Rethinking virtuality in a digital media age

Abstract

Scholars have studied virtuality in teams and organizations for over two decades. The term “virtual” is of- ten used loosely and imprecisely, and theoretical debates have flourished over what differentiates virtual

from non-virtual teams. In these debates, scholarship has not explicitly considered the significant ways in which the technological landscape has changed over this time. While the virtual is often treated as a separate space from “real”, physical or face-to-face interaction, the increasing technological saturation of our lives has resulted in a blurring of online and offline worlds such that these distinctions may no longer hold up. I will explore whether the term “virtuality” still has currency and the ways in which we must rethink our underlying assumptions about virtuality in a digital media age.