THE DISRUPTIVE POWER OF SECOND LIFE

Dr.Thornburg in his (2008) podcast says that disruptive technology comes out of nowhere and obsolete an emerging technology. Disruptive technology is a term coined by Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen to describe a new technology that unexpectedly displaces an established technology. In his 1997 best-selling book, "The Innovator's Dilemma," Christensen separates new technology into two categories: sustaining and disruptive. Sustaining technology relies on incremental improvements to an already established technology. Disruptive technology lacks refinement, often has performance problems because it is new, appeals to a limited audience, and may not yet have a proven practical application. (Whatis?com, 2008, p. 1).

Examples of Disruptive Technologies:


DVRs + Entertainment on DemandRemember programming your VCR to record TV shows? Of course you don't, because nobody did it--the task was too difficult and time-consuming. Fast-forward to the late 1990s and the introduction of the TiVo and ReplayTV digital video recorders. Time-shifting programs and fast-forwarding through commercials became as easy as pressing a couple of buttons. Suddenly people were no longer shackled to the arbitrary schedules of TV programmers and the obnoxious pandering of advertisers. Cable and satellite providers rushed out their own DVRs, and millions of folks began "TiVo-ing"--even those who had never touched an actual TiVo (Typan, D., 2008, p. 1)


YouTube + Cheap Digital Cameras and CamcordersOne word: macaca. When the candid video of former Senator George Allen calling someone a macaca (a monkey) appeared on YouTube, it not only cost him a Senate seat and altered the balance of power in the United States Congress, but it also demonstrated how far viral video had come. The Web is now the first stop for many political candidates and companies trying to spread the word about themselves or their products, and YouTube accounts for more than 60 percent of all video-site traffic, according to Hitwise.com (Typan, D., 2008, p. 2).

Philip Rosedale on Second Life
Philip Rosedale (avatar "Philip Linden") is the founder of Second Life, an online 3D virtual world inhabited by millions. He's chair of Linden Labs, the company behind the digital society. Why build a virtual world? Philip Rosedale (2008) talks about the virtual society he founded, Second Life and its underpinnings in human creativity. It's a place so different that anything could happen. If a disruptive technology is one that comes out of nowhere, and generate a huge impact on society than Second Life would be a disruptive technology. Second Life is a virtual world technology that can be use to create avatars and islands where these avatars resign. (The Daily Galaxy, 2007, p. 6). This technology has the potential of replacing a physical teaching environment with a virtual one. Second Life has five to ten years before it is replaced by another emerging technology. The social benefit of Second Life is being able to create avatars that interface with each other using motion and animation on a virtual island. People who are introverted would find Second Life an ideal place to reinvent themselves. The social implication of virtual worlds in my industry is illustrated by the EDTech Island in Second Life.

References

Clayton M. Christensen to describe a new technology that ... http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci945822,00.html

Dr. David Thornburg “Disruptive Technologies” (approx. 8 minutes)

Philip Rosedale on Second Life
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html

Second Life - The Daily Galaxy
Serious Web gurus see Second Life, which claims 3.3 million registered ... giving them the strength and power of what it represents and making them no longer human. ... Second Life is a disruptive technology on the level of the personal ...
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/second_life/

The 10 Most Disruptive Technology Combinations - PCWorld
Often, even great new technology needs a partner to really change the world. Here are 10 marriages of technologies that have shaken the digital world over ...
http://www.pcworld.com/.../the_10_most_disruptive_technology_combinations.html
By Dan Tynan, PCWorld Mar 19, 2008

What is disruptive technology? Definition from WhatIs.com - see ...
Jan 28, 2006 ... Disruptive technology is a term used by Harvard Business School professor
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci945822,00.html