Virtual Collaboration on "Hotel California"

Last year, I wrote a post about how virtual worlds are increasingly becoming just as "real" as our physical world. In fact, I mentioned then how I managed to co-author my first academic article with two gentlemen who I never met because we all lived in various corners of the globe. Well, I recently came across this incredible video:



Never mind that The Eagles are one of my all-time favorite bands or that "Hotel California" is one of my all-time favorite songs. Also, disregard whether you think this is a good cover of the original song or whether you like the videography.

What makes this project so interesting is that the two performers--Jimmy Gelhaar and Bastiaan Zijlstra--managed to produce the music and video WITHOUT EVER MEETING IN PERSON. Jimmy lives in the United States (Denver) and Bastiaan lives in the Netherlands (Drachten), so they relied on Web-enabled technologies to collaborate ... and never boarded an international flight to do it.

Gotta love the power of technology!