But it's hard enough just living my regular life...

Business Week has a really interesting report entitled "The Coming Virtual Web," which outlines what the next iteration of the world wide web might look like.

Turns out it might look a lot like some of the virtual worlds online, such as Second Life and There. Business Week and the smart people interviewed for the article see the Internet as an inherently social and interactive medium, as opposed to a isolating and disconnecting medium. One might say it's an "engagist" medium as opposed to an "escapist" medium. Or at least I might.

Now, I'm sure you're thinking -- yeah, right, "World of Warcraft" is "engagist," to which I would say, yes it is! Gamers may not be engaging in the kinds of activities everyone finds appropriate and meaningful, but the point is that it's meaningful to them and they are interacting with other gamers all over the planet.

But perhaps you'd be more impressed by some of the other applications of virtual worlds. The Business Week article makes note of an english composition class at Ball State University that is held partly in Second Life. Over 300 people applied for the 18 slots. Or consider the business applications -- as startup company "Seriousity" CEO Ken Ross notes in the article "When you look at how addicted people get to these games, you realize there's a psychology that you can apply to real-life business situations."

So, how are YOU applying these lessons to your work? Because those 300 freshman at Ball State University are going to be in your workforce soon -- how will you engage their interest?