Okay, I admit it. there are a ton of tools for collaboration.I remember the huge leap in technology…….PROFS!
1985
I started with RDRLIST in the IBM’s VM operating system. Each note was cleverly modeled after punch card, so everything was 80 columns. The huge leap was when we went to PROFS. It was great!! Full screen menus! In 83 I replaced my TI-99 with an IBM PC, played games in 4 colors, and switched from my 2 floppy disk Pascal compiler to Turbo Pascal, which even had an editor built in. But the PC was a dirty secret – only rebels dared use them at work.
1990
We then lept to that suspicious new technology – the personal computer. We used IBM’s Lotus Notes. Many similar clients later I still feel a bit unsatisfied opening my in-basket. How much has really changed?
1994
I looked at VRML – a language to define 3d spaces in the browser. Looked cool, but it also looked like work.
2007
I dabbled in Second Life. What is a Sandbox? Why am I flying? This is a game, but I can’t figure out the rules. I’m outta here.
2009
AgileBill Firehawk was born in second life after two years of amnesia. I landed right in the middle of a free conference I did not need to travel to (http://www.vwbpe.org). It’s annual, and has over 2,000 of the smartest educators I’ve ever met attending. Wow. But oh my gosh, it was so hard to learn! How do I point so I can see the slides? Why is my skin sticking through the hair? How do I find xyz room? What is a Landmark? IM? TP? AO? How do I get voice to work?
Second life can be hard to use, and can be flooded with social content. But it’s where I go to meet folks. In particular, I’m inspired by groups like Virtual Ability, where people with disabilities find ways to work (let’s give them some!). When I want to hobnob with educators I stop by my prototyping island in Jokaydia (based on ReactionGrid and Opensim technology).
2010
Freshly graduated from the University of Washington’s one year Certificate on Virtual Worlds program, I now serve you with a network of tools – each to fill a different need. Of course, I can still talk to you face to face, on the phone, e-mail, twitter, linkedin, meetup, and other web 2.0 tools. But…
Come to my Spoton3d island for professional offices featuring text and slide friendly tools. We can create content dynamically, like programming interpreter instead of a compiler.
Come to my office on Sococo - for 2d low stress voice over IP. We still feel together and communicate intent by moving from office to office on our floorplan.
Want an Avatar? Meet me in VenueGen for a browser based interface that excels at showing presentation content. (if you’re a Mac fanatic, you may need Boot Camp. I haven’t tried it with Parallels). The included venues are so good, you don’t need to build your own. But you can’t change create your own anyway.
Got Data? Use Teleplace. Drag your spreadsheets and interactive websites to the wall where multiple people can edit the document at the same time. How cool is that? It’s worth the price.
See my custom learning spaces I’ve built with Unity3d.
Dont’ worry, you can still find me on Skype, meetup.com/agile3d, or Linkedin (and I’ve looked at some other worlds too not listed above).
I hold an online conference for Agile Project management, and present at the Agile2010 conference along with State Farm Insurance about how we both saved tons of money using virtual collaboration.
The thing that strikes me is the extreme pain and inertia with change. Yes, I have an HD DVD player and Palm Pilot, so I sometimes have stuff that lands right in the chasm. But I also was a maverick and saw a little potential in odd new ideas like the mouse, PCs, wikis, and virtual worlds. It would be my pleasure to guide you through building a roadmap that suites your needs.
(whispers – P.S. I can help you with that Agile project management stuff too)
Disclaimer – you can see from my avatar I’m 25. I don’t know where all those 80′s stories came from (hehe).
