Cscw 08 Keynote Cory Ondrejka

recursive collaboration building linden lab and second life

cory ondrejka [email protected]

topics for today

communication innovation collaboration

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using sl development as a setting

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as well as the broader context of

climate change global recession

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concluding with some challenges

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or, perhaps, opportunities?

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45 minutes, 201 slides

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45 minutes, 200 slides

hope you’ve had your coffee 8

first, some questions

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how many of you... text tweet instant message update a blog or sns play videogames play mmos

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on the other hand

know anyone who still has their assistant printing email?

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on the other hand

know anyone who still has their assistant printing email?

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disclaimer

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not technological determinist

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not technological determinist

but new technology changes options

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not technological determinist

so failure to understand it means we are missing opportunities 16

most true of communication technology

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so, why am i talking about this?

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distant past drove submarines in the us navy national security agency defense contracting lockheed sanders

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distant past drove submarines in the us navy national security agency defense contracting lockheed sanders

(ie,the stuff i can’t talk about) 20

distant past drove submarines in the us navy national security agency defense contracting lockheed sanders (which i raise to establish my non-hippy cred before covering collaboration) 21

more recently arcade game development console game development second life

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focus on linden and sl

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so, from our original list

communication innovation collaboration

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it all starts with communication

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by which we mean

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sharing information

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sharing experience

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at a distance

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the experience economy

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the experience economy

what happens when the information economy becomes interactive 31

getting cheaper

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and more flexible

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the history

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point-to-point sequential

pony express telegraph

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point-to-point simultaneous

telegraph telephone

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one-to-many

radio television (ie, broadcast)

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many-to-many

packet-based the internet the web

image cc:by matt britt 38

and colliding with games

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you know the history, right?

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30 second online game history

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30 second online game history

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30 second online game history

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30 second online game history

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30 second online game history

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emergence of virtual worlds

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second life

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what is second life?

user-created, online world an online game without the game

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a synthetic place

create work play 49

real-time, collaboration

as opposed to the web’s solo, sequential experience 50

on a vast scale

millions of people and places 51

economic scale, too residents have built thousands of businesses in an economy generating more than $1 million every day

built on microtransactions in digital items and experiences 52

breaking the magic circle

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the magic circle?

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all about context

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all about rules

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all about rules beating each other up OK

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all about rules beating each other up OK

beating each other up frowned on 58

for online games, about restrictions

of commerce of communication

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no magic circle in second life

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like much of the web

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innovation beyond second life

ability to create markets collaboration at a distance participation 62

sl and real world mix

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with more expressive user creation

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power of place

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text, sequential, monologue

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place, collaborative, dialog

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bringing us together

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‘cause when you can do anything

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we celebrate our collaboration

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even better collaboration is a gateway drug to technology and to participation

to entrepreneurship and community formation 71

with impressive results

1.2 billion internet users 3.5 billion cell phone users 100’s million social network users 10’s million game/virtual world users

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and then...

technology, participation, entrepreneurship, and community lead to something else... 73

leading to the second topic

communication innovation collaboration

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innovation?

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innovation? productized knowledge

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innovation? productized knowledge innovation is the engine of per-capita growth

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innovation? productized knowledge innovation is the engine of per-capita growth innovation leads to exponential curves

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in other words, dramatic change

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that doesn’t play favorites

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that doesn’t play favorites

buggy whip sales

schumpeter and creative destruction 81

leads to interesting times

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leads to interesting times

we predict linearly

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leads to interesting times reality is exponential

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leads to interesting times

so we’re often really unprepared

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consider the internet/it revolution moore’s law

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a good thing moore’s law

radical drop in computing costs

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connecting us moore’s law

radical drop in computing costs

the internet

image cc:by matt britt 88

in unanticipated ways moore’s law

radical drop in computing costs

the internet

broadband explosion

3D acceleration

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with far reaching results moore’s law

radical drop in computing costs

3D acceleration

the internet

broadband explosion

friend networks

online games

online communities

nichification

virtual worlds

trust friends, not experts

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driving the need for more innovation

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but innovation is hard

expect ready, aim, fire

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get random walks

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with lots of false starts

start 94

before we find the next big thing eureka!

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and we see lots of false patterns

correlation versus causation

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what we know about innovation knowledge collisions communication learning participation 97

knowledge collisions

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at the edges of networks

bringing disjoint knowledge together 99

with easier communication

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helped by trends decreasing costs

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helped by trends decreasing costs

increasing flexibility, availability

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learning and innovation

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maximizing participation

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long tail participation

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this isn’t just consumption

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this isn’t just consumption total value of hits

more or less equal to the rest

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but also potential contributors

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but also potential contributors traditional employees

everyone else

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examples all over

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wikipedia

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“but that’s easy”

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(who would have bet on it?)

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something harder

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“but those are open source people”

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lowered barriers are a big deal

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participation Web Open Source

Wikipedia Mainstream Media

Sims

70%

35%

0%

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participation Web Open Source

Wikipedia Mainstream Media

Sims Second Life

70%

35%

0%

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leading to the third topic

communication innovation collaboration

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what impedes trying?

capital stigma regulation

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capital

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stigma

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regulation

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so, to maximize progress

lots of communities sharing knowledge creating together 124

bringing us back to the web

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which has some broad trends moore’s law

radical drop in computing costs

3D acceleration

the internet

broadband explosion

friend networks

online games

online communities

nichification

virtual worlds

trust friends, not experts

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free-ish computing bandwidth storage

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communities connecting

learning

collaborating 128

enabled new models cheap computing + communities = crowdsourcing collaborative filtering niche fulfillment 129

this is a real power shift

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consider

935

image cc by:nc 2007 esther dyson 131

the gray lady

935

1851 98 pulitzers 1.5m circulation $4b advertising (1999)

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lots of free stuff

1995 0 pulitzers sf classifieds incorporated (1999)

935

1851 98 pulitzers 1.5m circulation $4b advertising (1999)

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about as threatening as

935

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about as threatening as

935

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and if there ever was a problem

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go clubbing

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simple, right?

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except

2008 advertising down 63%

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except

2008 #1 classified ad service 30 million ads/month

2008 advertising down 63%

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except

(despite $500m from nyt.com)

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except

“little interest in maximizing profits”

(despite $500m from nyt.com)

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what have we learned?

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don’t screw with baby seals

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incredibly powerful cheap computing + communities = crowdsourcing collaborative filtering niche fulfillment 145

moreover experience economy + crowd computing = new economies of scale

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remote collaboration redefines

distance tradeoffs local/cluster hiring face-to-face

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driving value and participation

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nichification

finding what you want is valuable friends more trusted than others 149

which shouldn’t surprise us ebay wikipedia youtube flickr google second life etc 150

and what can niches do for you?

markets employees partners 151

consider crowd computing

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getting the right people

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doing the right work

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when you need them

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just in time employees

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consider the development of sl

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2000-2002

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2000-2002 linden street several desks right next to each other a&os culture of asking questions

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2000-2002 linden street several desks right next to each other a&os culture of asking questions face-to-face interactions ad hoc meetings whiteboards 160

2002-2004

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2002-2004 2nd street one large room beta and release remote employees

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2002-2004 2nd street one large room beta and release remote employees entangled seating local face-to-face social signals email, wikis 163

2004-

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2004-

sansome and davis

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2004sansome and davis and mountain view, battery

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2004sansome and davis and mountain view, battery seattle, boston, brighton and singapore

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2004sansome and davis and mountain view, battery seattle, boston, brighton and singapore rapid scaling

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2004sansome and davis and mountain view, battery seattle, boston, brighton and singapore rapid scaling multiple offices irc voice second life 169

reducing non-local penalties

mixed-reality meetings pure virtual meetings virtual rooms live channels 170

more complications awaited

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residents

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plus metaverse entrepreneurs

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and the fortune 500

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all collaborating remotely

most employees never meet in the real world most hired directly within sl

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brings challenges for the future

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user experience

ease of use accessibility

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search

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making the lessons real

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how can remote collaboration help?

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relating this to the headlines unemployment financial crisis climate change 181

but that’s just the start

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we’re smarter together

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bridges two key challenges

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economics and education

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because as we worry about

math and science education stimulating entrepreneurship

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with accelerating complexity

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we need new options

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for entrepreneurs and education

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and whether we call it learning by doing

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or situated learning

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or performance before competence

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we’re smarter together

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and it’s easier to do online

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critical for innovation

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innovation is exponential

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innovation is exponential

small differences today

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innovation is exponential huge differences tomorrow

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which curve do we need to be on?

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and this is just the beginning

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because remote collaboration today

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is the web a decade ago

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we’re just getting started

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stop talking now

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[email protected] image credits to flickr users torley shadoe landman uma ceawlin metamidia r.rasmussen katiya rhode choi skinstad Sougent Harrop hvx silverstar badgerstew isfullofcrap saeru laura grace atul666

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for cc-by licensed images

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