Compared to other collaborative technologies, Second Life is rather open-ended. It has no specific purpose, and it relies on its users to create “entertainment, experiences, and opportunity” (taken from secondlife.com). How, then, can it be used for collaboration? As a virtual world, it could certainly be useful in certain situations, but due to the nature of the environment, there could also be several drawbacks.
The main benefit of Second Life is its existence as a virtual world. This means that it offers a sense of vision and place, with its defining characteristic being the ability to “look around”. Users are represented by avatars and placed in a three-dimensional environment populated with other users. They can choose their appearance, and they can teleport/fly to any location they desire.
For collaboration purposes, this offers many benefits. The avatar helps to create a sense of group awareness that is lacking in typical communication technologies. Players can see and interact with each other, at least in the virtual sense. If players become immersed in the world, the effects of proximity can also be lessened because, while players are not in the same physical space, they are in the same space virtually. The types of interaction afforded by the virtual environment are therefore unique, and while communication is fairly limited, Second Life should work well for loosely coupled, visual forms of collaboration. The text chat is less helpful for detailed communication (such as teaching someone to build furniture in Professor MacLeod’s lecture), but the virtual world is ideal for having presentations, sharing videos, or collaborating on something that requires visual feedback.
However, interacting in a virtual world has limitations, as well. As Boellstorff states in his article, “Even when place becomes virtual, time remains actual” (18). Although Second Life has its own time, time continues to pass by at the same rate in the real world. This could make it difficult for collaboration between users in different time zones. Online representations are also not accurate displays of a person’s status in real life. They could be away from there computer, for example, and not paying attention to their surroundings. In working in a group, this could lead to social loafing. The lack of an advanced form of verbal communication could also make it difficult to accomplish a tightly coupled task that requires common ground.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I think that the "group awareness" is a very good point. Users can actually 'see' who is in the room, which can have many inherent benefits. I believe being able to 'see' your fellow collaborators gives more of a Face-to-Face feel than Second Life's CMC counterparts. And I definitely agree with the deception of not paying attention when in a group meeting. However I think in Second Life, after you're idle for a certain amount of time your avatar slumps over and looks kind of dead (at least this what I saw when I explored SL during lecture). This might deter users from completely stepping away from their computer while in a meeting.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree with many of your points, I would say that Second Life's purpose is to provide a second life for people away from their own lives to provide a release. i agree with the point of group awareness since second life provides benefits that allow for avatars to be in the place as a face to face meeting where everyone involved feels as if they are present. I believe it also works with ideal of having a single display where there is no switch between different displays.
ReplyDelete