Addiction, research, health in a virtual world
This 9-minute piece is well worth a watch for any World of Warcraft player. It’s very humourous in places whilst still being respectful (somewhat) to the real issues of addiction that occur for a very small cohort of people.
Enjoy:
Thanks to WoW Insider for the heads-up.
A comprehensive new resource has been released by the UK’s University of Derby and Aston University, Titled Best Practices in Virtual Worlds Teaching: A guide to using problem-based learning in Second Life, this 40+ page publication covers a lot of ground in an easy to understand way. It’s available as a free download of a [...]
Back in January we promoted a study being undertaken by Doctorate student Jon-Paul Cacioli on body image in virtual worlds (the study participants need to be aged 18 or over and be male). Click here for the survey link The response over recent months has been good be Jon-Paul needs a few more people to [...]
Coming from a nursing background myself, I’m always fascinated by the work going on in virtual environments in regards to nurse education. To some extent it’s a natural fit in that clinical simulation is a pivotal part of the education process for nurses anyway – using virtual environments is simply an extension of recognised practice. [...]
There’s another new health project in development in Second Life – Karuna. It’s The focus is ‘HIV / AIDS education, outreach and support’ and it’s scheduled for launch on December 1st, World AIDS Day. Partners in the project include AIDS.gov and the University of North Carolina Center for AIDS research, Community Outreach, Dissemination, and Education [...]
The latest issue of the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research has been released, and as usual it’s full of peer-reviewed research papers, plus some discussion pieces and other features. Pedagogy is a key consideration for any educator, and this issue goes some way to establishing a pedagological framework for virtual worlds. Major kudos to the [...]
There’s not a lot to add to the great description provided by the creators: “Between Worlds: A Journey of Hope” is a machinima produced by Panacea Luminos of NY HealthScape (USA) filmed and edited by Aliceinthenet (UK) and written by Skylar Smythe (Canada). The inspirational piece is a story of cancer survival and accessing health [...]
In the past week, the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research released its second issue, and one article that caught my eye from a health viewpoint is a research paper titled: Ugly Duckling by Day, Super Model by Night: The Influence of Body Image on the Use of Virtual Worlds The intent of the study was [...]
This 9-minute piece is well worth a watch for any World of Warcraft player. It’s very humourous in places whilst still being respectful (somewhat) to the real issues of addiction that occur for a very small cohort of people. Enjoy: Thanks to WoW Insider for the heads-up.
A new working group looking at the psychology of immersive environments is about to launch in Second Life. The inaugural get-together is occurring Wednesday July 15th at 4pm SL time. Click here for the exact location. Thanks to Dusan Writer for the heads up.
As a clinician fascinated by the use of new technologies to achieve outcomes, it’s hard to go past anything that is looking at bridging the divide between human emotions / touch and technology. Telenoid is one such project. It’s aim is to provide an effective way to transfer people’s presence. The research on telepresence is [...]
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 [...]
The macinima below was created by John Miller from MUVErs, and it outlines a fairly comprehensive nursing simulation revolving around a patient with chest pain: It’s certainly one of the more well fleshed out simulations that would be useful as an adjunct to standard nursing labs and practicums.