"3-D Avatars Could Put You in Two Places at Once"

Wouldn't you like to have a 3-D avatar bearing your own face that could attend 3-D virtual meetings with other talking heads on blocky bodies with pencil-thin limbs? I know I wouldn't.

John Tierney of the New York Times tells us (3-D Avatars Could Put You in Two Places at Once, April 11, 2011) that this will probably be available in the next five years.

Other selling points:

• No more travel to meetings.
• Your avatar can attend and participate in the meeting while you sleep. 
• You can alter your avatar's face to make the other meeting participants like you more.

Although the title puts you in two places at once, if the avatar can function without your direction (because you're asleep), why couldn't you be in three, four, five places (in two, three, four meetings) at once? Think of the increased productivity (and the increased expectations for productivity).

I can't wait.

Ken Pimple, PAIT Project Director