Here's a way to communicate "I'm busy" in immersive environments

By Erica Driver.

Early today I published an article about a recent lightbulb moment: you’ve got to stay logged into the immersive environment where your tribe hangs out to get those serendipitous interactions that usually only occur when people are physically together in the same place. (See the ThinkBalm article, Lightbulb moment: for serendipity, stay logged into the immersive environment.) What I didn’t write about in that article is one of the challenges of staying logged in indefinitely: just because you’re logged in it doesn’t mean you’re available to converse with others.

In the physical world, you can be in the office and close your door when you don’t want to be disturbed. People can look through the window to see that you are meeting with someone or on the phone or knee-deep in paperwork. You can let phone calls go into voice mail. You can turn on your “out of office” message if you think it will be a while before you’ll be responding to email messages. But in an immersive environment, there is no standard protocol for letting others know you’re “sort of there” — you’re there but not available. The most common indicator is the head-down / arms-hung “AFK” pose that avatars take in Second Life and OpenSim when the user hasn’t touched the keyboard or mouse for a while.

So I took a shot at it. In the ThinkBalm Innovation Community space on ReactionGrid, an OpenSim grid, I created a simple space that serves as the immersive equivalent of a combined closed office door, voice mail box, and out of office message (see figure below). When I am logged into ReactionGrid but busy or away from my desk I’m going to try putting my avatar in this designated location, which is centrally located and easy to see. Partial walls are translucent so people can see that my avatar is in there. A sign outside says, “Hi! If you see Erica Driver’s avatar sitting here it means I’m on the phone or in a meeting. You can leave me a public text-based message by clicking here.” The visitor can click on the sign to go an EtherPad I set up on the Web. There they can leave me a text-based note, similarly to the way one might write a note on a whiteboard attached to an office or dorm room door. The EtherPad also contains my email address in case visitors don’t want to leave a publicly-displayed message.

I am at the beginning of a one- or two-week experiment to stay logged into this immersive environment whenever I am at my computer in an effort to strengthen my relationships with ThinkBalm Innovation Community members and learn some new things about using this emerging technology in the work context. Things I’m wondering about right now:

• There are so many technology options. I use various immersive environments for ThinkBalm Innovation Community activities and my work with ThinkBalm clients — not just ReactionGrid. And ReactionGrid is not the only place ThinkBalm Innovation Community members “pop in” — many also pop into Second Life. What is the impact of this fragmented market on my ability to benefit from serendipitous interactions with the people who matter most to me, or who I’d like to get to know better?
• Managing another form of presence info might be tedious. Will it become too onerous to remember to move my avatar to my “I’m busy” spot when I’m no available? Given how hard it is to remember to set instant messaging presence information to “away” or “do not disturb,” or to turn or off email out of office messages, I suspect the answer might be yes.
• Will I get enough value out of these unplanned interactions? Will the effort be worthwhile? I suspect the answer is yes, but don’t have evidence for that yet. We’ll see how it goes! I’ll write again about this experiment during the next couple of weeks. Do check back.

© 2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.

Lightbulb moment: for serendipity, stay logged into the immersive environment

By Erica Driver.

Yesterday I kicked off a little experiment and it ended up being an extraordinary day: for the first time I experienced what it really means to have a virtual office where associates stop by and unplanned interactions occur. It’s no small thing. Nearly a year ago when I was an analyst with Forrester Research I wrote a blog post about the potential for virtual offices to bring serendipitous interactions back into the lives of geographically distributed workers. Yesterday I experienced it myself for the first time. It was one of those light bulb moments.

In an effort to strengthen my bonds with members of the ThinkBalm Innovation Community and to identify presenters for an upcoming community event, I wanted to talk in real-time with community members who also wanted a moment of connection. I didn’t want to schedule a meeting or send out an email or make a post on the community’s Web site. I didn’t want to look people up on Skype and engage them in a text chat. I wanted the feeling of bumping into folks and seeing what they are up to.

So I logged into the ThinkBalm Innovation Community’s region on ReactionGrid, an OpenSim grid. I kept my Hippo OpenSim Viewer up and running on a second monitor that sits on my desk just above the height of my laptop display (see figure below). This dual display setup allowed me to get my regular work done — writing, phone calls, emailing, scheduling meetings, Twittering, interacting with the ThinkBalm Innovation Community on our Spigit site, etc. — and at the same time be available if anyone wanted to stop by my “virtual office.” I sent out a tweet to my Twitter network saying, “Trying experiment to build bonds with ThinkBalm Innovation Community members: staying logged into ReactionGrid whenever I can. Drop by!”

And drop by they did! Throughout the course of the day, a half dozen or so ThinkBalm Innovation Community members dropped by. I made plans with one associate to review his slide deck later in the week. I helped a couple of newbies get out of their default OpenSim avatars (all female and all very weird-looking) and into some decent-looking freebie clothing and hair. I gave a tour of the ThinkBalm Innovation Community sim and talked about the community’s philosophy and activities. I chatted with one new community member about his transition from education to the private sector and about some of his experiences with the Immersive Internet thus far.

As the work day drew to a close, I had the feeling you get when you know you are looking at something great. I just got a glimpse into the future of work. Give it just a few years, and entire companies will have immersive environments. Departments and teams will have their own virtual offices and labs. People will stop by others’ workspaces to ask a question, prod a project along, share a design or plan, or just see what’s going on. By staying logged into the immersive environment, geography can become far less important than it is today. People who are affiliated by the work they do or their place of employment will be able to find each other and interact in ways that just aren’t possible without the Immersive Internet.

© 2009 ThinkBalm. All rights reserved.