Collaboration and cooperation in the virtual surround is one of the key elements in international cooperation research. This paper is about understanding functions of the virtual tools with the help of the Participation Theory of Communication (PTC). Various forms of the phenomena described as communication can all be characterized as being rooted in the need of the agents to recognize and/or to solve problems. Communication is a way of understanding the agent's behaviour as the potential ability to recognize and/or solve problems with the help of symbols (or signs). The basic theory is discussed and applied to the field of network-communication. The CooSpace as a real application - used in the CAENTI project - was built on the basis of theoretical conclusions. The web based applications can be described as a set of communication devices. Different communication devices have different characteristics. One of the most important factors of effective use of these devices is knowledge which helps the users (agents) to choose appropriate tools to solve their problems. CooSpace supposes self-motivated agents aiming to solve their problems. Usage is not important in itself. Usage is important only as a way of helping to increase the problem-solving capacity of the participants. The developers are working on improving the tools in the CooSpace system using valuable experience gained from the CAENTI project alongside scientific approaches.