I am taken aback by the vision of a virtual team which so seamlessly
includes participants from remote areas (ala Amazon example) along with
Swiss, Japanese and other technologically advanced locations. We're
missing some basic understanding of global realities if this is a future
we think can exist.
As African or Tibetian villages tentatively enter the information age,
their myths, assumptions, values, beliefs and entire social infrastructure
will undergo total destruction. If the industrialized world's response is
to simply "teach them technology and team skills," then we're exhibiting
economic and social hubris not seen on this planet since the Roman empire.
It's great to be a part of a group where discussions like these can take
place on the internet; now maybe we should think a bit about how the
entire world will be impacted by these technologies and start working to
manage their introduction more humanely.
>Replying to LO4915 --
>
>Rick asked if I could summarize the reference I made earlier to an article
>by Eric Vogt titled "The Nature of Work in 2010: Convergence and the
>Workplace." I had specifically noted the article's introductory scenario
>as an interesting and provocative look at the notion of a virtual team.
>
>In any event, this scenario is titled "The Itinerant Knowledge Worker,"
>and takes place in the Amazon rain forest. As the piece beings, the main
>character, a woman named Lupita, places her "personal communications
>environment" over her head and, through a series of verbal requests, links
>up with other members of her "workgroup" who are located in Stockholm,
>Martha's Vineyard, Banff, etc. The workgroup had been formed two months
>earlier with the aid of something called the Global Knowledge Exchange,
>and the focus seems to be on practical ways of linking education,
>knowledge commerce, accelerated learning, and standard of living in Africa
>and China.
>
>As the group "chats," (and none of them speaks the same language; they're
>able to communicate through "translator chips " and a 3-D "thought picture
>technology" developed by Sony) if that's the word, among themselves, they
>make use of instantaneously-generated images (through a "shared
>holographic workspace") and are able to engage in "simultaneous workgroup
>speculation and individual reflection."
[...rest of quote of prev msg snipped by your host...]
-- vancerk@sltd6.com (Rachel Vance)