Virtual Worlds and Collaborative Work: Survey Results March 2008

Author: Eilif Trondsen

About This Report

This report presents the detailed responses to a February 2008 online survey. It also provides some analysis of and comments about the survey findings. We did the survey partly in preparation for a meeting of the Virtual-Worlds Consortium for Innovation and Learning that took place at SRI in Menlo Park, California, on 25 February, focusing on the use of virtual worlds for collaborative work.

We did the survey in collaboration with three other organizations that also focus on virtual-worlds issues and developments:

  • Special Interest Group (SIG) on Virtual Worlds (www.virtualworldsig.com) of the Software Developers Forum (SD Forum) in Silicon Valley (led by Bob Ketner)
  • The Serious Second Life group in Boulder (http://secondlife.meetup.com/9/), Colorado (led by Richard Hackathorn)
  • MetaverseU network at Stanford University (led by Henrik Bennetsen, research director of Stanford University's Humanities Lab; see http://shl.stanford.edu).

Table of Contents

Introduction and Background 1
Section 1: Participants' Profile and Background 2
Summary Results 2
Survey Response Details 3
Section 2: General Issues and Questions about Virtual Worlds and Collaboratie Work 5
Summary Results 5
Survey Response Details 7
Section 3: Collaborative Work in Second Life: Now and In the Future 9
Summary Results 9
Survey Response Details 10
Section 4: Collaborative Work Using Virtual-World Platforms Other than Second Life 12
Summary Results 12
Survey Response Details 13
Future Monitoring and Analysis of VWs and Collaboratie Work Issues and Developments 16