Good morning and thank you so much for inviting me to be here today. My name is Claire Condra, although in some circles, I'm probably better known as my avatar, Pollywog Gardenvale, publisher of the online magazine, The Seventh Sun.

I just returned from a fifteen-month assignment as an embedded journalist in the virtual world, and I'm here to report some of my findings. In my travels, I've collected some prime specimens—who I've actually brought along today—and you'll get a chance to meet them in just a few moments.