I am currently working on my thesis for a Master’s degree in Engineering Management. The topic I am studying and writing about deals with online collaborative environments and communities. Specifically, I’m compiling case studies of various successful online collaborations, looking for the qualities that are common among them. My hope is that I will be able to identify some fundamental characteristics necessary to foster effective collaboration across geographical and cultural boundaries.
The groups/communities I am currently investigating are the Apache Software Foundation, Wikipedia and {fray}.
I’ll be posting more on this topic in the near future.
Flowdelic 
Mason,
I am an MBA student at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business. Currently I am taking a class where I am doing research on the collaborative software market (everything from instant messaging to platform/suites like Groove). What you are focusing on sounds like its somewhat different (more project vs. product based), but I would still love to hear more about what you are doing. Any information you feel comfortable sharing would be greatle appreciated.
Thanks,
David