Virtual think tanks?

Found at Haft of the Spear:

THE THINK TANK IS DEAD
Long Live the Think Tank

By Michael Tanji

Whither the brick-and-mortar think tank in an age of free information and globally accessible intellectual discourse? Very well, thank you. While virtual intellectual efforts are taking place on-line, the "virtual think tank" that is able to compete with its physical-world brethren is still in beta release. This is not, however, a situation that will remain static. Early efforts that assembled people virtually for intellectual pursuits have produced promising results, and as people become more comfortable working in virtual environments such successes are likely to grow. Virtual think tanks have distinct advantages and disadvantages over traditional think tanks that extend beyond the technical and into the political and social, and it will take more than a generational shift to bring about meaningful change. The immediate future is likely to produce a synergy between traditional houses of public policy production and the emerging "Think Tank 2.0" approach.

See Calculated Risk and offshoots for an example of what Tanji is talking about.