Theories of collaboration

[see: Stephen Downes speaks on online collaboration, at ALT-C]

I've not really thought before about why communities arise from within the blogosphere. Of course one of the reasons is the Communities of Interest reason: the family/friends, geography, hobbies/interests. But I'd not thought about the theories involved.

1. The Essentialist Theory (convergent, common purpose, same funding body etc)
   
2. The Exchange Theory (divergent, intrinsic motivation, interaction between autonomous and diverse entitites).

Tom Coates states: "Counter-intuitively the best, strongest, and most creative communities can emerge out of the interconnect nature of individual spaces." The Exchange Theory seems to fit weblog communities best.

Note to self: read about Exchange Theory of collaboration.

[tag: community]