Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/57462
Technology Professor, Course Offer Insight on Virtual Worlds Fifteen years ago, John Artz started an experimental course on a very young, undeveloped World Wide Web. The course introduced Web- based business applications to an audience extremely skeptical about what practical use the Web could possibly have for business, says Artz, associate professor of information systems and technology manage- ment at The George Washington University School of Business in Washington, D.C. With that early skepticism quelled, Artz is turning to another emergent technology that he believes holds promise equal to, if not greater than, the Web: virtual worlds. His new summer course, "Web-based Systems Development," will require students to analyze a virtual business operating in Second Life. BizEd asked Artz about the course's objectives and the implica- tions virtual worlds have for business. What kinds of virtual businesses will your students study? The majority of businesses in Sec- ond Life sell products that can be used only in the virtual world, like clothing, animations, weapons, and vehicles. Some real-world businesses are dabbling in Second Life, such as Dell and Barnes & Noble, but they are an extremely small percentage. I will have students choose a vir- tual business—say a clothing store— and develop a business model that includes revenue and expenses to determine if the business is viable or just a hobby. In addition, they'll offer recommendations to make the busi- ness more viable, such as finding ways to attract more traffic, increase sales, or bet- ter display products. What unique challenges will students face? Few people would run a real-life business that is losing money just because it's fun. However, a business owner in Second Life might lose a couple hundred dollars a month and dismiss it as entertainment. Most people there are engaging in fantasy to some extent, which becomes a problem for researchers. You don't know if you're getting truthful reporting or some version of their fantasies. What potential does Second Life have for business? Imagine asking this question 15 years ago, replacing the words "Sec- ond Life" with "World Wide Web." In the 1990s, businesses began to realize that they had to have Web sites for a variety of purposes, from e-commerce to customer service. Virtual worlds will likely follow this model. Web technologies made the question "Where is the information located?" irrelevant to the seek- ers of that information. Virtual worlds may make the question "Where is the user located?" irrel- evant. Professor John Artz will teach his summer course on virtual-world businesses face-to-face and via his Second Life avatar, "Dr. Cosmos." 58 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2008 What do you want students to learn from your course? Business students will soon find them selves designing or using vir- tual worlds for serious business applications. Product decisions, personnel decisions, reorganiza- tions, mergers all can be simulated in virtual environments. They need to be aware of and understand this technology.