Update: Virtual Worlds Executives to Address Congress on Tuesday

We reported last week that The House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet will be holding a hearing tomorrow on "Online Virtual Worlds:  Applications and Avatars in a User-Generated Medium." The following  witnesses have been announced: Philip Rosedale (Founder and CEO, Linden Lab) Susan Tenby (Senior Manager, Community Development, TechSoup), Dr. Larry Johnson (CEO, The New Media Consortium), and Colin J. Parris, Ph.D. (Vice President, Digital Convergence, IBM Research, IBM Corporation).

"Witnesses will testify on the evolution, culture and future of online virtual worlds," explains the release. "These increasingly popular websites, such as Second Life, Zwinky and There, allow people to interact with each other over the Internet through virtual selves, or avatars. The hearing will explore safety issues and the use of real currency in virtual online worlds, as well as the growing presence of educational institutions, non-profits and other real-world organizations in online virtual worlds."

Catherine Smith, Director of Marketing for Linden Lab, explained via email that the company was invited to introduce the concept of virtual worlds in "the first Congressional hearing to explore the ways in which virtual worlds are enhancing the means by which individuals can transcend space to communicate with each other."

Updated: Dan Miller, Senior Economist for the Joint Economic Committee, U.S. Congress, Minority Staff,  explains on his blog that:

1. Philip Rosedale, Founder and CEO of Linden Lab, the company that owns and runs Second Life.
2. Colin Parris, vice president for digital convergence at IBM Research (as well as a keynote speaker at Virtual Worlds 2007),  will discuss IBM's efforts in and use of Second Life, such as here and here.
3. Susan Tenby, Online Community Manager for TechSoup, will explore the potential of Second Life for nonprofits and charities.
4. Larry Johnson, CEO of the New Media Consortium, will address educational opportunities in Second Life.

Comments

[Independent]

Dan Miller’s blog also emphasizes that "the hearing will focus specifically on Second Life." My concern is that the committee members may walk away with the incorrect understanding that Virtual Worlds "is equal to" Second Life, when in fact SL is but a subset of Virtual Worlds. It would not be the first time the two were conflated. One wonders, is this to be a hearing to examine an industry, a technology, or just a single product? Where are the representatives of Zwinky, There, or others?

[len]

This is SOP for the Congress. Aides set this up and they are the people the lobbyists lobby hardest. They tend to be young and easily recruited.

Let it ride. The change coming in virtual worlds or simply virtual reality is already moving beyond Second Life. The shift away from the open vendor space to the private communications space is underway.

In the new technologies, one doesn't organize a server-farm community. The community emerges from the relationships established in real space. The 'dream' market is over. It is being replaced by a market where the principles of the market are consumer-oriented, not vendor-oriented.

[Benjamin Duranske]

FYI - watched the testimony and have a summary up:

http://virtuallyblind.com/2008/04/01/congress-virtual-worlds/

There was some expected lack of understanding on display, and a lot of questions focusing on sexual predation, but overall, the subcommittee members came better prepared than I was afraid they might.