IBM Creating 3D Lotus Connections

"Lotus Connections will serve up social bookmarks in a 2-D world like del.ici.ous, but what does that look like in 3D?" asked Jeff Schick, vice president of social computing for IBM. In a larger eWeek piece on mashing up virtual worlds and social networking tools, Schick describes a project under development by IBM to build a 3D social interface for Lotus Connection. He compares the project to a scene in  "Disclosure," where Michael Douglas pulled files from a virtual drawer. Alternatively, it could be something as simpler, like tying an avatar to a user's Connection data or posting a blog to a virtual billboard. Schick couldn't confirm a ship date, but it sounds like IBM is aiming to release this as a product, not just design it for internal use. [via eWeek]