I just returned from the Academy of Management conference in Chicago where I presented a paper that Surinder and I wrote with Professor Rui Huang. Our paper was an extension of the research we have been doing on leadership in virtual worlds that I wrote about previously. This paper focused on how one’s online identity may affect virtual team… Read more →
The Washington Post recently featured an article about how the new system upgrades for Microsoft and Apple (due out likely towards the end of the year in time for the holidays) might impact those in the market for new computers. Although the article is directed at individual consumers performing “typical” tasks, businesses and those working on virtual teams might… Read more →
What: NY Times article about cable companies providing (or not providing) faster broadband service in the US Posts it is related to: So You Think You’d Like to Telecommute? Bottom line: For those who desire to, or already do work from home, and need high speed Internet to get optimum performance from various applications for file sharing, video conferencing or… Read more →
I had an interesting experience recently that reminded me of Surinder’s post on what he sees as some negative trends in email communication, only this experience happened in Second Life. I was visiting an area dedicated to online learning when I ran into another avatar–I’ll call him Mike–who began speaking with me. Mike immediately told me that he was… Read more →
What: NYTimes article about Cisco’s showcasing its TelePresence system. Posts to which it is related: Supportive and Critical Communication in Virtual Teams, Improving Virtual Team Leadership Using Technology Bottom line: This article reviews the use of Cisco’s TelePresence system during a press conference at which the company announced new servers. According to the author (Ashlee Vance), the press conference was too long, felt unnatural and… Read more →
What: New York Times article on how to manage e-mail overload Posts it is related to: Freeing Yourself From Email , Emergent Collaboration: Why Email Should Not Be Used for Collaboration Bottom line: In this Personal Tech article, the author gives some good ideas for getting our overwhelming amounts of email under control. His suggestion–an in-box that is always empty… 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: 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 →
Surinder recently passed an article along to me documenting a case study of an asynchronous online role-play used in a university setting. The article set my thoughts in motion about the Leading Virtually blog and my own thinking regarding training, leadership development, and learning in virtual environments in general. We at Leading Virtually obviously believe that virtual teams can be… Read more →
What: New York Times article about Vivaty’s 3-D virtual scenes for web pages Posts it is related to: The Future of Virtual Teams: Collaboration in 3D Web Bottom line: Virtual worlds are going hyper-personal and it appears there is plenty of interest from users. Vivaty is now offering a widget that allows users to create personal 3-D scenes that can… Read more →