3D demo continued

[ok, so this is my next-but-one post :-)]

Here we are (or, rather, our avatars are) gathered around a virtual table. Our task is to produce a project plan for the creation testing and deployment of a bookselling application.

Said application is to

• allow the import of inventory from various sources into a common 'stock'
• enable the adding, editing, and deleting of individual books, updating the stock
• produce export files in formats suitable for uploading to various sales sites
  
• record orders received for books from those sites
  
• produce cancellation lists for any other sites that an ordered book is listed on.
• do anything else the people at the 'table' insist upon

Will it be a web application, or traditional? Will we focus first on eBay or Amazon or AbeBooks? These questions and much else besides are as bones to be fought over.

If this was a real-world meeting, one person would be tasked with keeping minutes. Unless they are a trained stenographer, they will not be able to record each word spoken; especially if they also wish to participate. Even if they have the skill, if more than one person speaks at a time, information will be lost.

In our virtual world everything is recordable. What's more, it can be replayed from any angle, from any point of view, with only the avatars of interest 'activated'. The environment itself takes our minutes, better than a horde of humans could.

Remember our First Law of the Network Reformation: identity is the foundation of interaction; and the second: That which I produce, I control. In order for this meeting to happen, the participants had to prove who they were, and agree to allow the others, plus their bosses etc, to replay the event. Usually this will happen automatically. On logging in you have to identify yourself, even in the 2D world. The invitation to the meeting will have had T&Cs attached, which made plain what usage the recorded event can be put to. All those at the table have accepted those T&Cs (whether they read them or not!)

[The meeting etiquette of a chairperson and only one person at a time speaking might not be appropriate in this environment: further thought needed.]

Assume the meeting is drawing to a close. Action lists are being agreed. It's not uncommon for the cry "I didn't agree to do that!" to arise. At which point we have a choice: re-argue the issue, or replay the meeting.

[Ideally speech recognition will have occured, so a text search can be done on keywords. Alternatively, a Fast Fourier Transform comparison be done over the audio stream, if the participants repeat the key terms.]

There will still be a need for 'minutes', in the form of some sort of summary. As a document, perhaps, with all the usual date, time, participant list, the T&Cs (which the 'document' itself has the means of enforcing), statement of purpose, and actions etc agreed. But this is an active (and 3D) document. Touch the participant list, and mini avatars appear. Touch an avatar to get their personal details (to the extent that you have their permission to), and a transcript of their actions within the meeting. Back to the document. Below the statement of purpose is a window, entering which allows you to review (but not to partake in) the meeting. A mouse click or hand wave displays floating menus, allowing you to control the review in great detail.

We can do more. Let's add the 4th dimension, time. A structure of 'wires', perhaps, appears behind the document, showing who said what to whom in relative time. And yet more. Let's decorate the meeting structure with links to stuff referred to in the meeting, such as web sites and file formats and existing applications or components. And comments and corrections and -

But I'm getting ahead of myself. My next post on this topic will examine some of the tools that mighr be available to the people involved in this virtual meeting. Tools that mere physical reality doesn't allow.