Task 5

The Boys and Girls club of Milwaukee would greatly benefit from the creation of a virtual world. The virtual platform that would be best served for them would be Second Life. Considering the level of maturity needed to handle such an endeavor participants in this virtual world must be over 13 years of age. This will provide them with the necessary maturity in order to learn, grow, and create with the help of a sponsor that will help them get accustomed to Second Life. Considering the difficulty in becoming sufficient in Second Life sponsors will need to be competent at teaching young users the basic around Second Life. This plan will outline why the creation of a virtual team will help the Boys and Girls Club, what influence that members will have on the virtual group, and also any considerations that must be in mind regarding the virtual group. This plan will explain the benefits of this virtual team and how it will help teens to grow and be part of a virtual group, while helping them become more effective users of technology.

            A virtual team is “a group of individuals who work across time, space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs of communication technology.” (Lipnack, 2000 pg. 352) Through the creation of a virtual team it will be possible to foster creativity and learning in the young people that will be using Second Life. In theory over time the use of Second Life could connect not only members from the Milwaukee area, but also from statewide or nationwide members thus allowing members a chance to learn about their peers from varying areas around the country. This formation of a virtual group will be helpful as it will be a rich enough form of media in order to serve the needs of the organization. Being able to communicate synchronously is an important characteristic of Second Life and one that will make it possible for someone to teach a new user in the form of a walkthrough of various functions. Miller describes managers and how they select media forms based on the task ambiguity, “managers will be more effective if they choose a communication medium that is a proper match for the ambiguity of the task at hand.” (Miller, 2015 pg. 240) Thus using Second Life is very worthwhile for it gives users the freedom and autonomy to create and do as they please, something that teens strive for.

            Members of the virtual group will have all of the impact on the group, from the new users to the sponsors and trainers all of the content will be created by the users and thusly create a new world for users to learn and explore. Channel expansion theory is something that will take place over time as users become more and more connected with the technology, “richness perceptions will depend on an individual’s personal experience with a specific medium.” (Miller, 2015 pg. 241) As more and more time is spent with the techonology we can theorize that users will become more and more useful in the techonology and it will provide them with chances to learn new things about Second Life and to bring new things to the table in the virtual group. Considering this Second Life is a great platform for the Boys and Girls club as it will allow for members to continually grow and learn new things about the medium the more they use it.

            Implementing this virtual group or team will require a few distinct steps, as Beverly Geber has written. The first step is to create a mission, and for this virtual group the mission is quite simple. To foster growth in young people, while creating content in Second Life and allowing youths to learn and become a part of a virtual group and help them carry over their knowledge and experience in Second Life to other aspects of their lives. Norms must also be addressed, respectful communication habits, along with the other norms of the boys and girls club must be adhered too while inside of the Second Life. Also it will be necessary to create a team leader that will create and monitor aspects of the virtual group, for example if conflict does arise the team leader will decide how to move forward and solve any issues that may arise throughout the use of the virtual team. While planning the group it is important to select new users carefully as to not open the group up to any trouble making members. This is a very important aspect of this plan as its success hinges greatly on the first wave of new members being able to use and learn the system in order to implement new ideas, creations, and work.

            Using Second Life for the Boys and Girls Club will require a group of dedicated individuals to teach the first users, however once those users are proficient in the medium the idea will be to for older users to help newer users along in order to expand their use of the medium more and more. While the Boys and Girls Club can still meet in person this use of a virtual group will allow for members to meet when it may not be possible to meet face to face and it will let members learn more and more about other members and to strengthen the group as a whole.

Lipnack, Jessica., (2000). Virtual Teams: People Working Across Boundaries with Technology. John Wiley & Sons. p.352

Miller, K. (2015) Organizational communication: Approaches and processes. Stamford, CT: Cengage.