What are different ways these virtual worlds
can be used? What are the pros and cons? Be specific. How do virtual worlds
foster creativity? What do you think the future of virtual worlds will look
like?
Nowadays virtual world are becoming more a reality than real life itself. As mentioned y Stephanie Simon in "Avatar II: the Hospital", "second life is increasingly being used to train medical and nursing students in clinical skills". Second life help make real-world hospitals more efficient since nurses or doctors or students can practice situation that happen in the real world.
Virtual world also help stimulate people's imagination and help train people in obtaining certain skills necessary to their work. Virtual world help people reconnect with the past and relive what they thought was lost to them. An example is Saki Knafo's, The New York Times article "In Room 100, It’s Sid and Nancy All Over Again" where this Chelsea hotel, the tenants who could no longer afford and were ousted had the opportunity to recreate a world that was dear to them with its culture and everything they loved about the place.
In virtual world, you can be who you want to be, how you want to be, whenever you desire. There is nobody to judge you, mock you, put you in uncomfortable situations or bully you. I do not go to the virtual worlds and do not have an avatar, but I think that should that happen, your avatar can take care of it. I would not understand if someone could let themselves be bullied without taking care of it in a virtual world. To me virtual worlds should represent the safest place one could live in. Virtual world help foster social skills especially for people who lack social, emotional and communication skills to help them feel more comfortable in a different environment. Hopefully, this could help them connect better with real humans.
On a professional point of view, business can have virtual meeting in the safe environment of the company's own computer networks . It is a new tool that more and more companies are using to hold meetings, conduct training and prototype new technologies more efficiently.
But there are also some cons. Companies can run into some hitches. For people who are not familiar with the virtual world, it might take time to adapt and know their way around. That issue might not be a big one if one is in the virtual world to practice social skills, but for an organization that is a completely different story as lost time represents lost income and revenues.
Another issue reside in the fact that consistently living in the virtual world can lead to feelings of isolation. People do lose sight of the reality and act in the real world as if it was just the virtual world. This can create big problems for mentally deranged people who can pose acts that represent threats to society.
Also, as mentioned by Mark Tutton in going to the virtual office in second life, " virtual teams may not share national and organizational cultures, and that virtual workers should make a conscious effort to see things from their colleagues' point of view". So, this negative aspect can easily be changed into a positive thing as we're going to a more international culture.
Sources
·
"In Room 100, It's Sid and
Nancy All Over Again,"by Saki Knafo, The New York Times, May 3, 2009, p.
CY6. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/nyregion/thecity/03virt.html
·
iReport: 'Naughty Auties' battle
autism with virtual interaction by Nicole Saidi, CNN, March 28, 2008.
·
IBM's
Virtual World for its Employees: IBM Learning Programs Get a 'Second Life' by
Ed Frauenheim Workforce Management; Dec 11, 2006; http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/24/61/08.html
·
Going to the Virtual Office in
Second Life, CNN.com: Nov 5, 2009 http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/11/05/second.life.virtual.collaboration/index.html
·
"Avatar II: The Hospital"
by Stephanie Simon, The Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2010 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703909804575124470868041204.html?KEYWORDS=avatar+ii+the+hospital
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