When I contrast this online community to other so-called community sites, I'm reminded that common interests are what unites people on the web, not just a 10 MB directory in which to place a personal home page. When a site caters to an interest, the loyalty and dedication to the community created by that site can be powerful indeed. I'm also inclined to think that the narrower the interest, the higher the level of dedication. You never know exactly what you're going to get back when you put new information out there. The trick to optimizing your rewards for taking that risk is to pay careful attention to the echoes that come back.
Inspiration breeds inspiration, and so on.
Russia Is Reaching Out From Petrozavodsk near Finland to Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean and here in western Siberia, Russia is embracing modern distance learning, with all its potential for making education more accessible and with the attendant debates about quality and philosophical implications. It is not quite a revolution yet, but it is a big change, and one of the keys to educational reform in Russia. The remainder will be made up of soft skills training, such as sales, marketing, and leadership skills. This is not likely to be the year online education finds a mass market. It's like turning a tanker.