Online or off line interactions

As someone relatively new to Web 2 and all that it entails, I"m still experimenting. I"m also uncertain as yet of the benefits of spending time on the Web relative to spending time with more direct forms of communication (face to face, telephone, and even email). As someone with an interest in the social processes around learning and change, I'm wondering about generational differences, gender differences, workstyle differences and cultural differences.

I want to reflect on the art/sci project mentioned in a recent post. Project group members were geographically dispersed and we had very little money for travel, so we developed our own online workspace. It became clear that contributions in the workspace were strongly linked to face to face interaction - so the group would meet, and then there would be a flurry of online discussion. Or one or two members of the group would talk by telephone or over the tea table and then put something up. We weren't that good at just keeping online conversations going. What might happen with a group of younger people? Was this something to do with our ages, our project, our own personal characteristics or even our wider work environment?