Yet another news organisation is joining the Second Life landrush. This time, it is Rupert Murdoch’s 24-hour news channel, Sky News.
It is launching a “virtual newsroom” on May 27, with kicking off with a simulcast with politics editor Adam Boulton’s Sunday Live programme. This is not exactly pushing the boundaries but it is a start.
In its press release, Sky says:
Special virtual rooms will allow residents to step in and enjoy news stories and events in an innovative and engaging way. By recreating events and scenarios, such as courtroom cases, crime scenes and natural disasters, in a 3D space Sky News will provide users with a richer experience and a deeper understanding of issues.
Virtual worlds like Second Life do present an opportunity to experiment with how news is reported and presented. Reuters is probably the best known news organisation with a dedicated in Second Life. And a former BBC web developer has come up with a way of a prototype to display BBC News headlines in the virtual environment.
These experiments are to be welcomed. Some will succeed, some will fail. It doesn’t matter if Second Life will be superseded by something else in the future. Hopefully, we can learn from these early initiatives about what works and doesn’t in these emerging virtual environments.
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