• When and why did you start organizing medical events in Second Life?

That is I think 4,5 years ago that I spoke for AMMC (the Ann Myers Medical Center), I was still a student and in real life I was not happy to talk in public. During that time Ann (founder of the AMMC) still taught in AMMC. When I proposed a subject, Ann said OK and you go do it yourself. Looked it up on the website. That was the 10th of September, 2007 and the topic was spinal cord injuries. I think during 2008 I began to organize meetings on a regular bases and created the AMMC intern group. By that time Dr Ann began to have more serious health problems and had asked me to do this, and i did

• What do you do in real life and do your colleagues know about your online activities?

What I do in real life, actually I think it is better to say what my roles are. First I am me and that can be tricky enough (joking) and have been an MD sinch March 2010 MD (proud proud proud). Now I’m a resident of Internal medicine and due to a trial already also in Oncology.

My online activities, some do know it and are interested and see the potentials, some think it is just a game and I should not waste my time on it. Surprisingly enough the more enthousiast collegues are those a bit older/old. I had not expected that, the younger ones are way more familiar with new technology and applications and mostly they don’t see it as a possible addition.

• What about the Ann Myers Medical Center? Are there any live events these days?

Sadly currently not, AMMC does not have land and believe me I did try to find it, so I hope I win state lottery soon and simply buy a SIM
What is now under development is a mobile solution, I asked a builder to create a truck and trailer. The trailer is the key part, it has a double that swings open in an angle of 90 degrees showing the interior. The first trailer will be about breast awareness. I wait with other plans till this one is completed.

I'm attending a simulation at the Ann Myers Medical Center

• What are your plans for the near future?

Well actually I miss a house in Second Life to call home and have a small office in it. So I probably go rent one. Other plans are 3 extra trailers for several topics: Diabetes is one and for the more near future a ship. That might sound funny but I don’t see AMMC getting land anytime soon, in order not to lose the momentum, I thought of the ship, it must have a place for meetings but also instead of trailers have containers with the option I just described, the containers can be used in for instance mobile hospital. Bit like medicine sans frontiere, I have to plan that in more details.

Many thanks for the answers and I wish you luck with your virtual medical education projects!

Last semester I taught Consumer Health Informatics and Web 2.0 in Healthcare in the College of Pharmacy (COP) after having coordinated several iterations of it in the MS in Biomedical Informatics Program. At the end of the COP course, I asked the students for their opinions about the most useful and least useful lectures of the semester (with an eye towards improving future offerings). Many of the students mentioned topics that were discussed by one of the six excellent guest lecturers. While I sincerely appreciate each guest lecturer’s contribution, I thought it would be even more meaningful to share a student response about each guest lecturer/topic.

CNN Money made a valid point in their recent article when they said that the smartphone is quickly becoming one of your most dangerous possessions. Because of services that make our lives easier, like online mobile banking and online shopping via your phone’s web browser, your smartphone has surpassed your wallet as the main target for pickpocketers and thieves.

• Medicine 2.0: Ordering Your Own Medical Tests

• Virtual Healthcare Center in Second Life

• Facebook “friend” request from patient? French doctors decline

• EBM Pioneer Dr. David Sackett Speaks

• Health 2.0 San Francisco – Tim O’Reilly Keynote

• Happy 10th birthday, dear Wikipedia, we all admire and love you! #wikipedia#wp10

• Cloud Discovery & Licenced Library Integration via WebMynd

• Why iPhone connected blood pressure cuffs featured at CES are over hyped

So from a preliminary standpoint, these blood pressure cuffs are very interesting and a very niche product — but certainly not the game changers they are being touted as by many news sites.

First slideshow:

• Definition of virtual worlds
• Why do we need a second life?
• community + online games + simulation
• One example is secondlife.com

A shorter version of the original slideshow with my own narration:

• More than 20 million users, 30,000,000 online hours
• What does SL mean for people?
• It used to mean gambling (but not now)
• Game? work? (The number of Second Life residents generating more than $5,000 in monthly income has more than quadrupled to 116 in the past year, according to San Francisco’s Linden Lab, owner of Second Life.); place?; tool?; entertainment?; sport?; opportunity?; appearance?
• Technological barriers: register, download, install, open, log in
• You can fly, walk, teleport, buy, sell, build.

• Communication (chat, IM, e-mail, voice)

• advantages (3D, media content, fast communication – SL fitness)
• disadvantages (reliability, serious hardware requirement)
• why do we need a SL?

Source

• Virtual Reality (VR) examples in therapies

Take-home message: great opportunities for patients and medical professionals as well.

Second slideshow:

• Summary of how Second Life can be used in medicine and healthcare

• How do medical students and physicians use it?
• AMMC
• Imperial College of London
• NHS London
• Scifoo Lives On
• Genome Island and many more
• Patients?
• Healthinfo Island
• Virtual Ability
• SLStroke and many more
• Where to follow health events?

Take-home message: Second Life provides useful tools to organize meetings, educate and learn without borders.

Free e-guide about medicine and virtual worlds on Webicina.

I am a medical student based at the University of Nottingham currently conducting a trial based in Second life. We are investigating the possibilities for virtual interventions which potential has already been demonstrated with a wide range of disorders such as Post-traumatic stress disorder and pain distraction in burn victims.

We are looking for healthy adult (aged 18 or over) participants who are already members of second life to take part. In total we will only need approximately 30-35 minutes of your time including a meeting at our research area within Second Life. If you are interested in taking part in a genuine experimental trial or have any more questions please email Daniel Roberts at secondliferesearch@hotmail.co.uk

Specifically, the publication with second highest impact factor in the “science” category is Acta Crystallographica – Section A, knocking none other than the New England Journal of Medicine from the runner’s up position. This title’s impact factor rocketed up to 49.926 this year, more than 20-fold higher than last year.

• Healthcare Wi-Fi Adoption Growth at 60% (Read Write Web)

• Life After Second Life – How to create a better virtual world

• Google Features Drug Info in Search Results

• FDA Launches Webpage with Summaries of Safety Data on New Drugs

On Tuesday, June 15, FDA launched a web page where you can find summaries of safety information about recently approved drugs and a brief discussion of any steps FDA may be taking to address any identified safety issues. New drugs approved after September 27, 2007 will receive a safety summary within roughly two years of approval. The summaries address safety risks that were not identified during a drug’s development or prior to FDA approval. FDA plans to publish summaries on a quarterly basis.

• Medical Free/Libre and Open Source Software: Medfloss.org provides a comprehensive and structured overview of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects for the health care domain. Moreover it offers an open content platform to foster the exchange of ideas, knowledge and experiences about these projects.

• 23andme – yes, me – part 3: A detailed review of what the genetic report of 23andme looks like.

• Did you know that there is an Open (Participatory) Peer-Review at the Journal of Medical Internet Research? You can sign up as peer-reviewer.

The Ann Myers Medical Center (teleport link) aims to educate medical students and nurses in the virtual environment of Second Life. In monthly meetings, students can learn from educators through interactive and clearly visualized case presentations. Regularly there are speeches on several topics. Click here for more details and pictures.

• Social media and bookmarking (Pharma Marketing Blog): Packrati.us follows your tweets and whenever you mention a url, it will add it to your del.icio.us account.

• Prezi Shows Off Collaborative Presentation Editing in Google Wave:

• The cool side of Science and Technology: DNA robots (Pharma Marketing Blog):

“For the first time, microscopic robots made from DNA molecules can walk, follow instructions and work together to assemble simple products on an atomic-scale assembly line, mimicking the machinery of living cells, two independent research teams announced Wednesday.”

• The Boom of Big Infographics (Flowing Data): A guide about creating stunning infographics.

• Second Life Refresh: In Case You’ve Forgotten Why (Dusan Writer’s Metaverse):

• William Li: Can we eat to starve cancer?

• Learning in a Virtual World: Experience With Using Second Life for Medical Education: Most comprehensive overview ever.

• Molecular visualisation (Metaverse Journal)

• One of the best blogs about information dedicated to virtual worlds: john-norris.net

• R.I.S.E. U.P. – lymphoma information in Second Life

• The Elucian Islands Village: An Introduction

• Medical Training in Second Life (Wall Street Journal)

First slideshow:

• Definition of virtual worlds
• Why do we need a second life?
• community + online games + simulation
• One example is secondlife.com

A shorter version of the original slideshow with my own narration:

• More than 20 million users, 30,000,000 online hours
• What does SL mean for people?
• It used to mean gambling (but not now)
• Game? work? (The number of Second Life residents generating more than $5,000 in monthly income has more than quadrupled to 116 in the past year, according to San Francisco’s Linden Lab, owner of Second Life.); place?; tool?; entertainment?; sport?; opportunity?; appearance?
• Technological barriers: register, download, install, open, log in
• You can fly, walk, teleport, buy, sell, build.
• Communication (chat, IM, e-mail, voice)
• advantages (3D, media content, fast communication – SL fitness)
• disadvantages (reliability, serious hardware requirement)
• why do we need a SL?

Source

• Virtual Reality (VR) examples in therapies

Take-home message: great opportunities for patients and medical professionals as well.

Second slideshow:

• Summary of how Second Life can be used in medicine and healthcare

• How do medical students and physicians use it?
• AMMC
• Imperial College of London
• NHS London
• Scifoo Lives On
• Genome Island and many more
• Patients?
• Healthinfo Island
• Virtual Ability
• SLStroke and many more
• Where to follow health events?

Take-home message: Second Life provides useful tools to organize meetings, educate and learn without borders.

Free e-guide about medicine and virtual worlds on Webicina.

More examples on Webicina.com.

Also e-guide about virtual worlds in medicine.

This feature-length documentary follows a group of people whose lives are dramatically transformed by the virtual world Second Life. They enter a new reality, whose inhabitants assume alternate personas in the form of avatars. The film is foremost an intimate, character-based drama about people who look to a virtual world in search of something they are missing in their real lives.

A young woman in Detroit becomes a star designer of virtual clothes and houses; an American and a Canadian fall in love online then struggle to build a real life together; a man creates the avatar of an 11-year-old girl who he believes is an expression of his subconscious.

The results are unexpected and often disturbing: reshaping relationships, identities, and ultimately the very notion of reality.

A week ago, I had a chance to attend a lively discussion focusing on this issue in the virtual realm of Second Life moderated by Patricia F. Anderson. I’ve seen numerous conferences in Second Life and this one was again a nice example that virtual environment is still useful when people from around the world would like to gather around and watch a presentation, then discuss it.

When: Saturday, January 30, 2010, 10am-noon SLT

Where: The Sojourner Auditorium in Second Life

About what:

• If you don’t have IT experience, it will be quite hard to download and install it.
• Costs a lot if you want to upload content.
• Creating slideshows is a complicated and long process.

In the last couple of months, I’ve been a consultant for a Hungarian team that developed Visuland which should be a perfect alternative for Second Life:

• Takes about 20-30 seconds to enter: You come up with the idea to organize an event and send the specific links to the potential attendants. They click on the link and get into your conference room in 20-30 seconds.
• No need of installation and registration
• Real-time voice communication
• Real time video-streaming on virtual screens (you can stream your presentation plus your face via webcam at the same time)
• Efficient presentation tool -> conferences, workshops, meetings
• Editable posters and textures -> personalized rooms, advertisements
• Any website, blog, forum can easily create its own virtual place
• Public and private chat, transcript can be saved
• Zero cost for not commercial users

Take a look at it yourself and see how fast you can enter Visuland. It has one major limitation, it only runs on Windows but will run on Macintosh as well in a few months.

I also have a detailed guide dedicated to this topic on Webicina.

And I have recently had a virtual presentation for a course of the Nova Southeastern University (including audiocast):

• Can Training in Second Life Teach Doctors to Save Real Lives? (Discover)

• A Virtual Science Environment in Second Life

Mary Anne Clark describes the organization and uses of Genome Island, a virtual laboratory complex constructed in Second Life. Genome Island was created for teaching genetics to university undergraduates but also provides a public space where anyone interested in genetics can spend a few minutes, or a few hours, interacting with genetic objects—from simple experiments with peas to the organization of whole genomes.

• Molecular models in SL

• Virtually Useless #fote09 #fote09vw

I’m not against virtual environments – it’s SL I have a problem with. There are many potential applications, the ones that particularly attract me being travel replacement and carbon footprint reduction. However, I don’t feel that virtual environments are good conferencing tools – I don’t need a 3D representation and the lighter touch of tools such as Eluminate and Skype are much more appropriate for this application.

• Trademarks and the SLeducation Wiki

As some readers probably already know, I received a request from Linden Lab on Wednesday in relation to the Second Life in Education Wiki requesting  ‘not to use our trademark “Second Life” in your name or website name and not to use “SLeducation” in text or in your domain name…’ and to ‘..make the changes to your website name and domain name as soon as possible and let us know when you expect to have this done…’.