Malburns Writer's Metaverse InfoHub

One day, a man called MalBurns sent me an invitation to join his group - the Metaverse InfoHub. You have to admit the name sounds good.... I checked the group out :

"Working Together" across arts, entertainment, development, commerce and the media. Helping co-ordinate the activity in a rapidly evolving new society.
A private group for those involved with information provision, collection and distribution in Second Life and other Metaverses.
Based at Mal Burns' InfoHub - BFP Bouwinvest 2 (57, 199, 35). For membership information please contact Malburns Writer inworld.
Mal Burns constantly publishes SL links online via http://twitter.com/malburns throughout the day.

Well, I was flattered and joined the group right away. To this day I do not regret it, because now and then Mal organises very interesting meetings involving top SL players. I went to visit Mals' conference and central operations facility today and caught him in the midst of last minute preparations for a Metanomics meeting to be held this evening.

The walls were covered with digital screens, connecting Mal to news agencies, and data distributors. If something happens at SL, MalBurns is sure to know about it, you can count on that!. He got numerous proposals to work as a professional reporter in SL, but he says he prefers to remain independent.


In one corner there was a CNN camera. CNN is now recruiting reporters, and anyone can join and send an SL I - Report. Sending an SL I-Report is easy. Use the FILE menu at the top left of your screen and select "Take Snapshot." Then send it as a postcard to slireport@cnn.com. In the "Message" field, tell CNN your avatar name, where you took the snapshot, and give a brief description of your SL I-Report. It’s that simple. If it's good, they will publish it at http://www.cnn.com/secondlife.

I let Mal continue tweaking his central operations facility and went on to visit CNN . I stumbled onto a conference for future CNN - Ireporters.

People mostly wanted to find out what could motivate them to send CNN I-reports, given that CNN offers no monetary compensation. They also talked about what kind of topics in SL would make good stories. Tyson iReport, conducted the meeting and tried to provide answers.


He said, iReporting shouldn't be considered as a job, but as sharing stories with the SL community. Someone said that iReporting could be a great avenue for free advertising, and another said that CNN is looking for volunteers.