Nursing Education in Second Life
May 11, 2008
Nurses are one of the most active groups of health professionals in Second Life and I regularly get asked by health professionals what use a virtual world like Second Life is in regard to training. The video below answers that question beautifully:
If you’re a nurse in Second Life, tell us what the experience has brought to your practice. Has it improved your skills at all?
Popularity: 5% [?]
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Christian Orthodoxy and Sexual Purity - A Second Life seminar
May 1, 2008
An interesting announcement came to my attention today from the organisers of a ninety minute seminar. It’s being held by the UK-based University of Plymouth at 6am Friday morning Australian Eastern time. The full details as announced:
Fathers Johann Barak and Joshua Tuchs (these are SL™ avatar names), who in RL are two Eastern Orthodox priests in USA, together with Presbytera Anna Hirschel (again, SL name–she is also in RL Eastern Orthodox and based in USA) will be holding a 60-90 minute seminar at our SIM in Second Life® this Thursday, 1 May 2008, at 1:00 PM PDT/SLT = 9 PM BST (GMT+1) about ‘Sexual Purity and Healthy Relationships: A Christian Orthodox Perspective for the 21st Century’.
The event will take place at the University of Plymouth Sexual Health SIM.
Our three speakers will be holding an open discussion along the lines of this video - we will be showing a short segment of it in-world at the start of the seminar. They will be responding live to your questions in-world. Fr Johann Barak, Fr Joshua Tuchs, and Presbytera Anna Hirschel believe that Orthodox Christianity has a strong and very important and practical message for the whole world, especially these days with the very recent announcement of the US CDC that 1 in every 4 American teenage girls has a sexually-transmitted infection (HPV) that can lead later in life to cervical cancer (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7290088.stm).
About us:
The University of Plymouth Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® is a novel Sexual Health Public Education and Outreach project funded by Education UK Island .
The combination of sex and religion always makes for interesting debates so if 6am isn’t too early for you, this one may be well worth a visit.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Hands-free options to increase sexual expression in virtual worlds?
April 27, 2008
Terra Nova has a short discussion on the recent demonstration of hands-free avatar movement in Second Life and it implications for sexual activity in virtual worlds.
Sex play in virtual worlds is a favourite sensationalist topic for media outlets but as the Terra Nova discussion illustrates, it’s one of the many issues the wider population haven’t even begun to consider for its impact.
Popularity: 5% [?]
World of Warcraft as stress relief?
April 4, 2008
According to Massively, research has been presented this week by Jane Barnett at Middlesex University on the impact of World of Warcraft on levels of relaxation.
The study found playing WoW actually led to higher levels of relaxation after playing in some personality types. The sample size was small - our readership at The Metaverse Journal is larger so jump in with your opinion: how do you feel after a lengthy bout of WoW?.
As mentioned before, I partake of WoW here and there and I certainly don’t get angry when playing. I’ve progressed to being a Level 49 Mage so I’ve spent a few hours playing and for me it’s certainly a fun pastime. How about you?
Popularity: 3% [?]
GimpGirl - women, disabilities and Second Life
March 28, 2008
One of the most interesting email lists I’m involved with is the Second Life Health list. Yesterday I noticed an interesting announcement from a group called GimpGirl:
GimpGirl Community was founded in 1998 by women with disabilities to serve the needs of our community through various on-line mediums. For many years we were primarily using mailing lists, our web site and later on LiveJournal, Facebook and MySpace, but at the end of last year our educational contacts and supporters encouraged us (and gave us the resources) to expand on to Second Life. Through hard work by our core group, as well as the help of volunteers we developed a parcel on Second Life that now has weekly group meetings full of women with disabilities from all walks of life. We will be hosting our first public presentation by sociologist and head of the Avatar Identity Research Center, Rivka Rau this coming weekend. (See details below signature.) Our parcel also hosts an art gallery and vendor area for women with disabilities (both of which are still filling in). We will soon be hosting events for our current partners and the general public to further explore how to empower those in our community. Our transition to Second Life, as well as our continued efforts on-line and off, has been going wonderfully and we’re very excited about what projects and opportunities the future will bring!
Cheers,
Jennifer Cole/JennyLin Arashi (in world), Co-Director and Founder
GimpGirl Community
http://www.gimpgirl.com
The Second Life parcel is a fairly standard open ampitheatre style, with events like the following already announced”
“Avatars, Identity, and the Expression of Disability”
Rivka Rau is the director of the Avatar Identity Research Center, and a professor of sociology in real life. The AV-ID Center is the home of the Editing Appearances project, an interview study of avatar embodiment and selfhood in SL. Rivka Rau has conducted over 200 hours of interviews for this project. In addition, through AV-ID she offers a seminar series on topics related to identity and the SL body. She will presenting on our current topic of the month, disability identity on-line, at our Second Life parcel. There will be time for Q & A as well as general discussion.
Open to the public.
When:
Sunday, March 30th, 2008 from 12:00 - 1:30 PM SLT/Pacific Time (3:00 PM Eastern Time)
Second Life location:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/3DE/139/61/22
IF YOU DON’T HAVE ACCESS TO SECOND LIFE:
You can still attend this presentation online via IRC. To visit our IRC/Second Life chatroom, go to:
http://chat.on.quickfox.net/GimpGirl
…and choose the option that works best for you.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Real life death and Second Life
February 29, 2008
Over recent months Linden Lab have stepped up their output of tutorials and knowledgebase articles - nothing illustrates that more than two new additions.
The first is: Death and Other “First Life” Worries. The key issue here is if you have someone threaten suicide in-world or you’re concerned in some other way about their welfare and you want to find out their RL details to ensure they’re ok. Linden Lab have firmly stated that providing one person’s details to another violates their privacy policy. That I can see but surely some sort of escalation mechanism with Linden Lab as the intermediary would be useful?
The second knowledgebase article is: How do I bequeath my Second Life account and assets to another Resident if I die in real life?
Essentially, you’ll need to have specified in your will the real-life name of the person you want your Second Life assets to go to or any instructions on notifying people on your in-world friends list. I have money on someone out there already developing a business model for a virtual world / real world funeral and estate planning service.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Cisco’s virtual hospital opens
February 27, 2008
Health and education are two of the standout wins demonstrated in Second Life. The latest health-related build is sponsored by Cisco and it’s a mighty impressive result. As a health professional myself I can see that immersive medical training could bring enormous benefits.
I did have some difficulties getting some of the medical equipment to work with my avatar and there’s also a lot of video content so lag can be a big issue during busy periods. Overall though it’s obvious that significant corporate sponsorhip can bring about very intricate builds in Second Life that benefit the medical community.
Popularity: 4% [?]
