Quilting Forums versus Quilting Communities
If you are a quilting and patchwork enthusiast then you will have doubtless visited a good number of the thousands of websites that serve this busy and vibrant segment of the needlecraft market.
The vast majority of these sites are selling quilting fabric and quilting accessories of all kinds and are principally online shops. Others offer patterns and block designs, some free and some paid for, but the large majority of these are simply static sites rather than offering any interactive features (other than shopping cart facilities).
As the internet grows and develops however a level of interactivity is starting to creep in and the most common example of this are sites offering craft related discussion forums, where people can make comments and ask questions for other quilters to respond to. Specialist quilting “groups” are another manifestation of this approach where members can communicate with each other via an online bulletin board or something similar.
One of the problems with many of these groups and forums however is that they are often poorly set up and/or unmoderated which results in the forum becoming a disorganised free-for-all, where it is difficult to find posts relating to specific topics or subjects relating your particular personal interests. In unmoderated groups and forums it is also possible for the posts to become wildly “off topic” to the point where they are as likely to be about the latest episode of a TV soap, as about patchwork & quilting!
However the latest developments in internet technology (dubbed “Web 2.0”), has opened up a new opportunity for creating special interest websites (particularly craft based interests such as patchwork and quilting). These are websites that are designed to be “Online Communities” and provide a whole suite of facilities to enable the creation of truly interactive special interest groups.
This approach is particularly suited to quilters because the large number of people involved in the Patchwork and Quilting world constitute one of the most friendly and sociable groups that you will find anywhere. Many quilters already belong to local clubs, guilds or societies and ‘online community’ sites make use of the internet to enlarge this into a “global village” approach by providing an online community in which people with a common passion can regularly communicate and interact.
It is the enthusiasm for being involved online with people who share common interests and passions that has driven the rapid growth of the broader social media sites such as My Space and Facebook.
So what makes these Web 2.0 “communities” special?
Well, because they are designed to enable a group of like minded people to be able to share their passion with others online, they usually offer members a range of online tools and facilities to make this both simple and effective. Computers and the internet have today become simply very useful tools and those providing the latest generation of online resources have to ensure that they are designed with ease of use in mind and can be readily utilised with a minimum of technical know-how.
This will usually mean that the features are “web based” and can be accessed easily and directly via the internet rather than requiring users to download programs or process data on their own computers. Information will also be stored on the provider’s web servers (rather than on the local pc), making it both portable and highly accessible.
Some of the sharing and communication tools now available through membership in an online community include:
· A Discussion Forum. However, here you need to look for a community that has its forum properly organised and moderated, preferably with a list of topics and/or subtopics that break the posts made by members into specific categories and one that doesn’t contain too much off topic “noise” and/or “spam”. One of the problems associated with communities that are free to anyone to join is that they can get badly affected by spammers posting non relevant content (some of which can be quite unpleasant or blatently commercial).
· A Photo Gallery where members can showcase digital pictures of their work and develop a complete portfolio of images relating to their craft output. These can be shared over the internet or by email, with other members of the community, or even made available for general internet viewing.
· A Blogging Facility that enables members to very quickly and simply create a “Quilting Blog” to act as an online journal to record projects and ideas and share these with the community and others. In some cases this will also include the tools to make a quilt related Podcast.
· Product Reviews where members can share thoughts and opinions regarding quilting related products and services.
· Online Chat facilities which allow members to communicate with each other in “real time” using text messaging via the website or even possibly using audio and/or video communication
· A Personal Quilting Website is another feature offered in some communities. The idea being to allow members to put up their own craft website without any technical know-how just using their web browser and which is then hosted for them within the community (but which can also be viewed anywhere on the internet if required).
As well as the above facilities, some communities will also offer additional features and benefits, including quilting articles, free patterns and templates, craft tutorials and other useful resources.
So if you are passionate about your craft and would enjoy sharing your enthusiasm for patchwork and quilting with like minded others around the world, look out for a website that will provide you with the opportunity of joining a real online community, one that will truly add a new dimension to your craftmaking.
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Contributor's Note
This article that I wrote for Hub Pages describes exactly the features and benefits of this type of website
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This intel first appeared on: http://hubpages.com/hub/Quilting-Forums
