A toolbar for efficient interaction in online communities

Teams and communities on the Internet need virtual meeting places for the development of business and information. Today the interaction of people is not so much the result of the closeness to each other than the common tasks, goals, and interests of people. Online communities represent a social network of people with a common interest needing common information. Users want to exchange experiences and get in touch with others so that everybody can profit from each other's knowledge. New effective ways of producing common knowledge, sharing information and coordinating activities are required to make communication and cooperation in distributed working and interest groups possible. This paper presents a framework extending portal systems with functions for effective knowledge cooperation and efficient collaboration in online communities.