• As information shifts from analog to digital, physical things can become virtual—changing the metabolism of the economy, the types of institutions and relationships possible, and the nature of economic activity itself
In the new economy, there are (to name a few) the following:
• Virtual alien. People working and participating in one country’s economy who are physically located somewhere else—for example, ‘Mi.tual data entry workers” who live in India. Virtual aliens are often, technically, illegal aliens.
• Virtual ballot box. Any information appliance (TV, telephone, computer, kiosk, etc.) from which citizens can vote.
• Virtual bulletin board. Message Maestro, hyperlinked to other boards. Push pins not required.
• Virtual business park. “House” business resources on the Net to help companies rapidly create virtual corporations. As in Bell South’s Media Park, which provides resources for the creative community.
Virtual congress (aka virtual hearings). Legislative hearings held ft multiple locations a synchronously (in multiple time dimensions).
• Virtual corporation (virtual enterprise, extended enterprise, interenterprise). The conjunctional grouping, based on the Net, of companie individuals, and organizations to create a business.
• Virtual coupon. On the Net, encouraging you to buy, for example, peanut butter.
• Virtual government agency. Many different government agencies have a similar purpose are linked by networks to deliver services a single window to the public, as in “entitlements” virtual agency. • Virtual job. Individual contract work conducted on the Net. Not to be confused with unemployment.
• Virtual mall. An environment on the Net in which like things can be found, as in “virtual shopping mall” or “virtual shoe sale.”
• Virtual market. Any place in cyberspace where people shop.
• Virtual office. Anywhere The location of work for the nomadic office worker.
• Virtual reality. The overriding 050/moron for virtuajization
• Virtual sex. Interactive multimedia sexual experience with digitized partner(s), in the future involving kinesthetic feedback.
• Virtual stockyard. Electronic auction of stock using interactive workstations. Stock do not need to be moved to a physical yard to be sold. Now replacing many physical stocl’ards, as at Calgary Stockyard Ltd., which conducts two-thirds of cattle transactions electronically.
• Virtual store. The store on the Net that isn’t there, routing consumers to suppliers (aka virtual retail, virtual wholesale, virtual distribution).
• Virtual village. The grouping of individuals, independent of location, who share a broad set of common objective and subjective interests. Extends to village life, main street, village square, village clown.
• Virtual water cooler Places on the Net where people can engage in informal, even playfiul communications such as those that occur around the (physical) water cooler. Sometimes called a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon).