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.
Metaverse Health
Addiction, research, health in a virtual world
Stories from the Vault
Midwifery, Birthing and Second Life
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 [...]
The rise and rise of the Game Widow
This article in the Canadian publication, the London Free Press, describes in detail a couple of case studies of gaming addicts. The case studies themselves paint a fairly standard picture of someone with a compulsion for intensive gaming, though some effort has been made to provide balanced coverage of the issue. The premise of the [...]
Interview – Evelyn McElhinney, Glasgow Caledonian University
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. [...]
Sexual expression in virtual worlds – is normalcy achievable?
For many, the Christmas / New Year period is a time when there’s more regular social contact with people. It’s certainly been the case for me and it’s emphasised a well known virtual world conundrum – personal boundaries. Over the past month I’ve had the occasion to discuss virtual worlds with a handful of people [...]
HIV/AIDS education and virtual environments
(This story originally appeared over at The Metaverse Journal) The Virtual World’s Story Project (TVWSP) is a partnership between Jena Ball (SL: Jenaia Morane) and Marty Keltz (SL: Marty Snowpaw). We’ve previously covered one of their other story quests and they’ve certainly been prolific in the health and education field. Their latest project is focused [...]
Problem-based learning in Second Life: new resource
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 [...]
Training pharmacists in Second Life
Via Dusan Writer, here’s an interesting piece on the use of Second Life to train pharmacists in using pharmacy clean rooms. I’ve had the opportunity to use pharmacy clean rooms myself , and I can see how a virtual walk through can be of use before doing the real thing.
Science in Second Life: what a list
Thanks to New World Notes, I’ve found out about a great resource for those interested in science and virtual environments. This list has a solid cohort of health-related sites – some I’ve covered previously and some others I’m now keen to investigate further. Obviously Second Life isn’t the only environment where interesting science is going [...]
Health Presences in Second Life: one round-up
As mentioned last month, I had the pleasure of attending a conference on e-health as well as an evening discussion on the formation of a Games for Health special interest group as part of HISA. Aside from the very exciting outcomes from both those events, which I’ll discuss further in the future, it forced me [...]
Health Beyond 2009 – e-health, Serious Games and Second Life
As a Registered Nurse with a passion for the use of emerging technologies to improve health, it can sometimes be a little frustrating when things don’t seem to progress as fast as one would like. There’s also the ‘they just don’t get it’ phenomenon amongst some in health leadership and management roles, which can lead [...]
HIV/AIDS: collaboration opportunity in Second Life
We’ve covered Karuna previously for their work with World AIDS Day 2008. They’ve now made an open invitation to “HIV/AIDS groups, activists, health professionals, organizations, and educators” to get further involved in collaboration. If you’re interested: Place: Karuna campfire Date: March 6, 2009 Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Second Life Time (Pacific Time) Thanks [...]
Virtual worlds for the elderly and disabled
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. [...]