The next revolution?

Posted for Rin C.

Have you seen or had a virtual world meeting experience? I tried second life and watched some demos from a couple of virtual worlds.  If you have not, see this VDO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8OAAFQaFiA and you may get some idea (it's about 10 min long).

I think the Forttera user interface is much better than Second Life. Internet users or anyone who has some computer skill should not have much problem. It takes a while to memorize and become familiar with command buttons (i.e hold space for speak and ctrl-arrow key to move). You can teleport to any location in the "world". 
 
Do you think user interface is a serious issue to make virtual worlds useful? Is it only the problem with older generations? This article  says virtual worlds are the industrial revolution of our generation.

Comments

[James Kempski]

Yes I believe that user interface is an issue to make a virtual world useful but functionality is more important. For older generations the user interface should matter more as it will need to be easier for less computer saavy individuals can operate. Based on classroom discussion, it is safe to say that older generations operate less on computer and will not adapt to new technologies as quickly as younger generations. To claim that the virtual worlds is the industrial revolution to our generate is a lofty statement to make. The industrial revolution did more for everyone, maybe the emergence of the Internet in our generations industrial revolution.

[YNelson]

Using Virtual World for virtual collaboration maybe viewed as exciting and innovated technology. I found the avatars to be very distracting and robotic. I do not think the user interface is user friendly. The learning curve for controlling movement appears to be quite time consuming. Maybe if I were a gamer, I would find Virtual World technology for collaborating fun. I hope that as this technology matures its user interfaces will become easy to use. Until then, I will continue to use audio/video conferencing tools.

[Greg Chamopoulos]

As can be seen with the development of any application that is in the market for anything, the interface is half of the battle. It is very important to have an interface that is easy to use, responsive, and nice to look at. The interface, just like curb-appeal on a house, is the first thing that people look at when using an application. If the interface is intriguing, people would be more excited about using such a product. As for this particular application, I think it is brilliant and future applications of this nature will definately reshape the way that we think about collaboration and the internet.

[Kyle Fishwick]

Been there done that. It scares me that deep in second life there is a part that is very 'seedy' and is what kept second life alive for a very long time. I don't think it will ever be anything more then just a toy until we move away from the 'avatar' and go with who we truely are.

I just can not see how being in a 'second life' is going to make you any more productive then real life, especially since there are so many better tools out there for businesses. I may be an old guy but I can not help but think the new 3D meetings people are trying to push something that is not there yet. The people have been teased with handheld 3D devices in Star Wars and by god we want our handheld 3D devices, especially if they allow me to download important meeting updates or check my fantasy football team while working on spreadsheets!

[Rin Chitinanda]

I don't think Virtual world is not going to replace VDO conference. One of the benefit for business use is create virtual office i.e a virtual project room or virtual water cooler that employee from wherever can have casual interactions or see progress of each team like they are working in the same place. I think for business use, the closer to the reality of the avatar is the better. To gain trust , we should to show our sincere and honesty, we should appear in virtual world like ourselves not some models or heroes.

[Janice Hill]

I don’t believe the best use of virtual world technology is to recreate face to face business meetings using virtual world technology. As some have pointed out, implementing video conferencing is probably a better solution than recreating the meeting experience using virtual world technology. I believe that using virtual world technology to assist with problem solving is a better use of the technology. For instance, using virtual technology to aid R&D activities by assembling a new car design in a virtual world or architecting a new building in a virtual world is a better use of the technology.
The article seems to suggest that more than virtual world meetings are in store for us. It suggests a Matrix like existence where people sit in their chairs at home and enter a virtual world where they walk around and buy products from virtual stores. I’m not sure how much I am willing to spend to send someone ‘virtual’ roses or a ‘virtual’ birthday cake at this point. However, I believe that mass adaption of virtual world technology will happen on at some point.

[zahra]

Yes, It is a revolution ..

I think it is a cool tool to use in business, education, and in the other filed also, it will make a great improvement in these field and other ..

Because it is interesting and attractive , but i thin it will takes time to be common in the world.

[Haidar AlMubarak]

I think it is not only the interface. It is the learning curve, the usability and features are challenging virtual world. The interface is a challenging issue even for computer savvies, if the interface is not attractive enough or not easy to use they will give up using it.

[Kevin M.]

For me, this tool is completely useless. When I watched the video, I see this not as a virtual collaboration tool but as some type of a game. Unless you want to create a character, dress it up and walk around, all the work that needs to be done can be accomplished by video conferencing and document sharing. But again, this is just my personal opinion. There may be a market for those who work better in a virtual environment. For those who can visualize better with life like surroundings. If a better product with much more features and tools comes out, I may change my mind. But from watching the demo, I don't think I will be using it to collaborate anytime soon.

[zainab]

I think it is a revolution
I read an article talks about the second life and how many universities apply it on their education system it is really great tool. Open University, Harvard, Texas State, and Stanford are just a few of the many universities that have set up virtual campuses where students can meet, attend classes, and create content together. I think this a great step will change the world..Do not you agree on that ?

Here is the article
http://secondlifegrid.net/slfe/education-use-virtual-world

[lana henderson]

I did view the video and I found the avatars distracting and strange. I can only image trying to have an animated conversation while manipulating the combination of buttons. It might make sense for some types of meetings, but I can't see this as a solution for high-level ones. I agree with Steve regarding video conferencing tools.

At my previous company, we employed video conferencing software that work quite well for our small organization. As others have said, in a few years this might be a viable option but not now.

[sofia aleem]

I agree with most of the comments I think virtual world meetings are a innovative and exciting approach to modern technology. I feel that a lot of people will get interested in doing business globally if this type of technology grows and more opportunities will arise as well. As far as the article i think it has a point, I feel like now a days anything is possible. What may seem far fetched back in the day seems realistic now. I think this would be a great way to expand everyone's perspective on collaborative technology.

[KimG]

The idea of using virtual world for virtual collaboration sounds like fun and maybe it could motivate some people to invest more in a project if they were looking forward to a game-like experience. One of my favorite on-line games is World of Warcraft. Learning the interface took some time but it was fun enough for me to stick with it. I wonder if I would have the same amount of patience if I were under time constraints and if my evaluation of productivity was dependent on my ability to effectively master the interface.

[Veerapatr.k]

The Virtual world meeting is such a great revolution on these days. The user interface is always an important issue for every software because the easily nice user interface will make users to easily use the software. The vitual world concept is like playing an online game. As I was a gamer, I prefer having a nice and easily user interface. Moreover, a bunch of software that are well-known are all ease of use, and adaptibility for users.

In my opinion, the virtual world meeting will be an interesting tool in the next 3-4 years, since it does like we can go to any location in the world not physically but virtually by using this next revolution.

[Kaushik Patel]

User interface shouldn't be an issue now compare to old generation. The only challenge I see is that initially, it will take time for people to get use to the commands and the environment. After that it should be pretty straight forward with the virtual world. I have never used virtual world but would like to try it out.
It would be very useful to organizations but I don't they are ready for virtual world. I think it will require more advanced technology for organizations to use virtual world for meetings.

[Amanda Fick]

Not really sure the point of this for meetings? Why is it that different then video chat or other tools like that? Could be very useful in the future when the technology is more advanced, but for now, I think video conferencing is still the way to go for collaboration.

[Gosia]

I was always very skeptical about use of Virtual Worlds software in enterprise environments. But I did watch the promotional video of the Forttera Olive and it almost made me a believer. This software really seems easy to use. What is interesting is that it allows creating avatar from images of ourselves. Which I think for business environment would become very important. VW is not just a game, it has a larger purpose, so seeing people who resemble themselves in a real life is a great feature. What I didn’t like is the design of their virtual rooms. The conference room looked very big in regards to the size of the avatars. The hallway looked very old and out of fashion. I would like to see some more modern and elegant interior designs there.
Saying all that, I do think a user interface has to do a lot with adaptations of new technology. With an exception of iPhone of course, the customers seems to like what is familiar to them. In my opinion however if an executive accepts that VW is the next best thing to implement, regardless of age or difficulty employees will get familiar and start to use the software.
And seeing the chart of VW usage from last night’s presentation (14 was the age using VW the most) I do believe that this might become the industrial revolution of our generation!

[Sally Loies]

There are a number of businesses and higher education institutions that are already exploring the use of the virtual world and meetings as a means of expanding there marketing strategy and providing education. It may be a few years away before it is widely accepted, but I do think that is will be a way of future. As mentioned in a previous blog comment, companies such as Toyota and American Apparel are exploring the 3d world to see if it can be adapted to serve real business problems. Additionally IBM has already built a Circuit City and a Sears’s appliance store in Second Life as a demonstration project and believes that the transition is coming and business won’t have much time to adapt.

[Steve F.]

Why recreate every aspect of a face to face meeting when the bandwidth is there today to have video conferencing? My company has a dedicated line between the Chicago and London offices and the video conference quality is nearly HD.

[Munib R]

Ease of use, and adaptibility are really important when a tool is being introduced, Interesting tool, but when we are talking about collaborating with countries which take 5 minutes for a 2 minutes YouTube video to buffer its hard to adapt, i would definitly agree the basic that we use like Skype, Msn, etc are almost getting the job done, to collaborate on this scale means additional tools and hence cost!