I like Irwin Lazar's recent blog from Collaboration Loop. Irwin talks about how some firms are beginning to use things like Second Life to create virtual reality collaboration spaces. The imagination of users is creative. The basic idea is to create a "place" where end users will actually engage each other. To me it highlights the need to create real-time team workspaces that facilitate what I call "many to many" interactions.
So what's new? Not much, just the avatars. Why is that interesting? Because the end user experience is very key. If an application does not create an environment to properly share and consume new information, end users will ignore it. That's bad for business.
Parlano's persistent group chat doesn't have avatars, but creates an end user experience that brings professionals together with the right teams, in real time. The "chat rooms" are virtual, after all no one is really physically present. However, their world is reality (not virtual), and true collaboration occurs.
I find it ironic that with all the great software out there, we have to lean on a "Second Life" to make the First Life better. That's why software firms like Parlano have to constantly look at new technologies. You never know what you might find in this life(time), or another.
