One of the communities that I belong to at Cornell is my sorority, Kappa Delta. There are currently over 100 active members in our chapter, or rather over 100 actors. From sophomores to seniors we all have relations with one another, but the ties between us vary from weak to strong. Together all of our interactions, or ties creates the Kappa Delta, Omega Chi chapter network. In our network, the girls who sit on council know everything about every doing of Kappa Delta and from them, the information the sisters need to know trickles down from the most active sisters, to the less involved ones.
The common bond of Kappa Delta ties all of the sisters, no matter where they are from, what they are studying at Cornell, or what their interests are. Together we attend parties, hold chapter meetings, live, and share a common knowledge of the history of our sorority. The Kappa Delta community is based on what Haythornthwaite says is “the basis of a community of practice: mutual engagement, a joint enterprise and a shared repertoire” (p. 129). Our sorority also has a general practice of reciprocity. A simple example of reciprocity in our community would be what is going on in our house now. In two weeks, we have our formal and several girls don’t have dates. The other girls in the house try to set their dateless sisters up with other friends that they think their sister would have a good time with. The matchmakers get nothing in return, but it’s clearly a kind thing to do, and is a simple, relevant example of the reciprocity that exists in this community.
CMC most definitely affects our Kappa Delta community. Facebook and e-mails are a major part of an online KD synergy. On facebook we share our common ground of being sisters in Kappa Delta through KD groups. When we have philanthropy events, we often get a lot of information about the upcoming events through e-mails or facebook notices. If we miss a chapter meeting, an e-mail gets sent out afterwards to keep everyone on the same page. Since we are a rather large community, anything that needs to be disseminated to the whole group is best spread through CMC. CMC makes our relations and ties much stronger.
Here’s a link to my pledge classes facebook group:
http://cornell.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2233447330
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Justine,
It definitely seems like your community, KD, has a lot of strong ties and is pretty closely knit even though you do have a lot of "actors." When you were describing your sorority, I could not help but remember the factors that make for a cohesive group (group symbol, initiations, challenging entrance requirements, and heavy time demand). I am sure as a sorority these attributes apply and contribute to a very cohesive group even though all the sisters may not have that much in common otherwise.
I am assuming that you probably started to be involved in this community from a FTF interaction. It would be interesting to read how CMC played a role (if at all) during your pledging process. Since during that time you were not yet a member of the sorority, it would be interesting to see how they communicated with you information. Also, because at that point you were a weak tie, I wonder do you think the sisters at that time built closer ties among themselves during your pledging process?
Also, I think it is very evident that CMC is a great aid in communicating to your whole community because it is of a significant size. How do you think your sorority would communicate if CMC was not available? And do you think it would be as effective and everyone would still get the information?
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