Collaboration platforms for virtual student communities

Since its inception, the Internet has served as a virtual meeting place for people sharing common interests. These electronically supported interest groups are called virtual communities. Networked computers are used to support direct communication and indirect information exchange, and to provide awareness and matchmaking services. The use of member profiles adds a new dimension to the support of interaction between community members. Information about members is needed to introduce them to each other and empower individualized services. The paper describes the research design of two empirical platform projects, one carried out in Germany, and the other in German-speaking Switzerland. Both projects are targeted at students and their respective needs for information, interaction and exchange.