Apr 19
Apr 6
I launched the world’s first elective course at a medical university focusing on web 2.0 and medicine for medical students in 2008. This is the 4th semester and the 6th week was dedicated to virtual worlds in medicine and healthcare. Here is the outline of my presentations.
First slideshow:
A shorter version of the original slideshow with my own narration:
Take-home message: great opportunities for patients and medical professionals as well.
Second slideshow:
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.
Mar 25
Here is a great slideshow about how cancer outreach and support work in the virtual world of Second Life.
More examples on Webicina.com.
Also e-guide about virtual worlds in medicine.
Mar 23
I’ve been using the virtual environment of Second Life and Visuland for years now to organize conferences or just small meetings. I also published a whole e-guide focusing on this issue. But this documentary recently selected for Sundance Film Festival is something really unique. The director and creator is Jason Spingarn-Koff.
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.
Feb 28
You have probably heard about the Food and Drug Administration Social Media Hearing that took place last November focusing on how FDA-regulated products should use internet and social media for health-related communications. It also has an own, properly designed, online presence including Twitter streams and partners.
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.
Dec 20
I’ve been organizing scientific events and medical conferences in the virtual realm of Second Life for years. Though it has some serious limitations.
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:
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.
Mauroof Ibrahim, an Animation degree student in LimKokWing University of Creative Technology, Malaysia did an interview with me for a research project “Virtual Reality: Establishing Medical Hallmarks”. I asked him to publish the comprehensive results in a well-structured form on Scribd. Enjoy:
Nov 1
I just published a summary about the last week of my “Medicine and Web 2.0” university credit course. This time I focused on how virtual worlds can be used in medicine and healthcare.
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):
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.
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.
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…’.
