I think you will enjoy reading each other's comments. I will add more here after I have a better conversation with two group members - but here are at least some of the initial thoughts I have collected. I am equally interested in the comments where you agree with each other as with the ideas we it seems like you disagree. What are your thoughts/reactions after reading these?

Here are some thought by group members regarding how things are going so far:

"It is quite challenging. As I am reading the psychology of personality
- I need to confront those ideas with the ones about culture. So it is
pushing me more than I thought. That is positive in a way. Maybe need
more collaboration together.
Need to develop more sense of trust. We don't know each other very well, only worked with each other a little bit."

"My experience of the course so far is very good. I have enjoyed the
discussions on skype and on the web site. I have learned a lot
especially from Clint, Sabine and Javier who has been most active in
posting stuff. The articles we have read has been very interesting and
generated interesting discussions. I realize I might not have
contributed that much but guess I have not allocated enough time. But
check almost on daily basis for new posts as I found most comments and
discussions very interesting. Through our skype communications I am
getting a feeling of getting to know other participants and we are kind
of building up a community and would not be surprised if many of us
will keep in touch even after the course."

"Well, I don't know exactly what to say. I have participated more in
discussion, than posting. My challenge is that we are talking about too
many things probably - my perception - that I am kind of lost sometime.
Drupal is not the easiest to work with - and I can not see the big picture - the full integration."

"I see the posting talking about cultural things - but culture is such a
huge thing - so I feel lost. So I am not sure exactly what I should
contribute. Should I just comment, add new information - what is my role?
Should I be doing new research, just comment on others, focus my research on some specific aspect?
I don't feel like I have the rules of the game, and I'm not so good with the tool too.
Maybe it is also just the way we are posting things, maybe just my perspective - I'm not sure how others see it."

"This is my first time trying to do this kind of thing. I like them,
but need to know better how to structure the work using these tools. I don't like as much posting. I prefer a certain kind of structure that
kind guide the work I am doing, with regards to a main problem.

So posting is not enough for me - there should be something more that
forms a consistent structure of doing things in a way that everything
is integrated.

Because I have this situation, I do not feel like I have done as much in achieving what I wanted to do.

The other thing is I don't know if I should start contacting other
members to ask questions about what I am interested in, because I know
they are busy and not sure if they have time..."

"I should be more involved, because it is a learning process, but I
might not handle as well that kind of activity - spending a lot of time
just posting things without enough focus on real research - takes a lot
of time and effort - but prefer something with more continuity that
could be understood as a whole - and not just in parts everywhere."

"These types of teams evolve over time - need to know each other -
the workspace does not accomplish everything simply by enabling
communication. We actually need to connect with others in a certain way
before actually collaborating. By starting with ambiguity first, it made it difficult. We have expanded at first, but now need to narrow."

"I think this experience has been very interesting. Lots of readings on topics I was not aware existed.
More fulfilling than I expected - in discovering very interesting
topics, more than I first expected. In that sense I wish I had more
time to dedicate to it.
One of the reasons I am short on time is that I need to finish course work so that I can start on my dissertation."

"If I am late or incomplete in reading, I get an idea of the topics of
discussion from reading everyone else's posts - and so the blog helps me go faster in the reading, because it
gives me a better idea of what is going on. I am using the group in an
efficient way, I think. I was very interested in Temtim's responses because his context seems to be so different. I
wish Minjuan would have contributed more with her responses. I would really like to hear more from her."

"I feel that goal of trusting each other has already been established -
in that I feel that I can post my thoughts and trust that someone will
respond in a respectful way with their agreement or disagreement.
But now that I think about it, I don't know how much I would value the
comment as much of someone who has posted less frequently. All of us
have a fair amount of knowledge, but I have a feeling that my gut
reaction is to maybe not take a comment of someone who is newly posted
as someone who has been more active.
I think it was a good thing to bring up and think about in a group/community setting."

"In reading things, I wanted to resist being considered French (too many
stereotypes that I did not want to deal with), but in discussing with
others, it helps to put my own culture in perspective (accept certain
aspects of my culture I don't like and also recognize where I do not
line up with the national characteristics)."

Here are some suggestions by group members regarding how we might enrich what we are doing:

• Everyone do a culture inventory test (e.g. a "twenty statement tests") - so we learn more about each other.
• Activity in pairs: Predict something about each other. For example, imagine conditions of (1) where your partner grew up and (2) how that person would be different if they grew up in your home town?
• Do a little literature review to find out four or
  five common mistakes in cross-cultural collaboration and to find out if
  we are able to overcome them or if we also fail miserably.
• Each person shares a few pictures - then someone else writes a story around the pictures by asking questions about them.
• Think it is good to have meetings every now and then. Experiment with having us be able to see each other.
• Find other things that help us get to know the person a little better, not just academically, but who they are as a person.
• We need to have a framework that we can share. A structure that we
  can use in our work. I feel kind of like we are shooting too much
  anywhere. There is the teaching and sharing, but something is implicit that should be more explicit.

• Need to make more clear what is the problem we are trying to solve. If no problem it is more a social activity. At this point I think we need to make more clear what the problem is, what the
  tools are we are using, what the structures and constraints are, some
  potential solutions, show related cases of things working in this kind
  of collaboration work, etc..

• One thing we could do is have an experience of something that we want to work together.

• Culture is too big - but we need to divide into smaller topics, pick
  certain aspects of culture, and assign smaller groups of people to work
  on specific aspects. A need to narrow, a need to create a structure, and then we can
  collaborate on something more concrete - more related to something
  specific.

• How do we connect with each other? Through conversations when working on something
  specific. When assigned on the same topic - talk together about it, and
  discuss issues, understand it, create a basis for communication, and
  then writing can come a little bit later.
• Again - it is important to see the whole - if working as a team need to work
  on a purpose that is visible to everyone. A big picture of the whole as
  well as the specific part that we are assigned. I would suggest for instance to use a concept map to see the whole picture and where we fit into the big project, how we are contributing to the big project.
• I prefer to talk - rather than posting. Probably we can talk more, as we are structuring the paper and everything.
• What is probably missing is blogging more often. If ever would be
  posting, say twice a week - for example, that we would be more
  energized to go in there and read and respond. It happens, but there
  are certain dips in involvement, but I wish it was more consistent.
• I do not want to put a judgment on directed projects - but I like the way
  things are. My creative juices flow better when the project(s) leave me
  a certain level of freedom (for ideas, for discussion, for creation,
  for sharing). I also "feel" that the project respects more our
  individual life (demands and other commitments) as it is.

What are your thoughts/reactions after reading these?