Pawe³ Szczêsny has a blog post at Freelancing Science about the extent to which online collaborations can replace real-life interactions in science. In wondering "why people who live, breathe and do research online still need to meet in person to plan and discuss some stuff," Szczêsny concludes that the value of real-life meetings lies in "the possibility of discussing things not directly related to [a particular] project." Because of that, he says online research collaborations will work to a point, but won't fully replace in-person meetings.