What could happen in 2044?

My Ideal OC: Goodreads

Unfortunately or fortunately, many aspects of my ideal online community have already been created through Goodreads. I have always been an avid reader, and much of my interaction with technology has been in service of my passion for reading. Therefore, it should come as no surprise Dear Reader, that my ideal online community would be one that has to do largely with reading and with books in general. I appreciate Goodreads for many reasons.

1. It provides an online space for the formation of a community.
2. It allows for many different levels of online engagement and interaction as a reader of reviews, writer of reviews, or participant during author conversations (Preece, J. & Shneiderman, B., 2009)
3. It allows for something closer to the non-essentialist narrative-driven socially constructed sense of self that Orsatti and Riemer (2015) propose where my identity of a reader is constantly redefined and revised through my interaction with others in the space and novels IRL. 
4.  It allows readers to transcend an isolated space and engage with authors directly, bridging the internal world to connect in real-time with the creators of said world
5. It enables a kind of "maintained social capital" where book lovers can meet IRL through conventions such as BookCon or book clubs but remain connected even when they may not previously have had access to these communities due to time or distance constraints (Elison, Steinfield, Lampe, 2007)
6. It allows you to track and keep an inventory of the books you have read. Many of my friends (the ones who are also avid readers) have shared that they first began using Goodreads simply as a way to remember all of the books they had been reading. 

I believe people join Goodreads for a slightly different reason than the reason that people choose to read in the first place. Reading, as I mentioned, can be a very solitary experience. Some people find solace in that independent space; it allows for a sense of connection, empathy, and intellectual and emotional exploration, from the comfort of one's own home and psyche. Some people, however, choose to read as a starting point or avenue to finding others who feel or think the same way as they do. I think this is especially relevant for young adult readers. Specifically, I believe the text-based nature of the site would allow for "enhanced self-disclosure" and possibly may have a positive outcome on self-esteem if they're able to engage with other young readers (Gonzales, 2014). For readers in search of a larger group of readers, I believe an OC like Goodreads would provide a natural extension of that desire to feel like part of a community. It would give the community a chance to reach back.

On Goodreads, users are engaged through multiple means. As soon as you enter the site, there are numerous graphics awaiting them. Goodreads understands that sometimes you, even against your best efforts, will judge a book by its cover.

It necessitates users to utilize actual literacy, digital literacy to navigate the site, and a sense of online propriety, or online respect, to engage effectively with other users. These may or may not be literacies that the user has developed upon first coming across the site, but they all are literacies that the user will need to cultivate in order to engage most effectively (Leu and Coiro, 2004).


The site itself draws readers in through Updates, where a user can see how people in their created communities have enjoyed a book and comment upon it, Reading Lists,

Recommendations based on past books the user has enjoyed, lists of books the user has reported to currently be reading, etc.

Something that I've been impressed by with Goodreads, is how they seek to engage and maintain their readership. Through the platform, authors are able to reach out directly to users and invite them to online chats or real-life events. The platform enables allows to connect directly with their readership and let them know about upcoming releases or ask them questions about favorite characters. This is a unique value add that keeps users engaged and connected in the community. I believe this type of active engagement with idol figures that allows for a more mentor-type relationship and interaction with other readers in a way in which users can feel seen, make Goodreads the type of positive up-cycling OC that keeps users connects and draws others in.
My evolution and interaction with other reading-centric technologies (for context)

The Kindle was a life-changing technological invention during my lifetime that changed the way I interacted with reading forever. It's been incredible to see as more and more innovations emerge that allow for new versions of the Kindle that better support the process of reading, trying to approximate and gradually surpass the IRL experience through technologies such as PaperWhite.

During graduate school, my learning experience was changed by the incorporation of online textbooks (Shout-out to Chegg.com). No longer was I making covers for my textbooks out of paper bags and trying to decide between my back health and carrying my many books for class. Now knowledge was accessible to me from anywhere, and there were even more avenues for me to engage online through online quizzes, notecards, and learning supplements such as videos.