What: Researchers have found that racial bias exists in virtual worlds according to an article in ITNews
Posts To Which It Is Related: The Mind Has A Body Of Its Own
Bottom Line: A study done in the virtual world There.com suggests that the psychological implications of race in the real world also impact the virtual space. When a study was done in There.com to test the willingness of users to assist a researcher’s avatar, the researchers noted that the rate of compliance was lower when the researcher asking for the request had a dark skinned avatar as opposed to being represented by a lighter skinned avatar. This mimics studies done in the real world which show that physical characteristics such as race, gender, and physical attractiveness affect the judgment of others. Moreover, these studies have shown that people are more uncomfortable with minorities and are less willing to help them. Two types of requests were studied – Foot In The Door Requests and Door In The Foot Requests. Foot In The Door Requests start with someone asking someone else for a small favor followed by a moderate favor; Door In The Foot Requests take place when someone asks for a very large favor followed by a moderate favor. As expected, participants were more likely to comply with the moderate request when it was preceded by the large request. However, while the avatar’s skin color had no effect on the Foot In The Door Request, it played a large part in the success rate of the Door In The Foot Request. This is because Door In The Foot Requests are usually judged by the participants’ opinion as to if the requester is deemed as worth impressing. This study further proves that real world psychology impacts and plays a large part in virtual world interactions. The implications for virtual teams are immense – unlike other forms of virtual communication that do not use avatars or visual cues, virtual world communication should be structured by keeping real life social and psychological morays in mind as members will view these interactions similarly to a real world interaction.

What: Copy And Paste article featuring information on online collaboration tools for small businesses
Posts To Which It Is Related: Posts on Collaboration Technology
Bottom Line: I thought that this would be a great article to share with our readers as it highlights how to find affordable software that will help small businesses better communicate with their virtual teams. Large companies are not the only place one will find geographically dispersed employees and these tools are aimed at small businesses. As the author notes, “collaboration tools can take the headache out of sharing documents, tracking projects, communication, and many other tasks that are frequently the bane of virtual workers and team members in different geographical locations.” The author notes that one should first make a list of things that they would need from online collaboration software for their team before searching for tools. This will cut down on the time needed to search for these tools and will ensure that only useful software is downloaded. Some of the types of online tools the author discusses are:

• Internal Websites: Can help with synchronizing tasks and sharing information but HTML knowledge is not needed
• Online Calenders: Ensures that team members (and clients) are all on the same page when setting or canceling appointments
• Document Sharing and Categorization: An efficient filing system for documents that allows users to track document changes, categorize documents for specific use, and even require users to check dociments in or out
• Alternatives to Email: As we have discussed on LeadingVirtually.com, email is not the most effective form of communication for a virtual team. Online collaboration tools include alternatives to email such as task lists and project tracking information so members can stay synchronized

Many of you already know about tools that do this but I felt that this article would be useful for our casual readers or small business users. As virtual teamwork becomes more popular, tools like this will be necessary to ensure that virtual teams are successful and efficient.