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Virtual Worlds and The Obama Presidency

As a follow up to my social media post on Obama…I found out some interesting news today. As posted by Au (citing Washington Post’s Article: “Obama Team to Create Innovation Agenda“) on the New World Notes Blog, President Elect Barak Obama has appointed two virtual world experts to his tech team with the purpose of creating an “Innovation Agenda.” According to Obama’s website, The Innovation Agenda “includes a range of proposals to create a 21st century government that is more open and effective; leverages technology to grow the economy, create jobs, and solve our country’s most pressing problems; respects the integrity of and renews our commitment to science; and catalyzes active citizenship and partnerships in shared governance with civil society institutions.”

[Photo Courtesy Of habfan1990]

The team has a roster of exceptional professionals, however, the two virtual world experts are New York Law School professor Beth Noveck and Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a Chairman Emeritus of IBM. Both have worked intimately with virtual worlds and are at the forefront of connectivity and the 3D web. They also have worked extensively in Second Life.

[Professor Beth Noveck's Second Life Avatar - Photo Courtesy of New York Law School Blog]

It is not clear what this all means, however, this team brings up many exciting prospects for technology and politics. I am psyched to see how the Innovation Agenda pans out and the way this administration will implement technology and specifically social media into the American mains stream.