Task 6

Task 6
Posted for Group C by Anna Hesselberg
May 6, 2008
COM370

After vigorous research, we the Synergizing Quakers are proposing that Carroll College Student Organizations implement the virtual world technology of Second Life into their programs by the year 2010. We have found that regardless of your choice of theory behind media adaption, there are many reasons for the Student Organizations to take part in Second Life technology.

First of all, there are the media characteristics. Second Life offers a rich assortment of communication media, whether it be its built in instant messaging system, audio communication, and even visual cues through individuals' avatars. This allows the user to overcome the primary barriers of computer mediated communication as these visual cues and expressions are available to dispel any unintended connotations/interpretations. Because it is so rich, Second Life is often used synchronously, engrossing the users' complete attention which also leads to a better sense of immediacy as multitasking is not occurring. Participants are immersed in a 3-D virtual world where they can travel about, form their own societies, participate in discussions or activities, etc.
The posted media capabilities also allow information sharing via rich video and/or interactive pieces whether an actual person is available to share it or not.

Next, there is the social information model. College students are well known for being strong technological adaptors, a fact recently proven by the incredible integration of Facebook in the college community. Second life is looked upon by college students as "hip" and new, and most would be willing to at least give it a try –if only to see what the fuss is about.

Lastly, there is what has been termed the "Dual-Capacity" model by Miller (2006). This theory proposes that organizations adopt media not only for their "data carrying" capacity, but for their "symbol carrying" capacity as well. By implementing Second Life, Carroll College would be giving the image of a technically advanced campus that is able to train its students on the technology of the future. Students too would benefit by being able to list their Second Life experience on their resume, showing their employers that they are open to using virtual communication –something that is only going to get more and more popular as we progress further into the age of a global economy.

The first step of implementation would be to make sure all campus computers not only have the Second Life software downloaded, but also meet its technical requirements. Having easy access to Second Life throughout the campus is necessary in order for students to get involved, and it also needs to run smoothly and efficiently. The next step to would be to overcome any learning curves as while the technology does provide its own training sessions –it is still always helpful to have a real, live person to cry to when it comes to computers. The most efficient means of doing this would be to include an introduction to Second Life within the First Year Seminar course that is required of all students and is used to teach not only reading and writing material, but also how to make the most of Carroll's technological capabilities. By including Second Life as a staple of this course's curriculum, students can get set up and acclimated to the virtual world with more guidance and assistance rather than trying it out on their own –helping them have a better experience so that they will be willing to use the technology throughout college and into their professional careers.

Once these steps have been completed, Second Life would have the potential of being a great benefit to Carroll's student organizations. “The popularity of virtual communities reflects the fact that individuals are using new technologies, such as the internet, to fulfill both social and economic goals.” (Porter, 2004). With over fifty different student clubs on campus, having a virtual meeting spots for organization members would make holding meeting and events efficient and easy for those involved, and would be an encouragement for the large percentage of the student population that lives off campus. In addition, student organizations could use Second Life to host lectures, panel discussions or even concerts with professionals from all over the world without having to pay for travel costs. Also, by having a presence in second life, student organizations would be able to better recommend themselves to potential Carroll Students and/or employers, marketing themselves people outside of Carroll's small campus. It would also provide members the ability to discuss shared interests, develop social relations, and allow themselves to explore new identities in a virtual world.

Works Cited:
Miller, K. (2006). Organizational communication: Approached and process (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Porter, C. E., (2004). A typology of virtual communities: A multi-disciplinary foundation for future research. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(1), Article 3.

Part 7

Virtual worlds, such as Second Life, have many professional implications as well. Because it can be completely self-paced, it’s great for tutorials, training, and the development of skills. This can be very valuable for businesses as well as job seekers looking to add and develop new talents and experiences. It’s also a useful tool with presentations, panels, and discussions. Professionals are able to meet virtually with accommodation to busy schedules and cross-continental members. In addition, productions would be able to test out new product designs. A virtual prototype would be able to be designed and user-tested. Members of these virtual worlds would be able to give their feedback and provide valuable market research. Other businesses that may benefit include architectural design, modeling, interior design, and urban planning.
Also, a person might exercise a second language in a virtual world. It’d be able to give written as well as verbal communication practice. This allows for cultures to connect effortlessly, giving a whole cultural immersion. Besides, language barriers, virtual worlds also allow for cultural exchange and virtual tourism. Thought it may be purely virtual, the essence of a society can still be represented.
Everyone is capable of benefiting from these societal implications. At times, there’s a divide between technological ability and comfort. However, the aptitude to adopt such technology is there if the user is willing to learn. Informing people about the social and professional benefits will encourage them and provide interest.

Aside from the benefits of implementing second life into businesses, second life is a great recreational tool as well. Flying around space, meeting people from other countries, getting a house at twenty-on, all seems like a dream. However it isn’t. Virtual worlds have created new opportunities for people to become someone other than the person they are at their nine to five. Creating an account in second life helps create an anonymous new you, or avatar should we say. Besides having the ability to sit in your sweatpants, on a Tuesday night in Wisconsin, and go to the Aftershock night club in San Francisco, Second life has a lot more to offer for an avatars social life. Given our social debut to second life we had the opportunity to see what this new virtual craze was all about, and why people might prefer it to meeting new people in person.

In the Module 6 article by Jackson, it explains the optimistic hopes for information technology, explaining that the internet will hopefully facilitate a more equitable distribution of social, economic and political goods and services.” (p.142). Joining the mainstream virtual world of Second Life individuals have the ability to become more social under their anonymous identity and become a part of a virtual society. Not having the social anxiety of meeting someone in person, socializing in a virtual community or group creates a less stressful environment. Second life allows people to interact and communicate through chatting with people across the world, for free. Having the ability to fly around a digital world, visit the apple store, check up on the news, or even go to the extent of visiting an exotic club, second life can cater to any individual, or avatar. Moreover, the use of Linden Dollars is available to buy land, houses, clothes and so forth. The more comfortable people become using the internet and virtual worlds such as second life, the higher the possibility of a “digital divide” disappearing. The international Linden Lab creation of second life gives individuals an outlet from their normal lives, but they can still live a highly social life online.

Despite Jackson’s findings that the use of internet amongst different races and genders (primarily African Americans and Women) with low incomes showed a similar low usage amongst African Americans as well as European Americans, that held similar levels of education as well as income. There are roughly thirteen million accounts as of March 2008.

Second life has the ability to benefit organizations as well as fit into peoples everyday lives for fun. The avatar alter-ego is a fun new way to meet people and see new places, all in the comfort of your home.

Task 5 Revised

Apple

Second Life Businesses are using online shopping the same as first person businesses. The one downfall is that the idea of shopping online, to some folks, is a little too impersonal and scary. The company has filed a patent with the US Patent and Trademark office for an Enhanced Online Shopping Atmosphere, as originally noted by MacNN.

The patent basically describes an online shop in which different areas of what's available are depicted in a 3D space, in which customers can see goods for sale and, if they choose to do so, interact with other customers on the virtual shop floor.

There's other potential usages, the filing claims: "For example, if an author has been invited to participate in a live chat hosted by the Acme store, an icon of the book may appear in [a region] alerting customers (in all departments) that a special event is occurring."

The patent points out that a drawback of shopping online is that the "experience can feel sterile and isolating". The patent argues that shoppers looking at what's on offer in online stores are less likely to look around and window shop, so the creation of an immersive experience may help sell more goods.

I understand where the receivers’ of this patent are coming from with the idea that people are more likely to buy more by browsing a 3-D environment vs. a storefront, but the way second life is set up right now, there’s hardly anything to buy and no one around to show you how. I don’t really know what else to say, I haven’t seen anything in this virtual world besides boobs and ads for non-physical things that have no present value. The only reason I would keep using this program is to invest in land or storefronts for future equity, or to design clothes or other inventory to sell.

IBM

At IBM they are moving into the next evolutionary phase of the Internet. IBM is helping clients and partners to conduct business inside virtual worlds and to connect the virtual world with the real world. They experiment with innovative companies across a variety of industries from banking and insurance to retail and media & entertainment.
IBM’s strategy is to collaborate with a community in an open source fashion to build the next generation of the World Wide Web -- the 3-D Internet. Their focus is on identifying, delivering, sustaining, protecting and expanding value for the end users in business, government and society.
www.ibm.com/virtualworlds

Manpower

Manpower Island is a place where job seekers, employers and entrepreneurs can come together in an interactive forum to learn about and explore the World of Virtual Work. They share ideas and identify new opportunities in traditional and non-traditional meeting space.
"Manpower's mission is to help people, companies and governments understand what's coming next in the changing world of work. The virtualization of the labor market is a key issue for all of these groups and our presence in Second Life will enable us to further define the next stages of virtual work, which are emerging in 3D worlds," said Johns.
Tammy Johns, Manpower Inc. senior vice president of workforce strategy

I just spoke with a help desk guy at the manpower building and he told me there are ways to make money in design, creating clothes, but he said honestly it is better to go straight to the store owners and work your way up selling the clothes to them vs. getting jobs through manpower.

www.manpower.com/press/secondlife

Motives for using second life

So, why should organization think about establishing a presence in Second Life?
To tap into an immersive market on the World Wide Web. Second Life emerges as a cutting-edge communication and simulation platform. Just as the web is already replacing and extending the capabilities of traditional print media, Second Life is likewise extending the capabilities of broadcast media and chat.
To earn media coverage. When you invest in a Second Life presence, it's not like you're just advertising to people in Second Life. At this point, simply being a real-world organization with a presence in Second Life is enough to guarantee media interest.
To make your web site work harder. A Second Life presence is a great complement to an existing web presence, marketing site or online community. By creating an SL space for members of your community, you give them a meeting place where they can relate on the relationships they're establishing on the web.
Amplify your live events. Holding an event in Second Life is a great way to make a real-life event accessible to people who can't join you in person. You can hold an event simultaneously in both real life and a corresponding SL space, allowing remote guests to participate and feel as if they’re actually there.

Second Life grew quickly, but these are still early days compared to the role it's going to play in our lives in another five or ten years. Maybe the virtual world we end up living in won't look exactly like today's Second Life, but it is going to have a big impact on how our virtual lives evolve.

Task 5

Sorry it took so long to get this up here. I didn't know how to get into the group and signed up to a different blog!? Here is what I have for task 5. It basically talks about the atmosphere and idea of businesses using online shopping the same as first person business. The one downfall is that the idea of shopping online, to some folks, is a little too impersonal and scary.

Task 5

Apple Inc. -

The company has filed patent with the US Patent and Trademark office for an Enhanced Online Shopping Atmosphere, as originally noted by MacNN.

The patent basically describes an online shop in which different areas of what's available are depicted in a 3D space, in which customers can see goods for sale and, if they choose to do so, interact with other customers on the virtual shop floor.

There's other potential usages, the filing claims: "For example, if an author has been invited to participate in a live chat hosted by the Acme store, an icon of the book may appear in [a region] alerting customers (in all departments) that a special event is occurring."

The patent points out that a drawback of shopping online is that the "experience can feel sterile and isolating". The patent argues that shoppers looking at what's on offer in online stores are less likely to look around and window shop, so the creation of an immersive experience may help sell more goods.

Koski, D. United States Patent Application: Enhancing online shopping atmosphere. Retrieved April 20, 2008. From http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20080091553.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080091553RS=DN/20080091553

Jason Lotzer

Task 5 IBM & Manpower in Second Life

At IBM they are moving into the next evolutionary phase of the Internet. IBM is helping clients and partners to conduct business inside virtual worlds and to connect the virtual world with the real world. They experiment with innovative companies across a variety of industries from banking and insurance to retail and media & entertainment.
IBM’s strategy is to collaborate with a community in an open source fashion to build the next generation of the World Wide Web -- the 3-D Internet. Their focus is on identifying, delivering, sustaining, protecting and expanding value for the end users in business, government and society.
www.ibm.com/virtualworlds

Manpower Island is a place where job seekers, employers and entrepreneurs can come together in an interactive forum to learn about and explore the World of Virtual Work. They share ideas and identify new opportunities in traditional and non-traditional meeting space.
"Manpower's mission is to help people, companies and governments understand what's coming next in the changing world of work. The virtualization of the labor market is a key issue for all of these groups and our presence in Second Life will enable us to further define the next stages of virtual work, which are emerging in 3D worlds," said Johns.
Tammy Johns, Manpower Inc. senior vice president of workforce strategy
www.manpower.com/press/secondlife

So, why should organization think about establishing a presence in Second Life?
To tap into an immersive market on the World Wide Web. Second Life emerges as a cutting-edge communication and simulation platform. Just as the web is already replacing and extending the capabilities of traditional print media, Second Life is likewise extending the capabilities of broadcast media and chat.
To earn media coverage. When you invest in a Second Life presence, it's not like you're just advertising to people in Second Life. At this point, simply being a real-world organization with a presence in Second Life is enough to guarantee media interest.
To make your web site work harder. A Second Life presence is a great complement to an existing web presence, marketing site or online community. By creating an SL space for members of your community, you give them a meeting place where they can relate on the relationships they're establishing on the web.
Amplify your live events. Holding an event in Second Life is a great way to make a real-life event accessible to people who can't join you in person. You can hold an event simultaneously in both real life and a corresponding SL space, allowing remote guests to participate and feel as if they’re actually there.

Second Life grew quickly, but these are still early days compared to the role it's going to play in our lives in another five or ten years. Maybe the virtual world we end up living in won't look exactly like today's Second Life, but it is going to have a big impact on how our virtual lives evolve.

Task 4: Second Life and Instant Messaging

Hi Everyone,

I apologize for not having this posted on time, I went home to post it last night and found out I had saved it as a *.docx file --the blame is entirely my own.

Thanks,
Anna
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COM370
Submitted for Group C by Anna H. & Anthony V.
April 22, 2008

Second Life and Instant Messaging

At first glance, Second Life appears to be just a simple computer game, boasting better graphics than most, but a computer game nonetheless. However, an increasing number of companies are using this virtual world technology as medium for professional communication. To gain a full understanding of this trend, we must first study its media's characteristics.

Second Life is a computer mediated virtual world technology which, when compared with a more accepted computer mediated form of communication like Instant Messenger, has a number of characteristics worth discussing. First of all, much like Instant Messenger, Second Life allows for global communication in a synchronous manner –though, unlike Instant Messaging, it does not allow for much multitasking as the program has some heavy system requirements and, in most cases, hogs all processing capabilities. That being said, it is a much richer media than Instant Messaging as it offers not only its own instant messaging, but hosts voice chat capabilities as well, enabling users to communicate vocally through headsets. This allows for all the voice inflections and verbal cues which are typically lost in Instant Messaging to be included in the communication, allowing the sarcastic ones among us to retain their place in civilized society. It goes beyond that, however, as each user possesses a customizable "avatar" which functions as him/herself in the Second Life world, and these figures allow some non-verbal communication to manifest its self in the form of gestures, expressions, and voice inflection. Compared to the limited substitute of emoticons found in instant messaging, Second Life’s non-verbal communication and visual emersion allow far more information to be transmitted to the receiver. Second life also benefits from the fact that the user is completely immersed in the virtual world, with its own monetary systems, laws, locations, stores, etc. –all of which allow for communication through advertising and promotion within the program itself. Instant messaging, on the other hand, is a much leaner communication medium, and "the lack of visual cues provides less information for the receiver to “regulate, modify, and control exchanges” (Keisler 1984). Because of Second Life’s ability to visually communicate, it also allows a person to have a stronger social presence that they would be able to have in instant messaging.

While Second Life is a much richer communication medium, there are some major draw backs within its workings. As mentioned before, the tremendous amount of resources it requires to run the software download often causes a personal computer or laptop to freeze up or not run at all. This drain on a computer's resources does not allow for background programs to run simultaneously, translating to no multitasking capabilities. This multitasking ability is one of the primary functions of Instant messaging (which requires very little processing power), and is often listed by users as one of the key benefits. Another drawback to second life is that it takes a large time investment to become familiar with the interface and various components. While having many different customizable options hold a vast amount of potential, they can lead to an inordinate wasting of time as a user can spend hours just trying to change his/her avatar's hair color. Second Life presents the user with almost everything available in the real world, and this can be quite a distraction if you are supposed to be paying attention to a speaker in a meeting. All these options and the tools can also be quite overwhelming, leading to what Miller referred to as the user “drowning in data.” (2006) While instant messaging is a much leaner medium, it is a simple straight forward use of communicating using text, making it efficient for unambiguous communication while performing other tasks. Second Life also shares with Instant Messaging the potential problem of flamers. Kiesler stated regarding computer mediated communication that "Messages are depersonalized, inviting stronger or more uninhibited text and more assertiveness in return." (1984). In Second Life, this flaming still occurs, but at the same time, users often become psychologically attached to their avatar, and may often become more offended by this virtual-world abuse than they would have if it had occurred through Instant Messaging.

In summary, Second Life holds much potential as a communication medium, but just because it is richer than Instant Messaging does not necessarily equate to being a better mediated communication in all cases. If efficiency is the goal, Second Life is not what you are looking for.

Works Cited
Miller, K. (2006). Organizational communication: Approached and process (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Kiesler, S., Siegel, J., & McGuire, T. W. (1984). Social psychological aspects of computer mediated communication. American Psychologist, 39, 330-347.