Last week we had a demo with WebEx – who was recently purchased by Cisco. WebEx is a collaboration tool that enables users to virtually attend meetings and share voice, documents, files, video, etc.

Part of this demo included a marketing pitch that indicated many universities (such as BYU) had switched classes from being held in lecture halls to being held virtually.

Cisco WebEx isn’t the only player in this market. Many have probably seen the recent advertisements on TV for GoToMeeting. Another relatively new one is Yugma. The premise for each is simple – you can save money, time, and travel by virtually holding meetings – while still accomplishing what you need to.

It seems this trend is following that of social networking. You no longer have to stop by and sit down in someone’s living room to find out how they’re doing. All that’s required now is a text, a quick look at their facebook profile, or even a glance at their twitter status. While I agree – the more collaboration the better – I wonder where the line is drawn.

Can a student honestly learn (to the same degree) thru a computer screen as they could in a classroom? Can all meetings accomplish the same thing without having to be in the same physical space at once?

Maybe it’s just me – but I think there’s a difference between productivity and connectivity. To connect with someone requires more than pixels of data.

Changing directions – as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – I attend a 3 hour block of worship services every Sunday. I wonder how things would change if all the meetings became virtual. Would this improve the meetings?

Obviously Web 2.0 is here to stay – sometimes I just wonder at what cost.