On/Off the Grid in Real/Virtual Worlds

At the NAVTEQ Connections conference yesterday in San Francisco, keynote speaker Scott Klososky, a technology futurist, delivered some provocative statements and questions such as "who’s mapping the virtual worlds." He believes that virtual worlds such as Second Life and Journeys (recently reviewed by TechCrunch and APB), have a definite place in business processes such as getting a better understanding of opinions by looking at someone’s avatar, a characteristic that might be revealed in virtual space but not necessarily in the "real world."

With respect to today’s methods of communicating and socializing in a "connected" world and in particular how mobile devices will broadcast location and "status" of availability, Klososky put it in terms of being "on" or "off" the grid. He listed several elements that the "connected" individual might consider in terms of being better informed with his/her network:

1. What am I using in the way of communication tools? Will you be using email, blogs, IM or Twitter?
2. Where am I; what’s my proximity to others? And can I institute a rules-based notification system to tell from friends when I am in their home town?
3. What’s my status? Am I busy, invisible, available?
4. How am I represented? Avatars, profiles in MySpace or LinkedIn.