No April Fools On The Hill

Tomorrow, Linden Lab’s Philip Rosedale, along with New Media Consortium’s Larry Johnson and IBM’s Colin Paris, will be testifying before the House Telecom and Internet Subcommittee, chaired by Representative Ed Markey (D-MA). Both James Au and Adam Reuters have coverage and additional details.

It’s exciting to see these hearings finally happening after spending a week in DC last fall laying the groundwork. That trip included an extensive visit with Representative Markey and his staff, plus a separate two hour briefing I gave to multiple House and Senate staffers. Apparently nobody could remember so many staffers sitting in one place for that long, so the interest in virtual worlds was clearly there.

Like my previous trips to the Hill, it was an interesting week of wearing a tie, hurrying up and waiting, and answering a staggeringly wide range of questions. I came away impressed by how intelligent and prepared both Representative Markey and his staffers were. I expect Philip, Larry, and Colin will face challenging and important questions relevant to all of us thinking and working in this space.

On a “the world is a terrifyingly small place”-tangent, my co-teacher at APOC, Karen North, used to work in Representative Markey’s office and has an endless set of stories backing my impression that he and his team are among the most inquisitive and thoughtful on the Hill. Virtual worlds are fortunate to have their first major Congressional discussion with his committee.