Narrow to Broadband Thinking
Shankland: When I first heard about Second Life, I was skeptical that it was more than a glorified chat room. But now having tried it, I feel like there is a bit of a sense of place–more than just me sitting behind a keyboard. Do you agree?
Wladawsky-Berger: Yes, totally. There is something very human about visual interfaces. I almost think of text-based interfaces, including browsers, as “narrowband” into our brains, whereas visual interfaces are broadband into our brains. Our brains are wired for sight and sound–that is what makes Second Life different from chat.
It was a pleasant surprise to read Dana Gardner’s piece sharing his eureka moment on getting SL. Dana was present at Stephen Shankland’s interview with Irving Wladawsky-Berger. The above quoted Q&A is taken from that interview. It seems very relevant to some of the conversations making the rounds throughout the blogosphere over the last week.
There is alot of envy among some camps of the media attention SL has been getting of late. Whether these camps are capable of making the transition from narrow to broadband thinking time will tell. To do so they will first have to spend time in SL in order to question its relevance. Yes it is not for everyone and not everyone subscribes to the idea that growing old is compulsory but growing up is not.
Since its inception the initial SL experience has been akin to stepping off a bus in the downtown area of a strange city knowing nobody to paraphrase Eric Rice from his recent roadcast with Reuben Steiger. As someone who has spent a lifetime doing this in RL I was very comfortable with this scenario. With Second Life : The Official Guide and shared experiences to be found on the Web SL is becoming a more accessible place for new residents. And that is a very good thing as we transition towards the Living Web.