Less than 9 months after arriving in Second Life, Skribe Forti has positioned himself as a specialist producer of mixed reality video, with at least three international brand names on the showreel.

This week he produced a promotional video for the CSI Second Life episode. Detective Matt Taylor enters the virtual world to chase (guess who) a real life killer. In conjunction, as can be seen from the video, a be-your-own-detective game has been created in Second Life.

Around 100 islands were created in Second Life to accommodate the expected hoards of newbie detectives that a high profile TV show might generate. In the event, sign-ups were perhaps less than what they hoped for. 74,000 so far. As soon as they stop watching television they’ll be right over.

Electric Sheep Company, who did the Second Life work for CBS made a pretty good fist of the orientation experience given that they’re trying to simultaneously explain Second Life and the CSI game. That’s a big ask. They used the occasion to released a customised Second Life client, On Rez. It’s cut-down in functionality and slightly less intimidating than the real thing.

Orientation in the broad sense is still way too complex – 90% of arrivals fall by the wayside. I have some ideas on how this could be improved. (Tell someone who cares, Bret).

CBS actually invested $7 million in the Electric Sheep Company, a competitor of ours, earlier this year. A CBS VP is quoted in that article: “We believe that all these virtual worlds represent next generation communications platforms”. I think that’s fair comment.

I quoted an education blogger at the Perth Podcamp today. He had just attended a Second Life Education Conference. “There are those rare occurrences where in the moment, you can feel a change, you can feel a complete shift. The past 24 hours I bore witness to that rare moment where you literally witness the shift happening in front of you and know things are never going to be the same from this point forward”. That’s an epiphany common to many educators.

The entertainment industry’s interest in Second Life guarantees the virtual world more high profile media exposure. The tech industry are highly engaged and the education sector is very active and very excited. These three sectors are the main game.

Okay, the Four Corners program. I don’t understand why all the Current Affairs programs in the world don’t share the same footage on Second Life. In case you’re planning to make your own, here is the format to use:

Send in a journalist who has no experience in the environment
Get him or her to report on how they put their avatar together
Interview the same people in Second Life that everyone else interviews
Talk about Anshe Chung because she made a million dollars
Talk about money a lot, and tax
Show dancing (people like colour and movement)
Show the same real-life companies who’ve gone into Second Life that everyone else shows
Interview people who spend 12 hours a day online and present them as typical
Interview Ted Castranova about the economics of virtual worlds
Interview Philip Rosedale, the founder of the business
Interview Clay Shirky, because he’s a professional critic of Second Life
Mix in footage from World of Warcraft without explaining that it’s not Second Life
Cover every controversy you can in as little detail as possible

This is not to say the 4 Corners doco was poorly researched; it was fine. But the pressure to present diverse, fast-moving analysis means a confusing picture and no depth. Quality investigative reporting of the type 4 Corners has sometimes delivered in the past requires more.

Second Life gives us a platform we can use to examine, re-define and experiment with identity, relationships, cooperation, economics, community, governance, communication and institutions. It looks like we’ll have to wait until each media outlet has done several ‘what is Second Life’ stories until they deliver any serious examination of these opportunities.

I am a big fan of the ABC and a loyal listener to Radio National. Herewith some critical comments relating to the ABC’s Second Life presence. (When will this guy say something POSITIVE?) Disclosure: I did offer to consult to the ABC last year and they declined.

There are a number of technical and navigational problems with the build I won’t go into here. Those interested can do the tour on SL Tourguides and get the full story.

The textures and build are not high quality which reflects poorly on the organisation. Compare the NBC build for example. But more important, the personality of the different ABC entities does not come through. The ABC is a conglomerate of very different media. Triple J is a youth radio network and should look KEWL. Radio National should have intellectual feel. Local radio has a ‘folky’ feel. ABC TV news should be stiff and old fashioned looking (do they do that on purpose?).

At present the island is a jumble of different areas; ecology, indigenous culture, alien building contest … these are not tied to any of the ABC’s brands; neither are they tied to a central purpose.

Is the purpose of the island to help brand the ABC internationally? Is its purpose to discuss Australian issues or to present Australian viewpoints on international issues? Is it a vehicle for re-purposing existing content or a dialogue with some of the internet’s most sophisticated users? The answers would help select content and determine a style of presentation. As it currently stands (early days of course) it’s an island in search of an idea.

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to clearly think through what you’re trying to achieve before you embark on a building program in Second Life.

There are lots of visitors to the island and the ABC Friends group will provide input. The feedback will be valuable but it will be diverse. Forming it into a coherent direction will be challenging. Leadership needed here.

Terrific event. Two star performances: Michaella Krajicek and Hawkeye.

The Hopman Cup was the first ITF tennis tournament to allow players to invoke the Hawkeye system to adjudicate close line-calls. There was full on acclaim for the implementation of this technology which removed the acrimony common when linesmen made human errors. Hawkeye will spread to Grand Slam tournaments pretty quickly. I’m thinking Wimbledon will be the last to adopt it. Cricket administrators! Get with it! LBWs! The Snickometer!

I have one suggestion for the Hopman Cup. About mixed doubles: it’s great to see both sexes on court enjoying themselves but men serve harder and hit the ball harder than women. It can be an unbalanced contest. If the team receiving service changed sides after each point it would be possible for the girls always to serve to the girls and the boys to the boys. This would remove the main disparity; when men serve to women.

The Hopman Cup has the potential to be more popular on television than a Grand Slam event. Just needs a little fine-tuning.

Steve Vizard’s company, Cornerbox, is making a new comedy show for the Ten Network. It’s called The Wedge. Some poor promotional thinking from Ten on this. They’ve been running a teaser campaign which mentions the web site; don’t bother going there – it says “Coming Soon”.

Thanks to Andrew at China Grey who alerted me to this and pointed out that the reward for taking the trouble to visit the web site is to get less information than you got in the original teaser. “Thanks for your interest. We’ve just wasted your time.” Not teasing. Annoying.