When Worlds Collide

Abstract

© 2 0 0 8 R i c h a r d N . K a t z T he emergence of virtual worlds, synthetic worlds, and immersive worlds is a social and technical movement of great importance. Although personally I have yet to be moved to construct a virtual mini-me, I recognize that these environments will become incredibly rich and nuanced— nearly real, in fact. And I realize that the eventual near-reality of these environments has profound implications for higher education. Colleges and universities are carbon creatures. If we ask donors to endow ideas, they tell us that they’ll endow buildings. We boast about how many assignable square feet of space we are constructing or where we can place the next building designed by the latest famous architect. Institutional leaders write their legacies in bricks and mortar. And our carbon footprint can be magnificent! Still, trends like climate change, rising energy costs, high real-estate costs, security concerns, telecommuting, telelearning, telemedicine, and global research collaborations are changing our thinking about the role, nature, and importance of built physical spaces on campuses today. In addition, the rapid emergence of collaborative infrastructures, high-speed networks, rich digital simulations, and immersive software environments is causing a reconsideration of built physical environments as places to live, work, and learn in higher education. Can we ride this wave? My conversations with CIOs today revolve around what I refer to as “the CIO’s new friends.” Our “best buddies” are the general counsel, the director of internal audit, the chief of police, and the director of public affairs. Huh? What happened? It seems that overnight, CIOs awakened to the news of virtual worlds—the worlds of the Internet and the World Wide Web. People communicate, buy things, study, chat, explore, collaborate, and socialize in these virtual worlds. Sadly, some people also stalk others, engage in fraud, use hate words, steal, trick, and threaten. Many of the IRL (in real life) social issues have