The idea of a community accessible only via my computer screen sounded cold to me at first, but I learned quickly that people can feel passionately about e-mail and computer conferences. I’ve become one of them. I care about these people I met through my computer, and I care deeply about the future of the medium that enables us to assemble. -Howard Rheingold, The Virtual Community

According to Howard Rheingold, author of the book The Virtual Community, virtual communities form ‘when people carry on public discussions long enough, with sufficient feeling, to form webs of personal relationships’.  Since the Internet craze began back in the mid 1990′s, virtual communities have exploded in the form of forums, online conferences and more, and we have technology to thank for it all.  Without technology, virtual communities would not be possible.  It is because of technology (as Rheingold states in the Introduction of his book), that virtual communities area able to bring ‘enormous leverage to ordinary citizens at relatively little cost.  Another definition of virtual communities that Rheingold submits is as follows:

Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace.

That being said, there are several communities that I found just by using Google, which are virtual communities directed towards women.  Check them out, ladies!

5 Awesome Virtual Communities for Women

1. GirlGeeks.org- an online community for women and girls who are interested in technology
2. iVillage.com- a community geared towards women and dealing with health, beauty, pregnancy and entertainment news
3. Women Online Worldwide (WOW)- an online community specifically for women and women’s issues
4. CafeMom- an online community for women giving advice and support for moms as well as moms-to-be
5. bizwomen- A subsidiary of bizjournals, Bizwomen seeks to connect women business execs and entrepreneurs in order to provide support, learn, grow and exchange ideas.

If you are interested in reading Virtual Communities, it is available for free online here.

When advertisers run an ad campaign on television, they may get 30 seconds or so to get a viewer’s attention. It’s a form of one-way interaction (since a person cannot interact with a television) and it’s an interruption that most people choose to ignore.  When  you turn it around and start comparing advertising on the Web, it’s slightly different.

A Few Notes About Interruptive Advertising:

When you’re watching television, you are typically watching it to relax and be entertained.  When you are using the computer, you are typically using it to relax, be entertained, communicate with others and quite possibly gain knowledge.  Therefore, when you throw advertising in in the form of commercials, pop-up ads, or banners, it’s an interruption- an annoyance.  However, most people accept television commercials the same way that Internet users accept banner ads and pop ups: they are a tradeoff and something that can be ignored.

Evans cites Myspace as an example stating that most people know and understand that the reason Myspace is a free service is due to the presence of advertising….EVERYWHERE.  The reason that the majority of social networks online (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) are free is due to the presence of ads, so I guess the ad people must be doing pretty well.  However, if you’re anything like me, you never click on the PPC ads on the sidebar which begs the question that Evans brings up:  If you knew that no one was watching, would you still pay for the ad?

On the Internet, the only real way that your advertising message receives any attention is if people are interested to begin with.  If you depend on iterruptive advertising to earn revenue, then you might as well pack up your bags now.  This is why so many ad campaigns have turned towards social networks and microblogging services such as Twitter.  The thinking is that if you generate enough of a buzz about your product/service to a targeted audience, then eventually you will succeed in having people purchase that product/service.

Participation is Everything

On the Internet, the social media element demands your full attention and presence.  According to Evans:

On the Social Web, if your profile isn’t up-to-date, if you’re not commenting, if you’re not making connections, you don’t exist.

The Main Points According to Dave Evans

• Social networks lend themselves to direct participation.
• Participation and transparency are central to success on the Social Web.
• You can tap existing social marketing applications that operate within leading networks.
• You can use white-label platforms to implement your own community and support services.

With the increase in workplace stress not to mention elevated obesity levels within the United States, it seems like more and more people are prone to having heart problems.  Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) can happen at any time without warning.  That being said, it is becoming increasingly popular for companies to register their employees for CPR classes or CPR training in an effort to both educate them about how to administer CPR as well as train them for possible emergency situations.  The following are a list of statistics that the American Heart Association (AHA) has posted in an effort to bring awareness to CPR training and its rising importance today:

CPR Facts & Statistics [source]

• About 80 percent of all out-of-hospital cardiac arrests occur in private residential settings, so being trained to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can mean the difference between life and death for a loved one.
• Effective bystander CPR, provided immediately after cardiac arrest, can double a victim’s chance of survival.
• CPR helps maintain vital blood flow to the heart and brain and increases the amount of time that an electric shock from a defibrillator can be effective.
• Approximately 95 percent of sudden cardiac arrest victims die before reaching the hospital.
• Death from sudden cardiac arrest is not inevitable. If more people knew CPR, more lives could be saved.
• Brain death starts to occur four to six minutes after someone experiences cardiac arrest if no CPR and defibrillation occurs during that time.
• If bystander CPR is not provided, a sudden cardiac arrest victim’s chances of survival fall 7 percent to 10 percent for every minute of delay until defibrillation. Few attempts at resuscitation are successful if CPR and defibrillation are not provided within minutes of collapse.
• Coronary heart disease accounts for about 446,000 of the over 864,000 adults who die each year as a result of cardiovascular disease.
• There are 294,851 emergency medical services-treated out-of-hospital cardiac arrests annually in the United States.
• There are about 138,000 coronary heart disease deaths within one hour of symptom onset each year in the United States.
• Sudden cardiac arrest is most often caused by an abnormal heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation (VF). Cardiac arrest can also occur after the onset of a heart attack or as a result of electrocution or near-drowning.
• When sudden cardiac arrest occurs, the victim collapses, becomes unresponsive to gentle shaking, stops normal breathing and after two rescue breaths, still isn’t breathing normally, coughing or moving.

The Importance of CPR Classes

Even if your employer hasn’t mentioned anything about taking CPR courses, you can still check on your own to see what is available.  Knowing how to perform CPR, whether you are at work or at home may mean the difference between life or death for you or a loved one.  Additionally, possessing the knowledge of how to perform CPR can help you to stay calm and make wiser decisions during an emergency situation, not to mention give you added confidence.  If you are unsure where to register for a CPR class, start with your local community college, as many of them offer CPR courses periodically.  You can also check at your local supermarket or in your local newspaper.