Virtual Worlds Forum

Roo Reynolds, IBM’s metaverse evangelist, has been hired by the BBC as Portfolio Executive for Social Media at BBC Vision. Given his experience of driving metaverse adoption, it seems likely that the BBC has hired him to explore (at the very least) the possibilities of integrating their television output with some kind of virtual world.

In the past year, the BBC suddenly appears to have woken up to the wider changes of new media; the launches or revamps of initiatives including the iPlayer, podcasts and blogs indicate a wider realisation that they must create as many routes to their content as possible. Most recently, the redesign of BBC Three’s website which places user generated content at the core of the channel and makes a simulcast available, suggests that BBC Vision is seeking to drive real innovation at the intersection between traditional television media and new digital media.

Virtual worlds may seem like a logical next step. The BBC has a chance to be ahead of the curve on this one; virtual worlds have not yet reached the mainstream, allowing them to experiment and innovate in good time. Perhaps more exciting, however, is the power that the BBC has to bring virtual worlds to the fore in Britain’s media landscape. They are required by their charter to be mainstream. In order to operate in virtual worlds, therefore, virtual worlds must be mainstream – if they have not already reached it, the BBC will have to take them there.

This breathless speculation must come with the caveat that it is entirely possible that Reynolds will not be working on virtual worlds; it isn’t in his job title, and it is unlikely that the BBC would be able to be involved in virtual worlds with just one (known) expert employee. Nevertheless, any move into the space would be undeniably significant.