President-Elect Barack Obama is assembling several groups to help him approach his upcoming term's technological challenge. While it may not mean anything in the long run, it's interesting to note that there are several virtual worlders making an appearance.
Leading his FCC Review Team are Susan Crawford, Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, and Kevin Werbach, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at The Wharton School and organizer of the annual Supernova technology conference. Crawford is also a self-described "huge fan of Second Life" and Webach has written about the future of MMOGs and virtual worlds for collaboration. On Obama's "Innovation Agenda" team, tasked with creating proposals for open and effective government, are Beth Novek, professor at New York Law School, organizer of State of Play, and advocate of Second Life, and Irving Wladawsky-Berger, vice president of technical strategy and innovation at IBM and a key part of bringing that company into the virtual worlds space. Government agencies are already heavily involved in virtual worlds, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more entering the space in the next four years. [Via New World Notes]
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