Surinder and I are currently attending the Mardi Gras conference on virtual worlds in Baton Rouge along with our colleague Rui Huang. We are here to present our paper that I discussed in last week’s post and also to hear the exciting work that others are pursuing in and around virtual worlds. I am amazed by the breadth of interests… Read more →
What: Story on NPR about the use of video conferencing in immigration courts. Posts to which it is related: Supportive and Critical Communication in Virtual Teams, Lessons from Victorian Technology Bottom line: This piece demonstrates some of the issues that arise when a form of virtual collaboration is used strictly for efficiency with no adjustments made for interacting virtually instead of… Read more →
Effective communication in electronic environments can be vexing to virtual teams. We know intuitively that we need proper communication to achieve high quality and efficient outcomes, but we are not always sure how to best achieve effective communication or even what effective communication is for the task at hand. We have mentioned issues around communication in past posts, such as… Read more →
What: Financial Times special report about the current downturn offering opportunities for distributing leadership and the use of flexible virtual teams Posts to which it is related: What President Obama Teaches Us For Leading Virtually, So Far And Yet So Near, Leading Virtual Communities: Do We Have the Answers, Are Casual Virtual Team Participants Endangering Virtual Teams Bottom line: According… Read more →
Recently, warfare expert P. W. Singer appeared on several shows (NPR’s Fresh Air, The Daily Show) to talk about his new book Wired for War. While not necessarily the central focus of the book, one point he made caught my attention for its relation to virtual teams. Singer talked about a drone pilot who engages in war, but from afar… Read more →
What: Statistics about who’s online and what they’re doing Posts to which it is related: Culture Matters In Virtual Teams Bottom line: A recent report by Pew Online and American Life gives a breakdown by age of Internet users and their activities. Although some may view online activities as strictly for the younger generation, the report shows that Boomers are… Read more →
During the last few years, I have noticed certain changes or patterns in email communication that can potentially damage virtual work. I am afraid that these patterns may be on their way to becoming a part of email communication culture. Many email users may be falling into these usage patterns without realizing their potentially damaging effects. With the idea of… Read more →
What: CNN.com numbers about how people connected to the inauguration of President Obama. Posts to which it is related: What President Obama Teaches Us for Leading Virtually Bottom line: The numbers are staggering, and that’s a good sign by my reckoning. There are two things that I took away from this article. First, not only are massive number of people… Read more →
I watched in awe from early this morning as the world got ready for the inauguration of Barack Obama as President. I felt joy and hope as I read my dad’s email this morning saying that he was so excited to see the moment that he had dreamed of, but thought might never come in his country. And I… Read more →
What: WSJ article on how text messaging may prevent languages from fading Posts to which it is related: None Bottom line: Language advocates worry that languages may not stay relevant if they are not used to send text messages on a cellphone. However, texting on a cellphone can be cumbersome because one has to make multiple taps on keys to… Read more →