Virtual Communities and the Attention Economy

The advent of modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has radically changed our ability to access information and to communicate. Whilst once information was a scarce, and hard to access resource, nowadays human attention has become the scarce resource and information (of all types and qualities) abounds. This state of things directly impacts processes of knowledge creation which demand a careful management of individual and collective attentional resources (Belmondo, 2006). It has become obvious that we need new methodologies and tools for managing the wide range of data, knowledge, and opportunities that have become available. It is increasingly recognised that ICT, whilst providing access to information and communication, should also support human limited cognitive abilities in the selection of the most relevant information and tasks. Such support, facilitating human attentional processes, may represent a critical factor in fostering innovation.