Anonymity in the workplace: it is appropriate, sometimes

By Sam Driver. 

As work evolves, personal reputation will begin to trump employer reputation. The success of websites like Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networking tools is contributing to a personal brand identity that encompasses both physical and online / in-world (to use a virtual worlds term) behavior. Networks of trusted sources are already crossing national borders, corporate firewalls and any other imaginable barrier. Our identity is an amalgamation of our behaviors, habits and history, both in the physical and virtual worlds.

If reputation and trust are invaluable, then where does anonymity fit into this world order? On any other day, I’d answer with a pretty hard line that anonymity has a tiny, very specialized place – for whistle blowing and counseling. I am a fierce advocate for a single identity at work, both physically and in-world. However, I found myself rethinking my position in a recent brainstorming session I did with the ThinkBalm Innovation Community.

I was surprised to learn that participants felt that anonymity in some cases might actually be helpful. Even in this meeting of ThinkBalm Innovation Community members who are growing to trust each other based on our shared exploration and advocacy of the Immersive Internet, some people felt that if they were to give certain kinds of feedback, sometimes it might be better (safer? easier?) if the feedback weren’t tied to them.

The subject at hand was a 3D “sentiment-o-meter” — a feedback system for people to offer their feelings about or reactions to topics raised during a discussion without having to break into the voice or text chat channel. We were discussing a virtual mood meter that meeting participants could use to communicate subtle non-verbal cues to the group. Originally, we discussed the possibility of creating a tool that would allow people to change their avatar’s color, or the color of their avatar’s clothing, based on how they felt about a topic.

Very quickly, the discussion turned to an alternative system that was anonymous — something akin to a 3D version of the real-time voter feedback system CNN used to gain insight into how undecided Ohio voters were responding to the recent U.S. presidential debates. (Click the screen shot below to watch the video on CNN’s Web site.) This idea gained a lot of traction.

Is there a real difference between the two systems? Most people felt that there was. In fact, the two systems could be used together. On the one hand, an introverted participant could offer feedback without standing out from the crowd. On the other hand, someone could use a tool to register and claim an opinion without breaking into the voice channel. The active speaker could direct the conversation more naturally to address this kind of subtle feedback.

An anonymous system really only works when you have built up a trusted relationship. If you do, then anonymous feedback systems could form an important aspect of the virtual “body language” system. If you don’t, you may end up with “griefing” — people participating just to harass others, without regard for consequences.

We’ve accepted that we must give up our privacy to do business (e.g., shop, bank) on the web. Likewise, we’ll have to give up privacy when working via the Immersive Internet. But privacy and security aren’t the only factors that will drive how and when people will communicate in immersive environments. A real-time feedback tool that offers both anonymous and identity-associated feedback really extends the debate about anonymity to a much larger and more pervasive context: developing a virtual equivalent to physical-world body language, facial expressions, and voting processes.

© 2008 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.

ThinkBalm releases its premier Immersive Internet report

By Erica Driver and Sam Driver.

Today ThinkBalm released its inaugural research report, titled “The Immersive Internet: Make Tactical Moves Today For Strategic Advantage Tomorrow.” This report is intended to help Immersive Internet advocates,

implementers, and explorers decide if, when, and how to invest in Immersive Internet technology. Click this link or the image of the report cover to download the PDF. 

Methodology

As an independent industry analyst firm, ThinkBalm has working knowledge of the Immersive Internet vendor landscape acquired through vendor briefings and demos, hands-on experience, user interviews, consulting work with our clients, and our work with the ThinkBalm Innovation Community, which currently has about 150 members. Nearly two dozen community members reviewed and contributed to this report prior to its publication. (Membership in the ThinkBalm Innovation Community is free. For information on becoming a member please email us at info@thinkbalm.com.)

Executive Summary

The Immersive Internet is a collection of emerging technologies combined with a social culture that has roots in gaming and virtual worlds. Virtual worlds and campuses, immersive learning simulations, serious games, and three-dimensional (3D) business applications deeply engross the user and give people experiences that are perceived as real even though they take place virtually. Properly implemented, this technology promises to uncover previously unheard-of dimensions in engagement, which will in turn increase workforce collaboration, effectiveness, and retention. When the Immersive Internet is used with the extended enterprise, it will have similar positive impacts on customer, partner, and supplier relationships.
Adoption of the Immersive Internet for work is still in the “seedling” stage. We expect adoption will progress rapidly toward mainstream during the next five years because:

• A slow economy and the green movement are influencing business decisions
• Early case studies demonstrate return on investment
• We live in a video game culture
• Large business technology vendors are jumping into the fray
• Hardware, software, and networking technology have advanced rapidly
• Social networking is a way of life, allowing advocates and implementers to find each other

Investment in short-term Immersive Internet projects in 2009 is both strategic and cash-conscious. Project teams can extract tangible cost savings immediately, influence the vendors in an emerging technology market, and build the expertise needed for making sound larger investments in the future. Look for opportunities to improve business processes in seven main areas: learning and training, meetings and conferences, business activity simulation, collaborative design and prototyping, collaborative 3D data visualization, human resources management, and remote system and facility management.

The enterprise Immersive Internet technology market is made up of three main sectors: platforms, packaged applications, and custom apps. This emerging market is populated primarily by small software vendors and open source projects, making technology selection difficult and risky. The market will undergo significant change during the next five years as startups and educational institutions invent and innovate, large business technology vendors get in the game, and platforms and applications diverge. This may render some early technology implementations throwaways, though the experience gained will prove invaluable.

Long term, think of the Immersive Internet as an area of strategic investment that enables transformation of the way we work as well as business model innovation. The Immersive Internet allows organizations to connect more deeply with customers, partners, and suppliers. It enables business leaders to nourish and harvest human creativity and increase workforce and customer engagement. Ultimately, organizations will go far beyond the seven use cases we outline here and the Immersive Internet will become part of everyday life.

© 2008 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.

Recipe for a great 3D brainstorming session

by Erica Driver and Sam Driver.

In late October the ThinkBalm Innovation Community held its third brainstorming session. Sixteen members of this vibrant tribe gathered to discuss a question one of the community members (Leslie Pagel, VP of Customer Experience at Walker Information) was wrestling with: “What can I do to get newbie professionals started with Second Life?”

Given that Leslie’s question was focused on Second Life, we met in the community’s brainstorming space in that virtual world  — had the question been about some other environment, we may have met elsewhere, like our OpenSim space. It is important to note that although this discussion was specifically about Second Life, our learnings from it apply to any immersive environment used for work.

To facilitate the session, we used an early version of a 3D mindmapping tool one of our community members built (Jeff Lowe, Project Manager, University of Oklahoma Center for Public Management) (see Figure 1). After the session Jeff exported the content of the 3D mind map to a 2D Web-based mind map. We also used a name tag tool he built (see Figure 2) and an interactive polling tool he modified for our use.

Focus on one of us, impact on all of us

While we were brainstorming solutions to one community member’s specific situation, the session was valuable for all of us. We know this because at the end of the session we asked participants to input their high-level feedback into an interactive polling tool (see Figure 3). Not only did we share and gain knowledge, we strengthened community relationships and gained valuable experience collaborating in an immersive environment. And as a result of this session, Leslie Pagel changed her target audience for Walker Information’s initial Immersive Internet foray, began to identify internal allies, and started a list of vendors and other organizations she could reach out to for assistance.

If you are ready for your own home-brew brainstorming sessions within an immersive environment, here is the ThinkBalm Innovation Community recipe:

Ingredients

• A problem that can be moved toward resolution with brainstorming
• A (virtual) room full of smart people
• One hour minimum
• A 3D mind mapping tool
• Some mechanism for displaying participants’ real names with their avatars
• Private 3D space in which to meet
• Voice and text chat tools
• An interactive polling tool (optional)

Instructions

Ahead of time

1. Designate the following roles: challenger (person who has a problem they need solved), moderator (to keep the conversation flowing and on target), tech support person (to help participants use the name tag tool, 3D brainstorming tool, voice and text chat tools, etc.), and scribe (to capture ideas on the 3D mind map tool or via text chat).
2. Optional: engage the participants in discussion about the topic to be brainstormed (e.g., via blog, wiki, discussion thread, etc.)
3. Distribute information to participants about the issue to be brainstormed.

During the brainstorming session

1. Gather smart people in a 3D virtual space that is free from unwanted visitors and excessive distractions.
2. If the immersive environment cannot associate participants’ real names with their avatars (a Second Life-specific problem), provide participants with a virtual name tag that displays their name and, optionally, affiliation.
3. Have all participants introduce themselves either by voice or text chat (approx. 5-10 minutes).
   Give a brief tutorial on how to use the 3D mind mapping tool. Give participants a few minutes to try it out (5-10 minutes).
4. Have the challenger introduce the issue with which he/she is wrestling (5-10 minutes).
5. Go at it! Have participants toss out suggestions for how the challenger could solve the problem and ask clarifying questions of the challenger if needed. Have participants add nodes to the 3D mind map throughout the conversation (30-40 minutes). Encourage not only voice but also text chat conversations on the topic.
6. Have the moderator summarize the main points of the discussion.
7. Optional: Ask participants to provide feedback on the session.

After the meeting

1. Optional: Provide a copy of the artifact(s) of the meeting to all participants. Artifacts may include a copy of the text chat transcript or2D or 3D mind maps.
2. Optional: continue the discussion, either with the 3D mind map or via a “flat” tool like blog, wiki, or discussion thread.

[For a write-up of an earlier brainstorming session we did see the related article, The ThinkBalm Innovation Community brainstorms in 3D.]

© 2008 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.