Addiction, research, health in a virtual world
Today I stumbled across this great bunch of photos on the National Geographic site, showing a range of advanced robotics projects underway (some of which I’ve covered here before, including the one pictured).
Have a look through them all and you can see some of the superb simulation opportunities these robots will provide.
Would love to hear your thoughts on potential applications as well!
The December Student BMJ has an excellent overview of the growing use of Second Life for medical simulation. The collaborative and immersive meetings aspects are also covered and although the article is pitched at non-virtual world users, it provides a balanced summary of goings-on to date. A big thanks to Mal Burns for the heads-up.
I noticed this interesting news article at the Thanh Nien Daily. Essentially, it’s an intensive course running on weekends for two months. On the face of it it seems a useful option for those with issues impacting their lives detrimentally. Looking a little closer though, and the alarm bells start ringing. Take this for example: [...]
Here’s a great video showing the use of the Kinect to play World of Warcraft using a software framework called FAAST. After the initial demo there’s some useful discussion by the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies on its potential applications. Those applications are something discussed here regularly: rehabilitation and physical activity. Imagine [...]
Second used as a demonstrative medium for real-world software: Not the most innovative way to use an immersive environment but I suppose it gets the message across.
A yearly highlight in Second Life is the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. The 2007 and 2008 events were big successes, with more than 55 million Linden Dollars (approximately 200 thousand US dollars). Teams have started forming and if any health-related teams are forming, do let us know and we’ll promote your fundraising efforts. [...]
The UK’s Telegraph newspaper has run a very interesting article on the issue of addiction and World of Warcraft. The key quote for me from the article, from Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Richard Graham: He has called on Blizzard Entertainment, the company that makes World of Warcraft, to waive or discount the costs associated with joining [...]
Nicola Johnson from the University of Wollongong in Australia, recently released a book titled The Multiplicities of Internet Addiction – The Misrecognition of Leisure and Learning. It’s an engaging read, not least for the very objective look it takes at the concepts of internet addiction and framing the issue within the realities of a net-connected [...]
For the past couple of years I’ve been aware of the work going on in New Zealand with midwifery training and Second Life, mostly thanks to the updates over at SLENZ. Machinima maker Pooky Amsterdam dropped me a line about a film she’s helped produce that explains the role of Te Wāhi Whānau – The [...]
Although not directly health-related, I was struck by the power of the machinima below ( thanks to Mal Burns for the heads-up). It’s produced by Lainy Voom and you can read more about it here. Have a look for yourself then read on below for some further thoughts: Fall (Mini Project 3) from Lainy Voom [...]
Margaret Hansen from the School of Nursing at the University of San Francisco has written a review for the Journal of Medical Internet Research entitled: “Versatile, Immersive, Creative and Dynamic Virtual 3-D Healthcare Learning Environments: A Review of the Literature”. It’s a comprehensive overview of health research and education in virtual worlds. Current players are [...]
I’ve gone on ad nauseam about the benefits of virtual environments in regard to communal support around health issues. In the physical world, one of the most powerful support campaigns of the past 25 years is the AIDS quilt. Thanks to a joint initiative between Startled Cat and Jokaydia, that sucess story has moved into [...]
An Italian virtual worlds developer, ISN, has announced the roll-out of the Oasis Foundation Virtual World Project. Funded by a non-profit organisation in Italy devoted to assisting the elderly and disabled, the project aims to: 1. Act as communication and collaboration environment to inform, communicate and interact with the public in an innovative way. 2. [...]
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