by Jeremy Lewit

Because its easier to yell at your face when its not really a face. John Tierney reported earlier this month on the coming age of virtual meetings full of avatars. While I was quick to dismiss the idea as silly, because there’s so many other meeting technologies that can be used for remote workers, I think I see the point now.

As an administrator or manager of a meeting, I certainly don’t want to be able to gauge anyone’s responses to what is going on. To get back to reality: I don’t see how this isn’t just adding a bunch of playroom distraction to a conference call.

I prefer to work remotely myself; I don’t like paying for gas or the wear and tear on my car, and frankly, driving is a waste of time I could spend reading or surfing the web or watching my backlog of television shows.

Which isn’t why I’ve decided to agree that this will happen. It’s simply the fact that I prefer to talk to my boss over email. If hearing him through an avatar helps me be less stressed and more productive, I vote digitize me.

I want my in-meeting character to pretty much look like Tim Curry in Legend. You know what I’m talking about.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/science/12tier.html?ref=johntierney

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