Second Life news experiment

Beth Renneisen & Josh Gruetzmacher

1. EXPERIMENT TITLE – Meteor slams dorms: A real news event experienced in a virtual world

2. EXPERIMENT SCENARIO

The experiment will allow participants to enter a simulation of a news event — in this case a disaster caused by a meteor falling into the SFSU dorm complex — as an “avatar,” with the ability to “walk” around the scene and ask questions of a “virtual reporter.”

3. The EXPERIMENT MECHANICS

By visiting this disaster in Second Life, participants will be able to experience an intimacy with a news event that would be impossible in any other format. In a dangerous situation such as this one, emergency personnel would prohibit citizens — and even the press — from physically approaching the scene. In the simulation, which, in practice, would be constructed from basic reporting and social network information, we will test the value of the experience to the visitor. I propose that the interactivity of this format serves the journalistic role of a “super” informational graphic. Participants will fill out a survey following the event to gauge its value in several areas.

4. SL LOCATION

The experimental scene has been built in Second Life with the assistance of SFSU’s Housing Department, who will open the location to visitors for one hour at 11 a.m., Thursday, April 23. Participants will be given the coordinates for teleporting to the meteor location on the day of the event.

5. ROLES

Participants will be asked to navigate the disaster independently, take snapshots, and take notes on how much they learned about what happened from their own investigation. They should note how the construction of the site enhanced or detracted from their interest in the actual news story, and be prepared to fill out a survey on their experience.

6. ROLE ASSIGNMENTS

The DAI 627 class will attend the event, as well as several other guests and faculty members. Avatars of Beth (Cassandra Avedon) and Josh (JD Mint) will be in the scene with participants to act as guides and answer questions as “virtual reporters.” They can be identified in SL by their fedora hats, with a “reporter” badge in the hat band.

7. ASSETS PROVIDED

Participants will only need the ability to take notes in as much detail as possible. During the exercise they will be able to locally chat with each other and the reporters by typing. Reporters will periodically send “breaking news” messages to the group.

8. PARTICIPANT PREPARATION

As a warm up, participants will be given a newspaper page with the meteor story presented in a traditional manner on the day of the event. The “story” will have the basic outline of what has happened, but contain no visuals except file photos of SFSU and a locator map.

9. PRODUCTION PLAN

The SFSU Housing department has given us access to their facilities for this period of time, and will assist us in managing the event from their offices. Josh will remain in the classroom to monitor participants, and Beth will be in the lab conducting the exercise. Both of us will be able to answer questions “in life” regarding the news story. Participants will be asked to fill out a survey online at SurveyMonkey directly after the window closes at noon.

10. CONCLUSION: We will write a report about the successes and failures of the experiment and the survey results, which will be accompanied by an edited and annotated video of the event, captured during the exercise.