This paper focuses on community participation within the LIRA project--Lingua/Cultura Italiana in Rete per l'Apprendimento (Italian language and culture for online learning). LIRA is a multimedia repository of e-learning materials aiming at recovering, preserving and developing the linguistic, pragmatic and cultural competences of second and third generation Italians living abroad. The paper addresses a crucial issue in teaching pragmatics, namely, how to combine the intrinsic variability of this area with the need to employ a standard reference system and to provide clear corrective feedback to learners. Can user experience, interaction, and active participation in the community foster collaborative knowledge and develop pragmatic competence? [For the complete volume, "New Perspectives on Teaching and Working with Languages in the Digital Era," see ED565799.]