gives information about the types of posts that are and are not accepted in the message boards:

Don't:

Do:

These rules are simple, and largely adhered to. Social chatting is minimal, and mostly arises out of the media posted to the board. Board members are quick to note infringements and point them out.

Conclusion

b3ta is a representative of many web communities. A group of people with a common interest who have focused that interest through a portal. b3ta serves as a portal to interesting and odd tidbits that float around the web, and a forum where people can share their own creations as well as the creations of others that they find interesting. The site provides the board members with identity, socialization, social capital, and information. Looking back at the theory we have discussed this semester, I think that b3ta certainly qualifies as a community. More accurately, I feel that it is an online social network that provides its users with a community and with the tools to reinforce that community.

One aspect of the site I haven't had time to study is the success it has in propagating the media created by its members. As mentioned before Joel Veitch (the viking kittens guy) has become something of a web celebrity, but has anyone else had this level of success? My theory is that Joel is an anomaly. While b3ta is a powerful tool for dissemination of ideas, I suspect that the community of the boards is too insular for much of the material posted to make it out in to the wild (see Granovetter).