Even if they are planting virtual corn or dragging around cartoon rain clouds, there is a great deal to be learned. But collaboration using CAVEs and ImmersaDesks isn't the sole issue for the Alliance tele-immersion team. Every member of a collaborative virtual community can't always be using a virtual reality platform. There are better tools for some jobs, and often the virtual reality equipment simply isn't available. As an example, imagine a group of people from around the world developing a better mousetrap.
Engineers meet in a shared virtual environment to brainstorm.
Once the intricate pulley system and giant block of cheese have been agreed upon, they send a rough draft over a network to the designers. The designers take the concept and use their familiar desktop CAD programs to do a more thorough blueprint. They then send it back to the engineers for modifications. When they all decide to go to their geographically dispersed homes for the night, the virtual environment doesn't shut down, it continues to exist even though it's not in use. If someone is struck with the inspiration of adding a glass dome to drop down on the mouse, she can throw open her laptop, type up some notes, and ship them off to the virtual environment.