The present invention provides a system of computers on a wide area network that establishes connections between nodes on the basis of their multidimensional similarity at a particular point in time in a certain setting, such as a social learning network, and sends relevant information to the nodes. Dimensions in the definition of similarity include a plurality of attributes in time and community space. Examples of such dimensions and attributes may include a position in a learning community's project cycle, titles of readings and projects, the genre or subject matter under consideration, age, grade or skill level of the participants, and language. The network's nodes are represented as a vector of attributes and are searched efficiently and adaptively through a variety of multidimensional data structures and mechanisms. The system includes synchronization that can transform a participant's time attributes on the network and coordinate the activities and information for each participant.