UberNoggin

Mark and I often do a bit of brainstorming on the big dry erase boards in our dining room. Lately, we’ve been churning out research-type questions about virtual worlds. I thought I’d post them to save them from little hands and erasers and perhaps to get some discussion going.

• What is a virtual world? what definition works best to aid research? Is it different than a virtual environment?
• How does the ability to see others’ friends list change our perception of them? How is that perception different in a space where we can’t who someone is friends with?
• How can identity formation mechanics be made interoperable? Should they?
• How is the style/goal of the world or environment tied to expected avatar behavior (ex. Miis with guns?)?
• What are the trust implications of communication in multiple virtual spaces? (ex. Do I trust someone more who I know in SL and on Twitter?)
• Are social networks virtual worlds?
• Identity: does more information = more trust, does more or less choice allow for more succinct identities?
• Are we more or less immersed in spaces where we have more choices in identity formation?
• Does less identity = less immersion?
• Does greater choice in identity formation result in more accurate identity portrayal? more trust worthy identity?
• How would MUVEs and MMORPGs be changed if more SNS mechanics were added to them?
• What influences greater number of friends in an MMORPG/MUVE? mechanics of friendship? purpose or advantage of friendship? personality expression?
• Do SL or FB users have more friends? How does introversion or extroversion influence number of friends in each space?
• Is FB a more powerful social network because it can incorporate multiple identities and connections? Pull info from other spaces?
• Do we “know” people more if we”know” more than one of their online identities? If one of those identities is a SNS rather than a MUVE or MMORPG?
• How do we verify someone’s identity? What info do we need to feel that we know who they are?

These are pretty disorganized but you probably get the drift of where the ideas are going. I haven’t had a chance to think through any one of them to the point of satisfaction but Mark and I have been wrestling with the definition of virtual world because we just don’t feel that the definitions offered by others are prepared to deal with the multitude of spaces that are popping up online. So far we think that a virtual world is one in which:

• the world goes on whether you’re logged in or not; you can’t pause the world
• digital
• hosted remotely
• capacity more multi-user
• users are represented by some kind of avatar, identity that they create (even if it’s text-based or very limited in construction)

What would you add? Would you take anything away?

Phew! The last few weeks have been insane with travel, talks, and lots of writing other than writing here. It’s nice to be back on terra ferma and on the good ol’ blog talking to my favorite people.

I’ve had a bit of a brainstorm lately and I’m still working through the details but I thought it would be fun to air them here and see what all you brainy (or noggin-y) folks have to say about it. I’m considering writing another book about using web 2.0 tools to streamline your life or accomplish goals. Something like “How to become Internet Famous in 30 days or less” or maybe “Web 2.0 and You”. Hoaky, I know but you get the idea. The more I travel around talking to folks about new technologies the more I realize it’s not enough to know where to click or what address to type in. The real power of these technologies is in how they change our lives. A technology is only as powerful as its ability to solve a problem or enrich our lives.

To that end, I’ve started reflecting on the concept of Digital Makeovers. To me, a Digital Makeover is the process of reflecting on one’s personal or business practices and identifying opportunities/problems that a technology can solve. You folks are probably all techno savvy enough to not need such help but I get to talk to tons of people who know that there is something big afoot in the digital world and just wish they had someone next to them at the computer or in the office who could explain it all and help them develop strategies to make the best use of what is available.

Non-profits seem to be a good target to start with because I think they could benefit the most dramatically from utilizing free online tools to maximize their budgets and mobilize volunteers. Plus, it’s just plain awesome to do good work for someone with a good cause. So this is where I’ll start. By reaching out to some local organizations and offering Media Sauce’s help to develop easy to implement strategies that make use of Web 2.0 goodies to improve their organization’s efforts.

Viva la geek!

If you’re interested in microblogging ala Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, you might be interested to know that Google purchased Jaiku today. Besides making all the Jaiku employees dance around in celebration of their upcoming stock options, this could mean something big. Other smart folks are talking about it too:

• BlogShmog
• Guardian
• Reuters
• Mashable
• Read/Write Web
• OReilly

This could mean some serious improvements in the way Google IM works. Jaiku’s functionality, if added to gchat, could mean that you could sort your friends, send chat via SMS or a web interface not attached to Gmail. I’m imagining the implications of integrating Jaiku into Gmail and it’s making my head spin a bit. Though, I don’t think any of us should hold our breath. It could be quite a while before Google does anything with Jaiku. Keep your eye on it!

Yep! The social network which is fast becoming all things to all people has assimilated and absorbed another part of your life. You can now check your gmail from inside Facebook with a new app called Fmail. Now you need never leave Facebook! Evaaar!!!

In my constant search for desktop “pull” perfection I’m always looking for some kind of aggregator that truly pulls everything I care about in one place. Google Desktop definitely shows some promise.

Yes, it sits on your desktop. Yes, that can be distracting. Yes, it has all kinds of feeds that might shove info in your face that you’re not interested in. BUT! You can change all of that, customize it in really powerful and handy ways, and make it exactly what you want.

For example, mine has short cuts to all of my Office apps (which I use, oh, a MILLION times a day), my Skype connections, the local weather, my gmail, news headlines (from sources I picked), a little notepad, a feed from my Flickr photos, my RSS feeds, a to do list, and a Google search bar.

Some of the gadgets you can add are a bit silly like the one that tells your the Star Trek stardate for the day. But hey, I’m sure someone is in love with that gadget.

What I like most about it is that it really does aggregate the first four or five tabs that I open every day when I sit down at my desk. It saves me time. Yes, it actually saves me time! So much of the technology I play with is cool for about a day and then I realize that I’m not able/willing to integrate the technology into my daily routine. If you can’t make easy use of it then it doesn’t work for you and you have to move on.

My only wish for the Google Desktop is a TV plugin. I have Media Center on my machine and I have a guilty habit of watching schlock like Dr. Phil while I work. It would be lovely to have it on a little screen on my desktop sidebar. Hey, a girl can dream, right? Maybe Google knows what’s best for me and doesn’t have this little plugin to save my productivity.

Give Google Desktop a try and tell me what you think. Is it great? Is it horrible? What gadgets do you like best?