Fragments

The Real Virtuality

June 23rd, 2008 | by Marjan Bradesko |

At the recent Cisco Partner Summit at Hawaii, the words »infinite possibilities« and »collaboration« were mentioned almost – infinitely. Keith Goodwin, Senior VP, Worldwide Channels, Cisco was referring to the second wave of the Internet, to Web 2.0 and the infinite possibilities for collaboration. Indeed the tools and technologies have evolved so much that even virtual worlds now look almost real. And it is not only about social networking…

When I saw SecondLife for the first time, my first reaction was: »Oh no! Too much. This is not serious.« Since then, several things have changed, including the improved look-and-feel of this »second world« and the introduction of the corporate »islands« (SecondLife GRID). But when Cisco launched its Cisco Partner Space I started thinking: »They are a serious company.« When testing the first version of the NIL booth, I got excited. Once I was hanging at the virtual booth and then decided to do a short »leg stretching«. Soon I »walked« into the Partner Conference Hall. Big screen, podium, red seats … it looked even better than the real hall at the convention center (it was in Hawaii), and definitely it was not that cold. A list of interesting presentations was on the screen. I picked one – and listened. Suddenly it came to my mind. The difference of this approach is simply mental. The process of walking-in, sitting in the hall, looking at the big screen … made me more ready to listen and watch. Today we say – it is about experience. And it was.

Now let`s take another example for proof. Last autumn I was lucky and visited one of the FlightSafety International centers – in Salt Lake City. The real flight simulator is a strange looking box from the outside, on six hydraulic legs. But there is a nice cockpit inside. And when the instructor turned it on, I had suddenly found myself in a cockpit at the take-off position on one of the Canary Islands airports … In a matter of a second. It was so real. My mind was transformed – geographically and professionally.

And I believe here is the trick. Setting virtual booths, holding virtual meetings and classes in a virtual world – it is just more real. It transforms your mind to be “there”. It makes a real experience.