Disruptive Technologies - Second Life

• How is Second Life a disruptive technology? Second Life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q) came on the scene fast and furious and is exponentially growing. Phillip Rosedale in his 2008 TedTalk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b72CvvMuD6Q) predicts it will soon replace the web in volume, with over 20,000 computers linked in 2008 in its infancy stages.

• What technology or innovation did it displace? Second Life, according to Phillip Rosedale, may be displacing the basic function of the internet because not only does it help with organizing, creating, and exchanging information; it provides a social context for experiencing and interacting with the information and other avatars as well as provides depth of learning and memory with the symbols and graphics that are used along with text and experiences.

• How many years do you think Second Life has left before another emerging technology or disruptive technology replaces it? Definitely nothing in the next five years, according to the 2011 Horizon Report (http://www.educause.edu/Resources/2011HorizonReport/223122). It is difficult to predict disruptive technologies; they can come at any time without warning.


• What are the social benefits of Second Life, and what might be the social implications of virtual worlds in your industry? Social implications in education are bringing the international world together in so many different aspects: from economics to language learning and practicing, to scientific collaboration. My special interest is in adapting second life to problem-solving case studies like we see in the Harvard developed “River City Project” (http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/rivercityproject/view/rc_videos.html) where teams collaborate to solve multifaceted complex community problems, using skills in math, science, history, ecology, and psychology.