According to MEDIAWEEK, during the week of November 5th, CNN will be putting a new spin on an old idea. Instead of embedding a reporter in Second Life, they will be having the residents do all of the work. However, instead of submitting tips to existing blogs, the news will actually come from the residents.

In order to prepare our fair citizens for their duties, they will be handing out kits, allowing them to send stories and photos. In addition, they will be offering weekly "news meetings" and training sessions, led by CNN.com staffs, and even Larry King himself! Furthermore, you'll be able to read the news on kiosks throughout the grid.

I wonder if it will consist more of real life or Second Life news? I guess we'll find out next week!

UPDATE: I just spoke with a Director of Public Relations at CNN Worldwide and she clarified some things for me. While it's a possibility that Larry King and other on-air personalities will be in SL, plans have not been finalized in this matter. She also stated that the reports will be 100% user-generated in-world i-Reports.

Kelly Services, a human resources employment resource, has opened its own island in SL, making it part of what seems to be a growing trend of such businesses attempting to shift around the way we think about seeking work.

I started to wonder, though: isn't part of the evaluation process how someone presents themselves, how they perform? Or is it all taken on faith after receiving an applicant's resumé? How much of this can be done virtually? I'm sure Kelly's a worldwide business, but is there an expectation of physical presence at some point? Do papers need to be signed? I've been extremely fortunate to have had a fairly steady job for the past few years, so I've not been keeping myself up-to-date on job seeking practices. Is this the new way?

(Via CNN)

SL gets a lot of press for being a sensational platform for those looking for sensational pursuits -- sex, gambling, combat, etc. However, there is another side to the virtual world that doesn't get the same amount of coverage, and that's its value as a testing ground for proving concepts, virtual or otherwise.

This article goes over that idea. Corporations who are in the development stage of their product can utilize SL as a laboratory, saving time and money over the traditional method, which can be costly and take a long time to manage. The article mentions to aspects of experimentation: working on a product, and working on experimentation methods themselves. One leads to the creation and distribution of an object, the other helps develop methods of experimentation itself, helping to create tools that non-programmers can use.

As with many proprietary technologies, however, security can be a concern. Given SL's reputation for griefing, some companies might think twice before committing to developing an important project in SL. Ideas about age verification and increased security might help assuage those companies' fears, but those technologies are still to be tested and tried. Until then, the future of SL as a testing ground remains in the design stages.

(Via CNN)

The gradual recovery of SL in the mainstream media continues. CNN are carrying an article about SL which is largely positive.

It mentions, in passing, the feeding frenzy about sex in SL, then moves on to explore one possible strength of SL - cheap simulation tools - in quite some detail. Of course, there's a little (if broadly accurate) sting in the tail (will Open Croquet overtake SL for this activity, being fully open source already? - not mentioning that SL is moving that way of course) but it is still well worth a read.

(Thanks to Chris Geiger for the lead)

There's an article on cnn.com that explores the phenomenon of griefing -- what it is, where it came from, and what to do about it. It opens with a bit about Anshe Chung's attack in 2006, which is how it's relevant here. The second paragraph has it that the Internet ' ... was to be a libertarian's paradise, where people could meet and form lasting relationships with other individuals from around the globe, free from the constraints of daily existence - all without having to leave their bedroom.'

The thing is, despite griefing, the Internet is all of that. I have personal experience with friends who have met partners and more online in just this fashion. Ultimately, what makes a griefer is summed up best in this Penny Arcade comic (adult language to follow). Anonymity + an audience = antisocial behavior. There's more to it than that, however, as many, perhaps even the majority of those online are not griefers at all. One must be of the mentality that causing harm to others is pleasurable. The Avatar Bill of Rights, mentioned in the article, is a first step toward quelling griefing behavior, but it tells us nothing about how to prevent it in the first place.

So, where does that leave us? SL still doesn't allow the average user to mount up a posse and hunt down a griefer with the purpose of banning him, and cries for help to LL aren't always heeded. Is it possible to cobble together some sort of groundroots response? Are antiscript sims the answer? Have you seen a method that works?

(via cnn.com)

An hour-long program hosted by CNN's Kristie Lu Stout will cover the topic of Virtual Worlds, and how they're shaping our future. The program will include panelists from all over the industry, including Trip Hawkins, formerly of 3DO; Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia, and of course, Our Philip.

You can read more about this here, and the program itself will run on Wednesday 13th June at 1500 BST / 1600 CET, Saturday 16th June and Sunday 17th June at 2000 BST / 2100 CET.

(Via warcry.com)

There is an article up on CNN.com about educators in Second Life. To which I had a very similar reaction to as Raph Koster who titled his post about the article "Another day, another SL mention on CNN." I kind of wish I had thought of that first because it made me chuckle. It is true Second Life is getting a lot of press lately and seemingly more press about if it should be getting so much press. But no matter your stance on the issue, I think one place Second Life deserves the coverage is in relation to education. The actual heart of the issue for me is explained in the CNN article with this statement: "The three-dimensional virtual world makes it possible for students taking a distance course to develop a real sense of community, said Rebecca Nesson, who leads a class jointly offered by Harvard Law School and Harvard Extension School..."

This cuts to the point of a growing issue related to distance learning. While many schools are moving towards distance learning is the learning provided with conventional distance learning a good way to learn? I would argue that it isn't. While students commonly score well on distance learning exams this learning may not transfer into the real world as well as learning gained in a class room. The addition of students and peers found in a class room can not be replicated on a website based learning environment. I believe that Second Life and other virtual worlds provides a way to have both distance learning and collaborative class room style learning at the same time.

Zack Stern on our parent site Joystiq covered this article as well, and did a pretty good job. One thing that I Second Life Insider readers understand, but is an important addition to his coverage is that while Second Life is an interesting and presumably powerful platform for education Kids these days shouldn't be using it for education because of the age restrictions. Should we be making more of an effort to differentiate between Second Life and the Teen Grid?