You decide what you want to do - why would you want to interact with others, and what are you all going to do together. Who are the other people, and how computer literate are they (if they use 'r' instead of 'are', remove the word 'computer' from this sentence)

Once you know exactly what you want to do, you can investigate *how* it can be done. Installing a 'small server' might be the correct solution, or it might not. Don't develop an answer before you know what the question is...

HTH,

Pete.

If you want to learn how to build and run a server, it's a learning process of trial and error when doing it yourself. I would not recommend putting any personal information on a server unless you know what you're doing. I do however, recommend setting up a home server to play around on for learning purposes, and for a test environment. There are tons of tutorials available nowadays on the Internet. You can find some good ones at http://www.howtoforge.com/. I suggest starting with the RedHat clones like Centos or Fedora Core. These can be set up as a webserver to run in your home just like the servers you get with a hosting company. The only difference is that it will not have CPanel (unless you want to pay the price). There are other alternatives for a GUI control panel, but learning bash commands will get you farther.