This document provides an agenda and information for a seminar on virtual environments. The seminar will take place on October 6, 2011 in Otaniemi, Finland and also on Second Life and Twitter. It is organized by several research projects focused on innovative business collaboration and working environments in virtual worlds. The seminar will discuss benefits and challenges of using 3D virtual environments for various business uses such as meetings, training, communities, and conferences. Presentations will highlight case studies of using virtual worlds to support distributed work.

1. Welcome to
W l t
All Things Virtual -seminar
g
10.6.2011
Otaniemi / SL / Twitter #proviwo
http://twubs.com/proviwo
h // b / i
Johanna Haapamäki
Project manager, vmWork

2. Projects organizing the seminar
• VinCo - Innovative Business and Collaboration in Virtual
Environments (sponsored by MIDE)
E i
• VIIWE - Virtual Worlds as Innovative Working
Environments (sponsored by Tykes)
• P ViW - P f
ProViWo Professional C ll b ti and P d ti it i
i l Collaboration d Productivity in
Virtual Worlds (sponsored by Tekes and company partners)
• More information on our research unit and the projects,
please go to http://www.vmwork.net/

3. Distributed organizations and
collaboration
Location
Same vs geographically
vs.
dispersed
Mode of interaction Mobility
Face-to-face vs.
F t f Fixed
Fi d vs. physically mobile
h i ll bil
technologically mediated work
Diversity Time
Similar vs. different Synchronous vs. asynchronous
actors
Temporariness / project work
Temporary vs. permanent
structure

4. What are Virtual Environments
• Virtual environments (VEs)
are 3D collaboration
systems, where multiple
participants share the same
three-dimensional digital
space despite occupying
remote physical locations
p y
and can navigate, manipulate
objects, and interact with one
another via avatars

5. Benefits and challenges of 3D Virtual
Environments in Business Use
Interviews of 3D virtual environment use in global business
1. Team meetings/ small meetings
g g
• Benefits: Global / distributed working, Performance/ productivity, Travel time
and cost reduction
• Challenges: Adoption of technology, Ease of use / user experience, Steep
learning curve
g
2. Theoretical training
• Benefits: Decrease in cost, Distributed and global training, Enable social
networks
• Challenges: Adoption of technology, Technology problems (e.g. bandwidth),
Steep learning curve
3. Hands-on Training
• Benefits: Safety of training in VEs, Possibility to train simulations of real world
situations or scenarios, Reduced training time
• Challenges: Adoption of technology, No natural movements or gestures
possible, Business value not clear / business model needed
Bosch-Sijtsema, P. & Sivunen, A. (In Review Process). Virtual worlds supporting
distributed work: Use cases of professional virtual worlds. Journal of the Association
for Information Systems.

6. Benefits and challenges of 3D Virtual
Environment in Business Use
Interviews of 3D virtual environment use in global business
4. Community
• Benefits: Opportunities to meet people both informally and formally, Enable
social networks, Travel time and cost reduction
• Challenges: Adoption of technology, Ease of use / user experience, Cost of
technology and training
5. Conferences and large events
• Benefits: Global / distributed working, Travel time and cost reduction, Enable
social networks
• Challenges: Adoption of technology, Generation issues, Steep learning curve
6. Creativity and visualization of data
• Benefits: Being able to do things that are not possible or very difficult in real
life, Opportunities to meet people both informally and formally, Global /
distributed workingg
• Challenges: Adoption of technology, Business value not clear / business
model needed, No natural movements or gestures possible
Bosch-Sijtsema, P. & Sivunen, A. (In Review Process). Virtual worlds supporting
distributed work: Use cases of professional virtual worlds. Journal of the Association
for Information Systems.

7. Seminar program