Web 2.0 and work

I've come across two stories concerning Web 2.0 and the world of work on the BBC News website this week.

One looks at how Second Life can be used in training events - the example here involves paramedic training.

The other discusses whether bosses should limit employee use of social networking sites, such as Facebook (based on this report).

The two articles can be accessed here:

Saving lives in a virtual world

Bosses 'should embrace Facebook'

You could also help me out my completing a questionnaire of the very subject of Web 2.0 and work right here.

TUC launches new virtual world project

As noted in a press release from the TUC:

May Day (Thursday 1 May) sees the launch of Union Island, an innovative new trade union project to build a home for unions and activists in the virtual world Second Life™.

Union Island will host the first ever virtual May Day, a day of training, networking and celebration to bring activists from the global union movement together in a way never before possible.

See Unions to celebrate May Day in virtual world for more details of what this involves.

Second virtual protest planned

According to the IBM SL Protest Organization Blog, there will be another protest against IBM in Second Life.

If you read this today you can go along to a practice run.

For more information go here.

A second life for trade unions?

According to a newly launched website, trade unions are set to experiment with possibilities of organizing workers through virtual reality worlds, such as Second Life.

An introductory statement provided by SLunions reads as follows:

This is a blog to help co-ordinate the Union Island project in Second Life.

A number of trade union organisations from around the world are coming together to set up a home for unionists and union issues in the virtual world Second Life.

We’re planning to launch it later in 2008, but in the meantime want to hear from anyone with an interest in unions and virtual worlds.

Keep in touch (join the Union Island User Group group in SL) for more information on what you can expect to see on Union Island, including:

Events
Exhibitions
Learning
Discussion
Campaigns
International networking
Online organising
The possibilities are nearly endless. What should we be looking at?

To find out about the first meeting see the latest post, here.

Pass on the word, brothers and sisters!

Thanks, again, to John, for the lead.

Virtual working

Some interesting ideas and developments are noted at the UNI Communicators' Forum, concerning virtual computer worlds and work.

A summary is as follows:

Virtual worlds like Second Life, There.com, and more business-focused offerings are on the brink of becoming valuable work tools.

Major companies and public-sector organizations — such as BP, IBM, Intel, and the US Army — are investing heavily in virtual world technologies.

But it’s still early, pioneering days.

You’ve practically got to be a gamer to use most of these tools — setup can be arduous, navigating in a 3-D environment takes practice, and processing and bandwidth requirements remain high.

But within five years, the 3-D Internet will be as important for work as the Web is today.

Information and knowledge management professionals should begin to investigate and experiment with virtual worlds.

Forrester have identified 4 main scenarios for work applications:

* Saving on travel costs for meetings and networking - link up more people than possible before, and for less money
* Saving on buying expensive machinery for training - use a simulator instead, and keep the costly kit for the trained practitioners
* Replicating the experience of working with other - particularly good for teleworkers, including training
* Role playing exercises - especially on disaster management issues that you really wouldn’t want to try recreating in real life.

I personally don't see what's wrong with first life in these situations!

If you are rich/stupid (or both) you can get more details of the report from Forrester here.

Cheers John for this one.

Second Life set to take off

In recent times blogging has taken off and then social networking and now it seems that virtual worlds, such as Second Life, are the next big Cyberspace phenomenon.

In an article by the BBC is is suggested that the development of virtual world technology is set to lead to a kind of exodus from the real world.

What's more a professor from the US believes the exodus is akin to the opening up of the 'New World' around five hundred years ago.

It's an enchanting thought that we may spend most of our daily lives in one world and our spare time in the other - perhaps some may leave the real world bar basic human functions!

See 'Exodus' to virtual worlds predicted for more details.

My prediction is that Second Life will be the destination for many as we head into the typically mad and family-orientated Christmas period!

Businesses, employees and web 2.0

I received details of an interesting article on how businesses are applying web 2.0 communication technology via Google News alerts the other day - Taking residence in virtual worlds (Mahesh Sharma, Australian IT).

It involves two case studies - Westpac (a bank) and Deloitte Australia - and whether Second Life could be used for business needs.

The experiment proved to be positive and it is expected that an extended experiment will go ahead soon.

Some of benefits that Second Life can help deliver for businesses include:

- People felt more comfortable asking questions in that environment than a normal classroom or lecture environment

- It helps overcome the difficulty of communicating to 30,000 people, and the difficulty of getting people together from different locations and time zones to disseminate information

- It as a way of getting information out without the flying, driving and time-consuming travel to a central location

Deloitte Australia has also been experimented with Facebook as a business tool.

Benefits of using Facebook internally are said to include:

- It increases engagement with the 13,000 Deloitte employees that are members of Facebook globally

- To understand what other employees are at, and create a much higher level of engagement

- It allows an understanding of how other employees are thinking

Westpac has also experimented with an internal version of Facebook.

Evaluating the virtual picket line

A few weeks ago I wrote about the possibilities of a new dimension to industrial action emerging via Second Life.

I didn't participate in the protest or have time to observe what actually happened during the cyber-picket.

However, a close observer of the cyber-picket arranged by Italian IBM worker was conducted by Derek Blackadder at Straight Goods.

For as a good assessment as you are likely to get on the protest see Evaluating the virtual picket line: Italian union's Second Life information picket tests worth of a potentially valuable tool for more details.

Virtual demonstrations

The other day I wrote about an interesting development in industrial conflict - IBM workers planning a virtual strike.

Since then more details have emerged, certainly in terms of being given more attention by labour writers.

For instance, Derek Blackadder, writing for Straight Goods, recently wrote an article on the matter called Avatars of the world, unite! Italian union's virtual demonstration against IBM launches new world of job actions.

Blackadder, in brief, examines the virtual strike/demonstration in the context of whether unions have been able to grasp the benefits of new web-based communication technology.

For more details of how to get involved in the demonstrations or just curious of second life see the following link created by Union-Network.org.

A new dimension to industrial action?

Browsing the UNI Communicators' Forum just today I came across a most curious story about Italian IBM workers planning a virtual strike!

The story, as far as I know, comes via Martin Banks at The Register.

The article - IBM faces Second Life strike - outlines (and ridicules) the proposed action as follows:

"Ever wanted to go on strike, be part of that feeling of solidarity on the picket line, but felt too cowardly to take the risk? September should see just the opportunity for you.

That is when Rappresentanza Sindacale Unitaria IBM Vimercate (RSU), the official trade union representing IBM's 9,000 workers in Italy, is planning a most novel form of industrial action – a strike on Second Life – and it wants as many avatars as possible manning the picket lines.

Details of what form the industrial action will take in this virtual world are scant at the moment, except that a Union spokesman has hinted that they are hoping Second Life avatars from around the world will participate."

I've no further news on the subject, but it is certainly adds a new dimension to the many forms industrial conflict can take.

Comments on the article vary somewhat from the supportive to those who liken such action to a "one-day bitch session".

One thing is for sure, new Web 2.0 communication is certainly creating new opportunities for working people to get back and bargain in some way with their employers.