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One was , of course, the prescence of other students, gathered around a particular topic or issue. The context of gathering around a particular issue gave energy to the activity of discussion, background reading and research, and allowed for "offline" discussion (a term borrowed from electronic communication to denote discussion that takes place on the topic by a portion of the group, but away from the whole group, and in unscheduled times and places.)
Another was the availability of resources such as the library holdings and the campus bookstore, as well as special deals with other libraries from neighboring institutions.
Still another is the on-campus prescence of the faculty, which could be considered to be another resource that is present and available during certain hours for consultation with students, and to provide further bivliographic information for research on the topic or some sub-topic under it.
And still another element is the existence of "places" on campus such as cafeterias, student lounges, snack bars, and spontaneous dormitory "informal" discussions, all of which add to the sense of a "learning community" that extends far outside of the formally scheduled times for classroom instruction.
The prescence of all these "materials" of traditional higher education contribute to the learning experience. The recent public phenomenon of the Bookstore/Coffeeshop such as those of Borders Books & Music Stores/Cafes have brought together some of these elements into a retail setting. It seems to be a strategy aimed at capitalizing upon the desire for recapturing some of these "learning community" experiences by combining books, coffeeshops, and "special events" such as discussions hosted by authors.
In the online world I am seeing the development of Web sites which have begun to adopt the "aura" of these types of settings such as Borders. Several characteristics of these Web sites which often use the image of "Cafe" are using new World Wide Web technologies that enable a Web site to more closely resemble the interaction in the face to face world. There are links to various resources that make it easier to find related information and research on the Internet, and there are forum systems which host specifically focused discussions. There are many professionals in various specialties which can be found online, and it is becoming more feasible to give a Web site a certain kind of "environmental feel", and create a space which seems more like a "place" than was previously possible.
