Communities in is new, Web2.0 and related, form (like Facebook) and also mikro-blogging efforts (like Twitter) provide a new and nearly real-time ability to stay on top of the developments in areas which usually would be remote to the audience.

Example? See this: One possibility for the interested person to follow what is happening at NASA is to join the respective Facebook groups like Nasa: 2Explore which even can provide the feeling to be part of that group. While the standard website of NASA is also well done and regularly visited by myself, the Facebook group through it’s direct feed and posting drives people into being part of a virtual community.

The effort of being interested, the ability to stay connected has driven positive developments in all parts of societies and thus moved forward lot of areas. It has enabled people to contribute their ideas more rapidly than before even though they were originally not working in these areas and it has also enabled companies and public organizations or agencies to more directly get feedback from the society as well as explain their visions.

One of the passions of SpaceFan is to look into the possibilities of virtual communities and the expanding abilities provided with new technologies and see what these can contribute. The above is only a first outline of why this topic is of interest to me and it shall be expanded upon.