New Journalism in Second Life

Cardiff.
It's second and last day of Future of Journalism 2009 - and after Transforming Audiences in London and e-Democracy in Vienna, the last day in a long week of conferencing for me. Of the three, FoJ is the most multi-tracked conference, so I'll be able to see only a fraction of all papers here - but many of them will be available online as well. We start this morning with a paper on journalism in Second Life, presented by Bonnie Brennen. She begins by noting the current concerns about the future of journalism and views that facts and truth are losing their importance in the postmodern world. Still, there is good journalism being done, if not always in conventional formats, and this journalism is helping people understand key issues in their lives.

One space where such journalism now takes place is Second Life, where various new and emerging forms of journalism are being practiced. What are the implications of practicing journalism in such an environment, and could they point to new opportunities for journalism as such? For example, there is print journalism practiced by residents and reporters in Second Life; here, truth and artifice are often blurred, and the focus is on in-game activities, but there is limited acceptance of mainstream reality and a focus on in-game ideas instead. There are a number of Second Life newspapers which have emerged through this, which are available both in-game and on the Web. (And yes, I know Second Life is not really a game, but I can't be bothered writing 'in-virtual space' or something similar all the time...)

This can be described in the context of postmodernism, which gives voice to the disillusionment of people with contemporary reality, and of Baudrillard's concept of hyperrealism, in which distinctions between originals and copies no longer exist: simulacra (as signifiers without signifieds) become more real than authentic experience, and virtual reality becomes as real as actual experience. Similarly, it is possible to identify the ideological aspects of Second Life: SL newspapers exist as elements of material culture which express a distinct view of reality that their readers are asked to share.

The Metaverse Messenger, one of the newspapers studied here, is the most traditional of the ones examined here - it follows a conventional newspaper format, and embraces the ideology of journalism by striving for balance and neutrality not least by following traditional journalistic sourcing processes; the Alphaville Herald - 'always fairly unbalanced' operates differently and takes a more srcastic, blog-style tone; the Second Life Newspaper focusses on providing readers with a better understanding of the SL grid, but has no specific mission other than reporting on events in the game - its coverage is generally upbeat and focussed on products and services in the game space.

All three papers frequently address legal and technical issues and other in-game concerns, and allocate considerable space to community events, SL activities, and people with illnesses and disabilities. One theme of these papers is also the ambiguous identity and relationship structure in the game, where gender-bending and avatar relationships may follow complicated patterns. The column "The Line" in the Metaverse Messenger has consistently addressed such issues over the past few years, in fact, and highlights possible differences between virtual reality and real life - it notes real-life implications of virtual-life activities.

There are also reports on online censorship in each of the papers, and there is a quasi-adversarial relationship between real and Second Life journalism; there is no distinction between fantasy and reality here. There are intricate ties between both forms of reality, but Second Life also stands as a separate plane of existence which cultivates alternative views; the absence of critical commentary discussing the blurring between both realities can be seen as a manifestation of postmodernity, and provides evidence that in hyperreality, any 'authentic' reality no longer exists. While journalistic philosophy may differ, all three SL newspapers point to a mission to engage with their readers on this basis, and focus on community building. More than 300,000 regular readers have made the Metaverse Messenger the most active of these papers - journalism in Second Life is flourishing and may provide important impulses for journalism in the 21st century.

Technorati : FoJ 2009, Second Life, community, identity, journalism, newspaper, virtual reality
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