Questions I want to explore

My initial questions were in two directions -
1. What motivates people to share information, knowledge or their creations online in blogs, wikis, virtual worlds. The question arose as I was perplexed
2. W.r.t. a specific community online – What makes them a community? If they are a community how did they become one (process of formation)? How do they interact (group dynamics)?

I am more excited about the second question. Firstly, because it is exciting to observe a process of formation of an informal learning community (informal because nobody designed it to be one as a part of any formal learning exercise). Secondly, I am hoping to get insight on if and how the social networking sites like Orkut can be one of the tools for adults to engage in informal learning, knowledge building. Adults who are outside the framework of the formal education programmes available.

The articles for a couple of weeks (Identity & Place) are helping me formulate questions a bit differently. I am also redefining my way of looking at the community as online only and looking at their experience online and offline as separate entities. I still have to think about the authenticity of identity part of it. Especially since Orkut allows people to change their display names and images without any barriers.