Module 4 Disruptive Technologies
Second Life is used as disruptive technology because it changes
the method of processing things. According to Thornburg Second Life has not
been included in K-12 grades at this point. Second Life refers to virtual
environments that are mostly used in Higher Education Levels like colleges and
universities. Second Life replaced 3D movies where technology was viewed as
three dimensional type pictures appeared as real life images. Thornburg (2009)
discussed disruptive technologies as innovations that change how things are
communicated. This innovation tends to emerge without notice to make previous
technologies become obsolete. When new technologies emerge sometimes people are
not trained to use these technologies and tend to lose their employment. In
most instances changes in technology takes about a decade before new emerged
technologies are available on the market. Second Life can change the way people
engage in social networks by implementing ways to communicate with images in a virtual world.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). Emerging and future technology. Baltimore, MD:
Author.
Thornburg, D. (2008a). An amazingly incomplete emerging technologies
bibliography. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space
Exploration.
I can see how our current social media sites may be replaced with more efficient social media platforms. I would love to see more virtual environments similar to Sims as a social media platform. However, I am sure the future holds more than what I can imagine.
ReplyDeleteHi Petti,
ReplyDeleteI think Second Life is not going to recover from its current slowdown. Babin (2008) noted there are less people interested in Second Life and that its economy is slowing down. Perusing through the forums on Second Life makes me wonder if they are being affected by the first world recession as well. My friends who have used Second Life since its inception have gotten bored and quit running its servers. I do not think Second Life is sustainable in its current user loss ratios.
I do think Second Life will be replaced by a cheaper alternative that users can use through a mobile device. One of the faults of Second Life is that a person needs to be connected to the Internet via a desktop or laptop. The current technology trend is to use mobile devices. People do not want to stay attached to a device on their lap; people want mobility. Unless Second Life becomes more affordable (e.g. become free) and mobile, I think it will be replaced.
References
Babin, J. (2008). Second Life’s economy slows down, too. MarketPlace. Retrieved from http://ssl.marketplace.org/topics/tech/second-lifes-economy-slows-down-too
BTW, this is Sanjay Sharma
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ReplyDeleteI can see how Second Life could be used in higher education, but I'm not so sure about it being used for the elementary kids yet. I would not feel safe as a teacher having my students use something like this until I knew there safety restrictions in place.
ReplyDeleteI can see some people not wanting to grasp the idea of a new technology being used in the workplace. Colleges are requiring more use of technology for assignments as well as some high schools. I can see virtual worlds being tried in some learning environments in high school soon.
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