-. The author's purpose in writing, “The Many Ways Virtual Communities Impact Our World Offline" is to
a. Convince skeptics to take part in at least one virtual community in order to experience an
important twenty-first century phenomenon.
b. Explore the connections between the virtual world and the physical world and to raise some
questions about how each affects the other.
c. Outline some key research studies that demonstrate how socially isolated and/or
handicapped people can use the Internet to join virtual communities.
d. Criticize the people who spend too much time online instead of taking part in community or
volunteer activities.