Addiction, research, health in a virtual world
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.
I came across a press release from the University of Houston about a health challenge being run entirely in Second Life. If you’re interested in earning some Linden dollars and learning something at the same time, sign up in-world. I had a quick look around and it’s an interesting set up. The full details: International [...]
I’ve covered the Imperial College London’s work before on this site, and I’ve cited them extensively in my upcoming book chapter. Last December, Designing Worlds spent some time getting the full tour. Have a look for yourself: Thanks to Pauline Woolley on the SL Health list for the heads-up.
Thanks to a missed email this domain went down for a couple of weeks – all is good again now
Delivering health messages to the general public is difficult at the best of times. It’s tough to capture the attention of people when talking about health – unless it’s their area of expertise, most people don’t want to be bothered thinking about their health any more than is strictly necessary. Those who are healthy often [...]
The individual ex-addict’s perspective has always held power, no matter the source of the addiction. In the MMO gaming sphere, a recent addition to the blogosphere is ExGamer.net. Run by a 40-year old Canadian guy and 44-year old Dutch woman, it’s a blog in its early stages but it does give some interesting personal insights [...]
Health researchers working in Second Life will know of Maged Kamel Boulos’ site: Web 2.0 and the 3D Web (Virtual Worlds and Second Life®). It’s not the prettiest site on the planet but it’s an absolute treasure trove of links to areas in Second Life with a health and education focus. There’s also plenty of [...]
I’m probably stretching the boundaries with claiming this to be a health-related post, but here goes. I’ve covered Second Life‘s Relay for Life previously, and it’s actually running over this weekend and appears it will be as big a success as previous years. One Second Life resident, Laurence Simon created a machinima called Relay for [...]
There’s a small but growing group in Second Life called Healthcare Education. The group was founded by the University of Michigan’s Patricia Anderson (SL: Perplexity Peccable) and a seminar series has been organised for the 26th September at 7.00am SL time (Midnight on the 26th AET). The event will be held on Health EduIsland and [...]
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: [...]
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 [...]
Over the past few days, there’s been quite a bit of buzz around the latest piece created by the talented Draxtor Despres. It reports on discussions held on US Healthcare reform in Second Life that will be looked at by the incoming Obama administration as part of much wider community consultations going on at present. [...]
I ran across the following promo this week: “Stepping into Health” becomes Third in Popular “Stepping into Virtual Worlds” Series Using virtual worlds to promote health and healthcare is the topic of the next installment of the popular “Stepping into Virtual Worlds” conference series, to be offered October 7th, 2008 in Second Life. Hundreds of [...]