What a great topic Anima’s web poster is. The concept of working not only remotely but literally virtually is a wonderful way to look at organizational communication. In fact I work for one of the companies highlighted in the video. When I first saw that Cisco had created a virtual world for their Partner Summit in April I was amazed at what the technology could do and wondered what the business value was. It looked like it was just a really flashy tool but after reading up on why they used it I realized that it was a great tool for people to virtually meet, conduct business and socialize. Studying the topic of corporations going virtual is so interesting and I would love to read more research done on this. We have many virtual teams at my company because the members are spread out around the world not because they work in a virtual world but I think that creating a presence in Second Life for these teams could be a great way to replicate the environment of meeting face to face.
3 comments:
I agree that the simulation of Second Life is excellent. You aren't just online you are live, real, and personable.
I've had romantic relationships on the internet and I know that online environments evoke sincere feelings and rationale. I'm certain that working in Second Life would be immensely satisfying... but I don't think I could handle it on a daily basis. Even though I enjoyed my online relationships, there was a part of me that always yearned for physical touch and presence.
I work remotely a lot of the time at my present job. It is because most of my job involves data analysis and interpretation with a computer, which can be accomplished even at home.
But I'm expected to be at work for various reasons - especially for effective communication with other employees. My company believes - and I agree (one of the few things we see eye to eye on!) - that one-on-one personal communication between employees is best, and that audio or video conferencing is not the same as the real thing. It is also easier to just walk over to someone's cube and chat with them about a certain important topic.
The "wander over into someone's cubicle" factor, also known as the "serendipity" factor (which I believe may have been coined by a former Cisco exec?), is something that companies are actually trying to address through the use of virtual worlds. Videoconferencing usually implies some sort of commitment and setup - these people will be at X location at Y time in order to discuss Z subject. However, if you're logged into a 3D virtual world, you can be sitting at a "desk" (which could be a desk, or around a campfire, or on the back of a grazing blue turtle), and your remote coworker could wander up to you and say, "hey - got a minute?" (either through text or through voice), in much the same way as someone would wander into your cube. Either that, or you can wander to a common area and see who else is around, check up on the status of an online project being charted out in the 3D world and see who else is checking up on it, create a sort of virtual "copy room" or "water cooler" environment. Of course, this requires that your coworkers be logged on at the same time as you are - but keeping a window open in the background isn't so difficult.
Post a Comment