Virtual Innovation must save us from yet another video call.
As the world moves into the second year of Covid-19, video calls have become central to much of our lives. Whether Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, Meet or some alternate platform. The limitations of those platforms are becoming apparent. A lack of ability to customise the “room” to reflect the topic or members and the drab uniformity of design base don square boxes with talking heads for session after session. For many, this contributes to a lack of attention or motivation to fully participate after so many months. Addressing this is crucial to any concept of “new normal” and is both a usability and accessibility issue. If the most widely used tools to reduce the pandemic’s impact harm mental health and motivation, then we face a problem.
We should bear in mind that the conference calls we are making are not genuinely virtual. They are digital calls. This might sound like pedantry but has some value. Digital meetings simply offer a multimedia way of connecting to each other. Virtual calls create an alternate reality within which those calls occur. If we are to survive the new normal, Innovation needs to lead from one to the other.
There are three crucial components to the virtual meetings that we need to explore to create environments that are conducive to participation.
• The virtual space
• Representation of participants
• Forms of communication
Each of these is crucial in creating spaces within which interactions can take place.
Virtual Spaces
When we consider the virtual space, it is worth remembering that not all of our meetings and interactions occur in the same room in the physical world. We can learn a great deal from gaming experience in seeking to place our attendees in a virtual world. Such designs could be bespoke to an individual or corporate branded and offer some opportunities for creativity. Meetings could occur in exotic locations such as in the shadow of the pyramids or overlooking a city. We could create a virtual space that reflects the tone of a meeting, even with a little self-deprecation with the CEO seated within Hades’ fiery furnaces, or outside the sunlit gates of heaven. The critical issue is a variety of settings to maintain attention.
Representation of Self
Similarly, our representation of self can be enhanced beyond a few filters and alternate backdrops. Avatars need to be embedded into the virtual settings. These avatars should allow for some forms of facial expression and gestures and emotions to be represented within the room. The availability of AI can map our faces and bodies onto an avatar. This might allow for versions of ourselves to be represented in the rooms, perhaps enhanced if we wish, allowing us to get a sense of personality from the person’s appearance. As the director of teams and CEO of organisations, the temptation to represent myself as Blofeld (with white cat) from Bond movies or Gru, surrounded by minions, might have been quite appealing.
Forms of Communication
The virtual rooms need to offer as wide a range of forms of communication as possible. Avatars that interact with objects in the room, adding text, images, ideas and opinions to shared workspaces, expressing approval or disagreement through non-verbal cues and offering opportunities for room members to interact with each other through sidebars and private chats, testing ideas in private before sharing them. Virtual tools and virtual media may allow participants to evolve ideas and contributions as a network of interactions not merely through a central hub or moderator.
Within the rooms, new opportunities for accessibility may be feasible. Screens within the virtual space might display captions or sign language interpretation for the deaf or hard of hearing. Distractions can be turned off or reduced by those with more limited attention span, and automated audio description can be offered to those with limited vision.
Conclusion
There is a legacy of Innovation that we can draw upon to build next-generation tools for collaboration. The virtual worlds of Second Life offer a jumping-off point for meetings. We have a generation joining the workforce that grew up in Minecraft. The experience of these virtual settings may become the real new normal of the future.
