Distance is a funny thing. Somthing that is 'near' or 'close' to you can be geographically 'distant' and yet someone who is on the other side of the planet might be the 'closest' person to you in the world. The internet has the capacity to both shorten distances to the price of a Skype call, but also for users/learners to develop factually wrong opinions. Just think about wikipedia and how it is now going to use editors for much of its work.
