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% [?]
Ad Farms, ABC Valentines and Addiction Survey
February 14, 2008
Three mini stories in one today:
1. Ad farms are the target of the latest Linden Lab crackdown. There’s likely to be widespread praise for this move.
2. Second Life’s ABC Island is having a Valentine’s Day event:
“Bring your sweetheart or come and make new friends, or both! Celebrate Valentine’s Day (Thurs 14 Feb TODAY!) at ABC Island at 8pm AEDT on the ABC Park ice rink, near the Sandbox, or roller skate around the ‘ABC logo’ path. Join the Valentine Heart Hunt! Free skates available, or bring your own trick skates”.
3. We received this short missive this afternoon:
“I’m doing research on second life addiciton, it would be a great help if people would take a survey I set up
http://VirtualWorldAddiction.speedsurvey.com ”
Popularity: 3% [?]
Health Support Coalition forms in Second Life
February 4, 2008
I came across a low-key announcement in recent days that emphasises the growing realisation by professionals of Second Life’s potential in regard to health. If you use Second Life to undertake research or to provide health support, then the group below may be worth contacting. The event in question has passed but no doubt there’ll be further get-togethers.
Health workers are used to needing to form coalitions to instigate population-wide initiatives. Lag immunisations anyone?
“Dear Friends and Fellow Support Group Leaders,
The first meeting of the Health Support Coalition will be this Saturday, Feb. 2, from 8 to 10 am SLT. We will meet on the roof of the Heron Sanctuary office building on EduIsland 4.
This is a meet-and-greet. The purpose of this initial meeting is to learn more about each other’s groups. We will discuss how the coalition can best support our organizations, and begin planning future programs.
Bring some text material about your project (notecard is fine; could be your group charter, description from website, or explanation you give over and over), logo or other image identifying the group, and landmark if applicable.
Please join us for a productive morning meeting. We plan to collect information about all our groups and create some form of resources directory that will allow us to better serve our members. Help us ensure the accuracy of the information about the group you lead.
Again, please note that this gathering is solely for leaders of health support groups (if you’re thinking of starting one, we’d love to have you join us).
IM any of us inworld for a TP to the event site.
Your hostesses,
Carolina Keats
The Sojourner
Gentle Heron”
Popularity: 3% [?]
Virtual Association of Surgeons inaugural conference in Second Life
January 6, 2008
Surgical robotics is a highly specialised area of medicine. Even more specialised are those surgeons who’ll be holding their inaugural conference exclusively in Second Life. They’re the International Virtual Association of Surgeons (iVAS) and the full details are:
“The International Virtual Association of Surgeons (iVAS) is pleased to announce its inaugural conference. This will be held on 22nd April 2008, exclusively in Second Life.
The conference will be run in the same manner as a real-world conference, with key note addresses from internationally recognized leaders in the fields of surgical robotics, simulation and education. The editorial board consist of experts in the field from Imperial College London, Professor Ara Darzi and Professor Guang-Zhong Yang and Professor Blake Hannaford from the University of Washington.
The abstract call on surgical technology, robotics, simulation and education is primarily but not exclusively aimed at international surgical scientists. All submissions will be most welcome, and the deadline is on the 20th January 2008.
To be kept up to date please feel free to visit us on the Second Health island, join our group in world ( The Virtual Association of Surgeons) or visit our website.
Keep up the great work and have a happy New Year!
Many Thanks,
James Kinross and Julian Leong
(Lancelot Spitteler and Julian Nikolaides)
Mr Julian Leong MRCS
Programme Co-Chair
Department of Biosurgery and Surgical Technology,
Imperial College,
10th Floor, QEQM,
St. Mary’s Hospital,
London, UK
Tel: +447958277088
Fax: +442078866309
Email: j.leong@imperial.ac.uk
Mr James Kinross MRCS
Programme Co-Chair
Department of Biosurgery and Surgical Technology,
Imperial College,
10th Floor, QEQM,
St. Mary’s Hospital,
London, UK
Tel: +447989344238
Tel: +442078861947
Fax: +442078866309
Email: j.kinross@imperial.ac.uk”
The medical fraternity can be a conservative bunch, even the cutting edge specialties like surgical robotics. For such professionals to instigate conference proceedings in this manner shows the power of virtual worlds as an educational medium.
Popularity: 4% [?]
