I recently watched a Frontline episode on avatars and virtual worlds that summarized some really interesting research going on at Standord's Virtual Human Interaction Lab (VHIL). This short clip is a good overview:
The projects underway at VHIL show a lot of really exciting potential for collaboration in virtual worlds. They have a number of studies that suggest real-world social phenomena transfer into virtual worlds and that what happens in virtual worlds seems to impact real-world behaviour. In other words, users don't seem to finely distinguish their experiences in the virtual world from those in the real world.
IBM is already using Second Life for remote collaboration in a big way, as are many other organizations. Meetings, conferences, you name it: it's all being done in virtual worlds.
When I first heard about this form of collaboration, I thought it was a little gimmicky. It couldn't possibly replace informal, ad hoc communication in the workplace and it couldn't be any better than picking up the phone. Glancing over this research has changed my viewpoint, though. Virtual worlds are clearly more than isolated, independent realities. I'm actually pretty keen to try out a virtual world meeting. Are you on Second Life? If so, let's make up an excuse to have a meeting! (As soon as I figure out how to get more stylish clothes on my avatar.)
2 Comments
1 Jorge Aranda
Posted February 19, 2010 at 6:09 amPermalink
I'm still very skeptical about the potential of virtual reality for meetings. I know that some people in IBM are pushing Second Life hard, but I don't think it'll catch on even in the rest of the organization. First, some of these people attend a dozen meetings *daily*; most of these meetings are teleconferences and attendants only pay partial attention to them while they try to do the work that they're actually supposed to do. Second Life is too clunky for this. And second, the only meeting (really a demo) I observed in Second Life was a big disappointment. I actually don't even remember what people said, I was too distracted with their hairdos, the landscape, and the absurdity of their avatars "drinking coffee;" flavorless, scentless, absolutely decaffeinated coffee.
But if you actually have a meeting in a virtual world I'd love to hear about it.
2 Jeremy Handcock
Posted February 23, 2010 at 11:58 pmPermalink
Yeah, I can see how Second Life isn't appropriate for people who are attending meetings passively; in that case, nothing beats a phone with a headset and a mute button along with a fully caffeinated cup of coffee
For meetings with more active participation, I'm still attracted to the idea that VR could provide feelings and recollections of physical presence that would otherwise be absent, and the research seems to suggest that it's possible. It would also be interesting to use other remote collaboration tools (e.g., shared screens) embedded in virtual worlds.
Another interesting possibility is having remote participants in co-located virtual offices. Although I don't get many opportunities for ad hoc communication in a remote team, if I see my colleague is sitting right beside me in my virtual office, perhaps I'll engage in such conversation more often.