Personally, I’d prefer SBS stay away until they have a very clear reason to be in Second Life and a detailed plan to achieve it. I don’t particularly relish the thought of having two tax-payer funded sandboxes in SL.

Hello,
This view can be balanced with one where individuals explore in order to take the jump. I have yet to see any ground breaking effort purchased off the shelf, I may be wrong. To put things in perspective, anyone has some data on how much money is spent on research and how much yeilds tangible benefits? We can look at the Google model… or even the US military, or the US pharmaceutical industry…look at the numbers..the answer should be clear. I managed to grab a tiny slice from some funding allocated to our university and guess what…the tiny slice yielded most interest and results thant the whole project So I think SBS could think along those lines.
Moriz

It’s easy to be critical of corporations in SL, but Media corporations need to experiment with all facets of the internet, because this is the way the world is going.

Last night on Media Watch [ABC] they were talking about how Newspapers are winding down because a lot of people, especially younger people, would rather read news items online than in print. it’s only a matter of time till certain publications vanish altogether… at least in print form.

The music business was hit hard, mainly because they were unprepared, but TV Networks have a chance to experiment and see what works and what doesn’t.

I don’t mind if they try Secondlife, it might and might not work… and it’s a relatively cheap project, I’ve seen much larger wastes of taxpayers money foistered on us by Government.

One of these days we’ll be watching most of our news and entertainment online, it makes sense, if we have free time *now* and can watch it *now* then regular TV pales into the background.

Secondlife may not provide that possibility right now, but who knows what things will be like down the track?

In the meantime you have communities of people meeting, getting to know each other and forming real life friendships.

I can’t see anything wrong with that.

I’ve made a heap of friends because someone at ABC decided to come into SL and plonk down an island, I’m sure others have felt the benefit.

How can that be a waste of money, even if the Island is just a “Sandbox”?

Wolfie!

Why is it a waste of money?

a. There are plenty of sandboxes in SL already. The Australian tax-payers shouldn’t be asked to fund another one let alone two.

b. I checked the charters for both the ABC and SBS and I failed to see any sign that making heaps of friends was included as a core function.

I don’t have a problem with either broadcasters being in SL if they have a reason to be there, and there are lots of reasons for them to be there. Unfortunately, if all they have to offer is another tax-payer funded sandbox then I for one believe it is a colossal waste of money – especially at a time where funding has been repeatedly slashed – and I believe the Australian public and parliament would agree with me.

I believe that it’s a waste of money if it’s not managed properly. I should think that if SBS were to open a sim, one of the things it should do is use it to promote itself and it’s programming, perhaps to an international audience that might not have access to such things.

Really, there’s only a waste if the simulation is run lackadaisical. But I firmly believe that if a company wishes to get into SL, the should really research as to what they want to do.

My though on SBS (knowing the stuff I do) is to pretty much use it as a showcase for cultural diversity within Australia, as perhaps have something like a Tribeca/Sundace Film Festival within SL.

You could also say by that definition that every other webpage is a waste of time and effort.

Afterall, look at all the blogs out there, there’s a lot of noise, is anyone paying attention?

I tend to be more concerned with wasteful fashion mags, do we really need fifty magazines advertising lippy and who Tom Cruise might be sleeping with?

The only trouble with ABC Island is that we’ve been sitting on the yellow light for a long time, if we get a green light, we can really turn it into something.

It’s not all about charters, it’s sometimes got to do with perks… friends are perks.

Wolfie!

Are the blogs costing $5+k per year, plus the set up costs plus the staffing costs? Are the blogs being run by a major media corporation? Are the blogs being funded by the Australian tax-payer? Seriously, you’re clutching at straws if that’s your best argument. ABC Island: Better than blogs that nobody visits.

I’ve seen the government throw lots more money at things we really didn’t need…
so I don’t think $5K is all that much.

If I ran a business and I thought that perhaps I could do something online rather than run a newspaper ad, I think I’d be saving money choosing SL over the newspapers which people are only going to toss out.

I really disagree with you.

Staff? Get some volunteers, hell, we made Eragon ourselves.

Wolfie!

Yes Skribe is right, ABC island is just a sandbox – Wolfie’s tour video of the ABC Sandbox

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uYBTDacNE0I

Yes Skribe is right, ABC island is just a sandbox – Wolfie’s tour video of the ABC Sandbox

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=uYBTDacNE0I

[...] island touted for SBS may have been shelved, but they are still steaming ahead with their work within Second [...]