My understanding of definition of disruptive technologies is this, it is a new technology that comes about and shakes things up. It is usually something different and sort of off the projected path. It is also something that is accessible and quickly adopted, at least by individual consumers.
Second Life has the potential to be a disruptive technology because it is shaking things up. It makes others stop and rethink how to socialize, entrepreneurlize, and profitize (do not invoke the spirit of Webster, these are not real words) in an alternate reality. It has been easily adopted by early adopters of technology and has the potential to climb the curve because it is an open source technology,
Second Life is replacing chat rooms and is reminiscent of party lines ("call 1-550-1550 to be a party animal that’s all you got to know, Talkabout"). It has the potential to displace conference room, training facilities, classrooms, museums, storefronts, coffeehouses, etc, etc, etc. As an educator for an online school, I welcome the virtual classroom! Live instruction, global presence, simulations, opportunity to differentiate instruction for individual students, minimal inappropriate classroom disruptions, attend professional conferences without the cost of traveling abroad, and the list of teacher wants goes on and on.
These virtual worlds are going to be the most common way as human beings we use the electronics of the Internet to be together, to consume information.
As a social person who prefers to stay home than navigate crowds of unfamiliar people in unfamiliar places, Second Life allows me to come and go as I please. I can attend parties, hit a coffee shop, drop in on a live show, take in a lecture, and go for a long walk (or flight) without leaving the comfort of my own home.
As an educator for an online school with teachers that span the great (at least size wise) state of Arizona, Second Life can bring us close together without travel, lodging, child/adult/pet care related issues that are associated with in person trainings. Second Life would make collaborating easier and would also help those who need that one-on-one/face-to-face interaction, get some of those needs met when the real reality won’t allow for it.
The potential has not yet been fully realized and a replacement may emerge but it will reach beyond where Second Life has take us thus far, to the place some of us expect virtual worlds will go; a world within our computers.
Additional information:
School and Second Life on edutopia.org
Second Life and student exchange on edutopia.org
Collaboration and Second Life on gigaom.com
