Brains working towards machine consciousness

It is interesting to see that the 'Introductions' threads on the CCK08 Moodle site seem to show that people are being drawn to each other on the basis of shared experience of "place". I know I have had a look around the map, for other people nearby too - although even while doing so, I could not imagine why it was important to me to know.
I wonder if there is any value in asking people to reflect where they are on the spectrum from local, through glocal (ugh!) to being part of a Networked Individualistic framework both before and after the course? Will we see a shift, or will people remain in the same sorts of networks which they are to start with?