Communities generating Learning as a side effect

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This learning territory is based on the assumption that any time an individual participates in a (virtual) community activity, whether this activity has a direct educational scope or not, some kind of learning is taking place, both as far as the individual and the community itself are concerned. At the individual level, this learning might have an impact either on the personal and/or on the professional sphere, depending on the kind of activity conducted, but it is hard to deny that any peer exchange activity is bringing some learning-related added value. At the community level, one could argue that any activity of a (virtual) community is contributing to increasing the “collective intelligence” of the community itself. This intelligence, which is nothing more than spontaneously and dynamically exchanged knowledge, tends to be considered bigger than the sum of the individual intelligences of its members, and it is “produced” through a common learning process that most of the time is a side effect of the community.