Comments for A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth)

Comment on ‘Opening Up – A Guide for Women’ seminar: a huge success! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Latest vistors’ stats (13 Mar 08 - 12 May 08)

Mon, 12 May 2008 14:24:46 +0000

[...] visitors would be much higher. The highest peak concurrency figure was 24 avatars/visitors on 17 February 2008, followed by 16 visitors on 1 May 2008 (all figures not counting [...]

Comment on ‘Sexual Purity and Healthy Relationships’ seminar: a big success! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Latest vistors’ stats (13 Mar 08 - 12 May 08)

Mon, 12 May 2008 14:18:31 +0000

[...] peak concurrency figure was 24 avatars/visitors on 17 February 2008, followed by 16 visitors on 1 May 2008 (all figures not counting [...]

Comment on A century of Members! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Latest vistors’ stats (13 Mar 08 - 12 May 08)

Mon, 12 May 2008 14:18:15 +0000

[...] in-world public Group launched on 10 August 2007 now has 130 Members as at 11 May [...]

Comment on Seminar on ‘Sexual Purity and Healthy Relationships: A Christian Orthodox Perspective for the 21st Century’ by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Snapshots from 1st May 08 seminar

Mon, 05 May 2008 22:30:37 +0000

[...] posts: http://sl-sexualhealth.org.uk/?p=142 http://sl-sexualhealth.org.uk/?p=141 From the blogosphere: Christianity gets a Second Life stage to discuss Sexual Purity [...]

Comment on ‘Sexual Purity and Healthy Relationships’ seminar: a big success! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Snapshots from 1st May 08 seminar

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:38:05 +0000

[...] A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth) -=- Web log about the Second Life University of Plymouth project entitled “A ‘Sexual Health’ Public Education and Outreach SIM in Second Life” – Maged N Kamel Boulos and Susan Toth-Cohen -=- « ‘Sexual Purity and Healthy Relationships’ seminar: a big success! [...]

Comment on Snapshots from 1st May 08 seminar by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » ‘Sexual Purity and Healthy Relationships’ seminar: a big success!

Mon, 05 May 2008 20:29:53 +0000

[...] Purity and Healthy Relationships: A Christian Orthodox Perspective for the 21st Century’ Snapshots from 1st May 08 seminar [...]

Comment on Seminar on ‘Sexual Purity and Healthy Relationships: A Christian Orthodox Perspective for the 21st Century’ by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » ‘Sexual Purity and Healthy Relationships’ seminar: a big success!

Fri, 02 May 2008 15:04:43 +0000

[...] A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth) -=- Web log about the Second Life University of Plymouth project entitled “A ‘Sexual Health’ Public Education and Outreach SIM in Second Life” – Maged N Kamel Boulos and Susan Toth-Cohen -=- « Seminar on ‘Sexual Purity and Healthy Relationships: A Christian Orthodox Perspective for the … [...]

Comment on Please join the debate! by Health News in Second Life: Virtual Conference « ScienceRoll

Health News in Second Life: Virtual Conference « ScienceRoll — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:39:24 +0000

[...] Please join the debate! (A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth)): [...]

Comment on Knowledge is the enemy of (sexually transmitted) disease by Christian Orthodoxy and Sexual Purity - A Second Life seminar : The Metaverse Journal - Australia’s Virtual World News Service

Thu, 01 May 2008 08:01:45 +0000

[...] University of Plymouth Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® is a novel Sexual Health Public Education and Outreach project funded by Education [...]

Comment on Please join the debate! by Peter Jones

Peter Jones — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:42:05 +0000

Thanks for these resources and the headsup on Sun’s VR-Collab initiative.

The discussion and resources highlight key applications – collaboration, ‘adventure’ in the SL, knowledge representation and retrieval. I’ve explored SL briefly, but never adventurously.

I’ve been interested in VR, diagrammatic reasoning and Vis in the social sciences since the late 1980s:

http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/chron.htm

I see the potential of VR and collaborative spaces in how they can represent conceptual frameworks that underpin the initial models that learners are taught or (intuitively) adopt.

Inspired by various sources I explored some VR ideas in 1991 in a ’story’ about two student nurses:

INTRODUCTION -
http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/Introvrn.htm

http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/virtnurs.htm

This looks and is very dated now and I do wish I could update the piece and place it within VR together with a rendering of Hodges’ model.

Given your focus and themes – there are VR, visualization resources listed at (now inc. MPK20):

http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/linksTwo.htm

I’d like to explore tools (info-vis) connected with public (mental) health and population profiling.

Best wishes (and Hi Ray nice to meet you in Harrogate)

Peter Jones
Community Mental Health Nurse Older Adults,
Independent Scholar & Informatics Specialist
Bolton
Lancashire
UK
–
http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/
Hodges’ Health Career – Care Domains – Model
http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/
h2cm: help 2C more – help 2 listen – help 2 care
http://twitter.com/h2cm

Comment on Please join the debate! by admin

admin — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:26:20 +0000

The 20% statistic in post #2 above is not at all bad. While overall Internet penetration in the UK was 60% (of the total population) in 2006, Greece, another EU country, only had a 33.5% penetration figure for the same year, according to one source (links given below).

—
http://internetworldstats.com/eu/gr.htm
http://internetworldstats.com/eu/uk.htm

Comment on Please join the debate! by admin

admin — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:09:09 +0000

Again, I invite everyone to carefully watch the MPK20 videos (find links above in main article). Knoh Oh (John Norris) and I agree on the following (quoting my earlier reflection at http://sl-sexualhealth.org.uk/?p=17):

“We need to especially identify and focus/capitalise on what 3D online worlds are best at–those (useful) things/scenarios that can only be effectively carried out in virtual worlds and not via any other ‘e’ medium (as effectively), and also determine the optimal formulae for blended approaches that combine 2D and 3D media.”

Based on the above, I find it useless to compare the flat Web to 3D online worlds; it is like comparing the eye with the ear (cf. I Corinthians 12:21). I wrote and published a lot about this issue — see, for example, our forthcoming paper: Huang S, Kamel Boulos MN, Dellavalle R. Scientific Discourse 2.0: Will Your Next Poster Session Be in Second Life? EMBO Reports. 2008; in press, and other pointers at http://healthcybermap.org/sl.htm

Integration is not about redoing or simply adding things together, but is about ‘added value’ and additional gains; not the mere sum of two or more things combined together.

Those who opposed the telephone or TV, opposed a modality; not the same as those who lobbied with or against a format for a given modality like Betamax or HD DVD vs. Blu Ray. Some may say MPK20 is better than Second Life; this is not an argument about the 3D online worlds modality, but about specific implementations/formats within it. The (flat) World Wide Web, created in 1989, faced similar fierce scepticism in its early days, hence the use of the above arguments (by Invistek and admin).

Perplexity Peccable (Patricia) and Knoh Oh, both emphasise the social, mood, intimacy and other humane dimensions not found in conventional Webinars. (These qualities are also among the main reasons many older people and people with various serious disabilities find 3D online worlds very helpful; see for example, http://virtualability.org/.) For more on this, please see our reflection at
http://healthcybermap.org/Boulos_Live_meetings_in_3D.pdf (Live meetings in 3-D virtual worlds vs. conventional interactive webcasting / Web videoconferencing). Perhaps this is the one aspect where one can conduct a study to compare WebEx-style Webinars (with cutting-edge application sharing, e.g., to teach a practical ArcGIS lesson) to those run in more social/sociable media (like Sun MPK20, which also allows application sharing), but the very fast advances/changes in the technology powering the latter might make such a study rapidly obsolete or deficient (also see Kaplan (2001) about the limitations of RCTs in the evaluation of informatics application).

And again, let’s not judge the whole motion picture industry and technology (or 3D online worlds in our case) by reporting on a few bad productions (or by the silent film era :)! The ‘youth culture’ you have seen in Second Life is part of today’s society. Whether we like it or not/feel at home with it or not is another story, but Second Life is not limited to, or all about, this culture. (For a fresh change, please visit http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odessa%20Captivating/74/163/22.)

As for the link to the story about the poor old people, that’s sadly true, but these people won’t benefit from the flat Web either (in solving their poverty–at least directly). We will always have the poor among us (John 12:8); this shouldn’t prevent or stop innovation and research from taking their course. We should always do both: conduct research to improve the human condition and quality of life on the long term, and help the poor among us (equitable society). We should practice the latter without leaving the former undone (Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42).

IBM’s vision – click diagram to read.

Inside A Virtual World: A Look At “Second Life” (25 April 2008) – http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=e83cde7b-5a78-4614-85e3-36107cd05943

Comment on Please join the debate! by RayJones (Luddites (not) anonymous)

RayJones (Luddites (not) anonymous) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:38:18 +0000

1. ‘Invistek’ and Maged Boulos both cite some of the many technology forecasts that have been proved wrong. Using failed forecasts of the future to try to argue the benefits of any particular new technology, in my view, is not a good argument. There are lots of new technologies around at any time which may or may not become widespread. While it is fun to see how people did not think we would have telephones, or TVs or mobile phones, or whatever technology it does not follow that any one technology that we may propose at this time will come to fruition. (Perhaps for example, engineers from Betamax, Phillips CD-I, or those who said we would be flying around with rocket packs on our backs, tried the same approach to justify their inventions?)
2. Patricia Anderson described the benefits of working and meeting in Virtual Worlds as being able to work from home, to multitask, not having to travel etc. Clearly these are some of the benefits of the web – I work from home most of the time, I multitask, I avoid having to go to conferences by contacting people through email, by reading their materials on the web, by possibly chatting to them in a chat room or on the phone. I am trying to encourage similar reduction in travel and international collaboration in my University through the use of webinars. My argument is that I do not see the need to have an avatar and to walk around in a virtual world to be able to do that. I can do it in ‘flat web’.
3. Has anyone yet done any comparative studies where ordinary web users (ie non enthusiasts) have been recruited and randomly allocated to a 3-D or 2-D environment to carry out their routine tasks?
4. Maged Boulos (admin) argues that the 3-D web is about integration. Of course I agree that the more different functionalities can be integrated so that we can seamlessly go from reading articles, to maybe chatting to the author, to conducting an online seminar with students etc etc. I just do not think I need to be in 3-D with buildings and scenery moving an avatar to do it.
5. I think John Norris has it right when he says “I think we are exploring what is the appropriate use of virtual worlds. At the same time, we are still developing what virtual worlds are.” I agree that virtual worlds will offer some useful things, for example, as I had said role playing to learn about particular group situations. But most of what seems to go on in Second Life at the moment (dancing? adults dressing and re-dressing their animated dolls? why?!!) is something which I hope that I never have to do! Individual preferences are likely to lead to an increasing variety of interfaces and ways of doing things. While I am sure that 3-D worlds will be one of those ways I do not want to bother learning a new interface to carry out tasks I can do with the current one. Second Life has something of the Emperor’s new clothes about it.
5. There is obviously scope for R&D along a broad front. However, I think that more priority should be given to trying to making technology easier to use for ALL. There are many people (particularly older people) who struggle with the existing technologies and others who can not afford them. The gap between those racing off into virtual worlds while many can not even find out basic information from the web is growing and we should give greater priority to reduce that inequity. ‘Invistek’ gave a link to a typical BBC programme on ‘house of the future’. Here is a link to ‘house of the present’ http://www.helptheaged.org.uk/en-gb/Campaigns/WinterDeaths/WhatWeWant/default.htm

best wishes
Ray Jones

Comment on Please join the debate! by admin

admin — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:55:09 +0000

Many thanks, Invistek! And from the same lovely site you shared with us I am quoting the following:

“The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.” — Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878.

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” — A memo at Western Union, 1878 (or 1876).

“The world potential market for copying machines is 5000 at most.” — IBM, to the eventual founders of Xerox, saying the photocopier had no market large enough to justify production, 1959.

“X-rays will prove to be a hoax.” — Lord Kelvin, President of the Royal Society, 1883.

“Fooling around with alternating current is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever.” — Thomas Edison, American inventor, 1889 (Edison often ridiculed the arguments of competitor George Westinghouse for AC power).

“[Television] won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” — Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946.

“When the Paris Exhibition [of 1878] closes, electric light will close with it and no more will be heard of it.” – Oxford professor Erasmus Wilson

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to no one in particular?” — Associates of David Sarnoff responding to the latter’s call for investment in the radio in 1921.

“The cinema is little more than a fad. It’s canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage.” -– Charlie Chaplin, actor, producer, director, and studio founder, 1916.

“The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.” — The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford’s lawyer, Horace Rackham, not to invest in the Ford Motor Co., 1903.

Comment on Please join the debate! by Invistek

Invistek — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 09:04:47 +0000

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), maker of big business mainframe computers, arguing against the PC in 1977.

“We will never make a 32 bit operating system.” — Bill Gates

“Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.” — Mary Somerville, pioneer of radio educational broadcasts, 1948.

“There is practically no chance communications space satellites will be used to provide better telephone, telegraph, television, or radio service inside the United States.” — T. Craven, FCC Commissioner, in 1961 (the first commercial communications satellite went into service in 1965). (Read more failed predictions: http://listverse.com/history/top-30-failed-technology-predictions/)

1967 Future Prediction – PC

2008 Inside the house of the future
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7348940.stm

Comment on Please join the debate! by admin

admin — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:26:36 +0000

When some are saying the 3D Web will be used by ALL people ALL of the time, they are saying so in the sense of better, seamless and value-added integration of the different modalities (flat and 3D), not in the sense of one modality replacing existing modalities. As you can see in the MPK20 videos, they didn’t stop using presentation software like PowerPoint, but they expanded and enriched it by integrating it with the 3D online world in a very natural/usable way. Integration also makes users use a single ‘hub’ interface, which, if properly designed, can feel like a single rich application, and can perform ways better than using, switching between, and manually linking, multiple applications for multiple tasks. See also how office applications are today better integrated with the flat Web; many of us, for example, no longer use dedicated desktop e-mail clients (like the good old Eudora and Outlook) and prefer, even fully rely on, the flat Web AJAX interfaces to their mail servers.
One cannot objectively judge the whole motion picture industry and technology by reporting on a few bad productions (or by the silent film era :)! Same for 3D online worlds.
See also this admin’s related comments at http://sl-sexualhealth.org.uk/?p=17 and at
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2007.00733.x

Comment on Please join the debate! by John Norris

John Norris — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:01:27 +0000

If I find myself having to walk to another page of information, I’m going back the web.

However, if I need to share an experience with a geographically dispersed group of people, using a virtual world is one of the tools on the top of my list.

If I am collaborating on a document, I would use groupware. If I need to talk to people, I’d probably use the phone. However, if I need to set a certain mood, encourage more intimacy, or work on a 3-dimensional project, I might just use a virtual world. A virtual world is a communications tool that includes visual, spatial, temporal, and auditory clues that are lacking in many other mediums.

I think we are exploring what is the appropriate use of virtual worlds. At the same time, we are still developing what virtual worlds are.

At this point, for some, it may be a good time to jump in early and learn. And just as it took time to figure out how to use a mouse, or what a double-click means, so too does one need to learn how to TP, fly, or stop dancing.

Comment on Please join the debate! by Centromimir.it » Blog Archive » A Debate at Sexual Health SIM in Second Life

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 21:16:00 +0000

[...] A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life® (University of Plymouth) [...]

Comment on Please join the debate! by admin

admin — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:00:14 +0000

When it comes to IM/chatting and many live, interactive video events / discussions (beyond typical ‘webcasts’), this admin personally uses http://www.paltalk.com/ (free edition)
This paper describes a very old version of Paltalk:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16250823 — today’s Paltalk is far more capable and superior, but still doesn’t offer any application or desktop sharing.
(With the free ManyCam http://www.manycam.com/demo/, you can easily switch between your webcam stream and showing your desktop, but this is not true application sharing, and the resolution is not usually very good, unless you select ‘Partial Desktop’ in ManyCam.)

Comment on Please join the debate! by Patricia F Anderson

Patricia F Anderson — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:57:40 +0000

MB asked me to think about this yesterday. I found my thoughts will not fit even into a single blog post! So, here is my first set of thoughts on this topic.

http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/etechlib/archives/2008/04/metanomics_and.html

What I hope to do next is talk more specifically about the engaging presentations and activities that keep me coming back for more.

Comment on Please join the debate! by RayJones (Luddites (not) anonymous)

RayJones (Luddites (not) anonymous) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:01:40 +0000

I am sure that I will get derided as luddite for these views by all you SL and web 2 enthusiast, but while I can see the utility of 3-D methods and avatars in some situations – eg role play in mutliprofessional setting of an operating theatre where different people are ‘dressed up’ as those occupations, and they take on those roles, I do not see the need for it if I want to have a simple synchronous or asychronous chat. I think there is a tendency to think that ALL aspects of web 2.0 will be used ALL of the time by ALL of the people. Use of mobile phones shows that individual preference and culture will differentiate users and the UI they use. For example, work by Reid and Reid showed that mobile using adolescents tended to fall into the talkers and texters. Presumambly as more mobiles get video the population will differentiate even further – and we will need to tailor methods to those individual differences.
I for sure will be one of those who remain either in ‘flat web’ or at least want to be in a non-anonymous world for most of my web activities. (If I want web-CBT for depression that’s another matter…). For example, I have tried Second Life many times now and I find it tedious and irritating. WHy do I have to walk, fly or transport a stupid avatar just to find some information?. And as yet I ahve found nothing of interest in SL that is not available in flat web. Why are all the avatar’s of busty women or handsome men and why are they all (apparently) young people? Why does everyone in SL (apparently) find everything funny (LOL)? Why do I need an avatar at all? And why would I want t talk to an anonymous avatar when the person behind the avatar probably bears no relation to the avatar? Why are we encouraging people to exist in this fantasy world? I suspect that SL is liked by those people who also like computer games. I have never liked nor played computer games – they seem a waste of time when I could be outside in the real world.
Moving everyone ‘up’ (or maybe better said ‘onwards’) to 3-D just increases the need for processing capability so making older machines obsolete quicker and helping to keep (and possibly increase) the digital divide. We should be putting more effort into making the web more available to more people by making computers cheaper and simpler. More effort should be put into helping those in the generation above me to get easy, cheap, and robust access to flat Internet. (Still only 20% of the over 65s have accessed the Internet in the UK (Gov Stats from NOS)).

(It is also interesting that an increasing minority of young people are now starting to ‘reject’ some aspects of the Internet and mobile culture altogether – not participating in messaging or constant mobile use and starting to do some old fashioned things like reading books and playing real football.)

- end of rant (:>)
best wishes Ray Jones (Professor of Health Informatics at University of Plymouth and colleague of Maged Kamel Boulos – such is the UK academic world that we can have diversity of views and still work together (:>)).

Comment on Please join the debate! by Invistek

Invistek — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:44:48 +0000

I believe SL affords a glimpse into our online future, that of all the Internet. The technology is maturing fast, but the Lindens, IBM, the Open Source community, and other relevant parties still have much hard work to do to realize the full vision. This is very normal. The old web took more than a decade to develop, and it is just a matter of time before we use the new one.

Comment on Visit our booth at DREAMS 3rd Annual Fair, 4-25 Apr 08 by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Dreams Fair - Sexual Health Discussion (16/4/08)

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:01:51 +0000

[...] Yesterday, 16 Apr 08 at 12:00 noon PDT, MB facilitated an open Sexual Health Discussion held at the Dreams Third Annual Community Fair. [...]

Comment on Visit our booth at DREAMS 3rd Annual Fair, 4-25 Apr 08 by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Search healia in-world

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:55:59 +0000

[...] Now available at UOP Sexual Health SIM: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Education%20UK/8/50/23 and in our booth at DREAMS Fair. [...]

Comment on HTML-on-a-prim Sexual Health Web Content browser test by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » At last: flat Web browsing now “fully” integrated into/inside Second Life!

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 13:58:00 +0000

[...] See also:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Media_on_a_parcel (more is in the pipe; this is just the start) [...]

Comment on HTML-on-a-prim Sexual Health Web Content browser test by The Grid Live » Second Life News for March 20, 2008

The Grid Live » Second Life News for March 20, 2008 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:13:24 +0000

[...] A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life HTML-on-a-prim Sexual Health Web Content browser test Quote from the site – How to use it: While standing close to the new UOP logo panel at [...]

Comment on A century of Members! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Latest vistors’ stats (13 Feb 08 - 12 Mar 08)

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:37:27 +0000

[...] health” + “Second Life”. Our in-world public Group launched on 10 August 2007 now has 129 Members as at 12 March 2008, up from 92 Members on 12 February 2008, 84 Members on 12 January [...]

Comment on At last: flat Web browsing now “fully” integrated into/inside Second Life! by Health News in Second Life: IBM and Nursing Education Simulator « ScienceRoll

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 20:24:12 +0000

[...] At last: flat Web browsing now “fully” integrated into/inside Second Life! (University of Plymouth): [...]

Comment on Project promotion at SL’ang Life Health Care Event by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Project to be featured in next issue of the printed SLang Life magazine

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:42:43 +0000

[...] Saturday, 9 February 2008, Maged delivered an invited session about the UOP Sexual Health SIM at an event hosted by SL’ang Life island (Web – in-world). Today, he received the following note [...]

Comment on Free (virtual) male condoms for every visitor! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Featured comment on ‘Free (virtual) male condoms for every visitor!’

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 20:29:43 +0000

[...] Comment by Kix Kayamanu on 23 February 2008: http://sl-sexualhealth.org.uk/?p=14#comment-3426 [...]

Comment on Free (virtual) male condoms for every visitor! by Kix Kayamanu

Kix Kayamanu — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 19:45:38 +0000

Hi there! (I’ve just joined your group in-world) The efforts you’re putting into SL by supporting sexual health and education is amazing. I look forward to following the university’s progress over the months and hopefully attending future events. Check out my blog post on “Avatars Use Condoms” (http://tinyurl.com/2vuqwe) – would love to hear your thoughts!

Comment on ‘Opening Up – A Guide for Women’ seminar: a huge success! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » A century of Members!

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:54:02 +0000

[...] A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) -=- Web log about the Second Life University of Plymouth project entitled “A ‘Sexual Health’ Public Education and Outreach SIM in Second Life” – MN Kamel Boulos, S Wheeler, and S Toth-Cohen -=- « ‘Opening Up – A Guide for Women’ seminar: a huge success! [...]

Comment on Latest vistors’ stats (13 Jan 08 – 12 Feb 08) by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » A century of Members!

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:52:03 +0000

[...] in-world public Group now has more than 110 Members as at 19 February 2008, up from 92 Members on 12 February 2008. Seems our latest seminar has some very strong after-effects! How amazing are the social dynamics [...]

Comment on Latest vistors’ stats (13 Jan 08 – 12 Feb 08) by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » ‘Opening Up - A Guide for Women’ seminar: a huge success!

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:55:52 +0000

[...] Our Second Life official parcel Traffic figure on 18 February 2008 at 15:30 GMT, reflecting actual traffic/total visitors’ minutes on 17 February 2008, the day we had the ‘Opening Up – A Guide for Women’ event: 1687 visitor-minutes, the highest figure our SIM has ever achieved in any single day since project launch in July 2007! Also as at 17 February 2008, our in-world public Group now has 99 Members, up from 92 Members on 12 February 2008. [...]

Comment on Our next seminar: ‘Opening Up – A Guide for Women (and their lovers)’ by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » ‘Opening Up - A Guide for Women’ seminar: a huge success!

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 08:32:26 +0000

[...] in our bimonthly sexual health seminar series, was a big success! Many thanks to our guest speaker SL:Jenn Twin from Canada, and to all those who have attended and contributed to the long chat with Jenn after [...]

Comment on Our next seminar: ‘Opening Up – A Guide for Women (and their lovers)’ by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Project promotion at SL’ang Life Health Care Event

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:53:16 +0000

[...] A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) -=- Web log about the Second Life University of Plymouth project entitled “A ‘Sexual Health’ Public Education and Outreach SIM in Second Life” – MN Kamel Boulos, S Wheeler, and S Toth-Cohen -=- « Our next seminar: ‘Opening Up – A Guide for Women (and their lovers)’ [...]

Comment on Second Life impact measurement and metrics by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Featured comment on Second Life impact measurement and metrics

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:46:12 +0000

[...] By Simon Bignell (SL: Milton Broome): http://sl-sexualhealth.org.uk/?p=77#comments [...]

Comment on Second Life impact measurement and metrics by Simon Bignell (SL: Milton Broome)

Simon Bignell (SL: Milton Broome) — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:27:00 +0000

I agree with your position, especially your point about measuring ‘production quality’. I’ve continually harped on about the typical (cultural) differences in attitude between the British and the Americans perspective on this. It seems the UK is being tempted to go down the ‘aesthetic over function’ route typified by many of the larger US Universities. There are too many virtual campuses; virtual replications of real-life buildings that are very highly detailed ‘doll’s houses’ always left on show but rarely played with and completely empty of students (evidenced by the metrics). These are the PR stunts and the one-time funding projects that are useless passed the champagne openings and the self-congratulatory feeling of satisfaction. Sustainability has to include consideration of need and user engagement. Any one can hire the Electric Sheep Company to build an Island if they have enough money. Once our students can smash things up and rebuild them, metaphorically, they can have the security to experiment themselves. Active rather than passive learning – and not the passive aggressive position of many existing VLEs ‘interactivity’, or am I reading to much into this. So far the British approach has been to take things slow with education in Second Life and rely on evidence-based practice. However, this also has the risk of being overly cautious. We should not go down the route that British schools have taken as well in driving out real learning by overly assessing the teaching methods used. If our students engage and feel the freedom to be expressive and curious the learning will take place.

Comment on ‘Broken Wing, Learning to Fly’: a big success! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Family planning/contraceptives seminar: a big success!

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:01:04 +0000

[...] 2007: Yesterday’s seminar about family planning and contraceptives, the second in our bimonthly sexual health seminar series was a real success! Many thanks to our guest speaker Barbara Hastings-Asatourian (SL:Babette [...]

Comment on Join us this Thursday 13 Dec 07 at 20:00 GMT / noon SLT by Babette Hoobinoo

Babette Hoobinoo — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 21:54:38 +0000

I think the celebration of birth is a wonderful thing to do at the same time as learning about contraception! I am a qualified midwife, and have always been overjoyed at every birth. Yet I am passionate about contraception too. This si because when babies are spaced and when parents are able to provide for their children, they are so much more healthy, more likely to survive childhood. Have a look at my article on the Global Perspectives of Contraception published in the Practising Midwife in April 2007 and read how contraception saves lives in many different ways. That’s a cause for celebration!

Comment on Knowledge is the enemy of (sexually transmitted) disease by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Join us this Thursday 13 Dec 07 at noon SLT / 20:00 GMT

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:27:36 +0000

[...] Our reply was “Not at all. Our position is neutral; please read this: http://sl-sexualhealth.org.uk/?p=49 Plus there are natural methods and very valid reasons for family planning approved by the Eastern [...]

Comment on Seminar and sex education material by Barbara Hastings-Asatourian by admin

admin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:51:11 +0000

Safe sex in a virtual world
Easier (press release), UK
The opportunity to deliver the lecture came about through Salford’s links with the University of Plymouth, where academics are conducting a Second Life project entitled ‘A Sexual Health Public Education and Outreach SIM in Second Life’.
http://www.easier.com/view/Lifestyle/Health_and_Fitness/Health/article-151877.html

Comment on Wear a skin disease! by Centromimir.it » Blog Archive » Wear a Skin A kind of a virtual clinical round

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:33:33 +0000

[...] Wear a skin disease! [...]

Comment on Access to Worldmapper’s HIV/AIDS maps by World AIDS Day 2007 at HealthInfo Island « Daneel Ariantho’s laboratory

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:21:39 +0000

[...] The HIV/AIDS information resources [...]

Comment on New interactive 3-D Earth globe (STIs in Europe) and Silent Witness display by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » When mirror and virtual worlds converge…

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:24:04 +0000

[...] next, soon-to-be-published Second Life paper is co-authored with Eur Ing David Burden of Daden Limited, and is about the convergence of mirror worlds and virtual worlds, which together with lifelogging [...]

Comment on UOP Sexual Health SIM on CNN SL I-Reports by UOP Sexual Health SIM on CNN SL I-Reports by daquicker

UOP Sexual Health SIM on CNN SL I-Reports by daquicker — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:09:08 +0000

[...] all the details here [...]

Comment on Women’s health expo and conference by Carmen Gray

Carmen Gray — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 21:23:42 +0000

The Health fair was very impressive, speakers were fantastic, they gave us some important information about health issues, the speakers were from around the world as well as the participants. Really enjoyed it!

Comment on New ‘AIDS Group’ display by Patti

Patti — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:22:59 +0000

I visited the site today and was very happy with the work you have done.
I have worked in HIV Prevention for 15 years now and am happy to see any information that provides information on transmission. I particularly like the support and help link you have provided. This was nicely done.

Comment on Join our new in-world public group (L$0) by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » One in 10 young women in England infected with HPV!

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:24:46 +0000

[...] message about human papillomavirus (HPV) sent to our public group members on 19 September 2007. Members can view past Notices and Attachments as shown [...]

Comment on ‘Broken Wing, Learning to Fly’: a big success! by Second Life News for September 14, 2007 « The Grid Live

Second Life News for September 14, 2007 « The Grid Live — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:57:08 +0000

[...] ‘Broken Wing, Learning to Fly’: a big success! The ‘Broken Wing’ Event on 12 September 2007 was a real success! Many thanks to our guest speaker SL:Beacon Becloud, and to all those who have attended and contributed to the discussions during and after the seminar (about 20 avatars — peak was 14, and more than 10 stayed from start to end: 8-9 pm BST). (On the day of the event, 12 September 2007, our SIM received more than 40 unique visitors/avatars (peak unique visitors was 14), who spent >850 minutes on our land.) Broken Wing Event – 12 Sept 07 Posted to Technology Videos by eubeenhadd on September 14, 2007 Click to Play | View Details [...]

Comment on Broken Wing: live seminar at UOP Sexual Health SIM in Second Life by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » ‘Broken Wing, Learning to Fly’: a big success!

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:40:44 +0000

[...] ‘Broken Wing’ Event on 12 September 2007 was a real success! Many thanks to our guest speaker SL:Beacon Becloud, and to all those who have [...]

Comment on Additional touches… by Milton Broome

Milton Broome — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:03:37 +0000

Hi,

This is a really nice space. I love the flowers too. Good luck with the build and all the good educational and awareness work that you are doing.

Regards,

Milton Broome
SL-Labs (University of Derby)

Comment on Join our new in-world public group (L$0) by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Condom Tac Toe, pamphlets, new quality links, map, historical posters and flowers!

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 23:32:22 +0000

[...] *The map is described in Boulos et al. Int J Health Geogr. 2005 Jan 18;4:4. P.S. A Notice entitled ‘UK: Rise in sex infections continues ‘ (with a Notecard attachment about the latest UK STIs stats from HPA has been sent today to members of our in-world public group. [...]

Comment on A new interactive STDs info kiosk / atlas with voice by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Condom Tac Toe, pamphlets, new quality links, map, historical posters and flowers!

Sun, 26 Aug 2007 18:35:08 +0000

[...] of Young People Module’ and more, to the blue http cube, which is now also animated. The voice-enabled STDs info kiosk/atlas beside the cube also has an additional slide/link to an ‘Interactive Map of STDs in London [...]

Comment on Join our new in-world public group (L$0) by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » A custom Intute search engine for our in-world visitors

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:12:54 +0000

[...] times during the first month after its posting on YouTube (25 Jul 07 – 24 Aug 07). Our in-world public group launched on 10 August 2007 now has 42 members as at 24 August 2007 @ 13:00 BST (up from 25 members on 12 August [...]

Comment on Resources on Sexual Health by Nigel Scott

Nigel Scott — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:07:14 +0000

Best wishes with your useful project. Would you consider using our site as a reference as well? Genital herpes is much misunderstood – even some health professionals and other organisations deal with it badly. It is essentially trivial but much maligned and with a huge stigma. This makes the psychological aspect of the condition far more significant than the physical. Medically it is just a cold sore and goes unnoticed by 75% of those infected.

Yours sincerely

Nigel Scott
Head of Publicity & Campaigns
Herpes Viruses Association
London

Comment on A visitor from Singapore! by Vanessa Tan

Vanessa Tan — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:52:15 +0000

Thank you! :)

*offers friendship*

Comment on A new interactive STDs info kiosk / atlas with voice by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » A visitor from Singapore!

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:03:41 +0000

[...] Vanessa Tan (SL:Vantan Gray) visited our SIM today and blogged about it on her blog–read her article: Sexual Health in Second Life (15 August 2007) – http://vantan.org/archives/2007/08/sexual_health_i.php [...]

Comment on A new interactive STDs info kiosk / atlas with voice by Vanessa Tan

Vanessa Tan — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:37:15 +0000

Hi there, I’m a Second Lifer who happens to work in the Health Promotion Board of Singapore (www.hpb.gov.sg). Glad to see what you’re doing in SL. I’ve just signed up to be a member of your group. Looking forward to meeting some of you in SL. My Avatar name is Vantan Gray.

Comment on Resources on Sexual Health by Dikson

Dikson — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:22:11 +0000

Thank a quite good selection

Comment on Join our new in-world public group (L$0) by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » A new interactive STDs info kiosk/atlas with voice

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 20:31:19 +0000

[...] news: Our public group launched on 10 August 2007 now has 25 members as at 12 August 2007 @ 20:30 BST, including three admin members (the [...]

Comment on Join our new in-world public group (L$0) by Second Life News for August 8, 2007 « The Grid Live

Second Life News for August 8, 2007 « The Grid Live — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 07:46:52 +0000

[...] Life News for August 8, 2007 Join our new in-world public group (L$0), from A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Ply… Second Life is a unique and rich 3-D social networking experience. It allows people from all over [...]

Comment on Ask Alice a question! by Mike

Mike — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:11:07 +0000

Interesting project – you may like to know about this:

http://www.eu.socialtext.net/socsciweb2conf/index.cgi towards_a_social_science_of_web_2_0

Comment on Open-ended questions added at last! Thanks Eloise! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Ask Alice a question!

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 10:54:14 +0000

[...] our SIM would be more useful, though also technically much trickier to implement and sometimes not feasible, reliably or at all, with some object types/scenarios. But thanks to our in-world questionnaire tool we are still able to gain some insight about users’ preferences/interest in partcular [...]

Comment on Tour of Sexual Health SIM by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Ask Alice a question!

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 10:26:00 +0000

[...] but our YouTube video has been viewed more than 1500 times between 25 July 2007 and 4 August 2007 [...]

Comment on Voice at last! by Totally cool

Totally cool — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:32:24 +0000

This is great! I’ve been waiting to see voice on the main client for a very long time! I’ve been talking to some friends that I’ve known for years and it’s so great to finally hear their voices.

Comment on Welcome ChaCha! by admin

admin — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:04:45 +0000

Thanks. Yes, an evaluation is planned – see details at http://healthcybermap.org/MNKB-et-al_SexualHealthSIM.zip

Please check back regularly for updates.

Comment on Welcome ChaCha! by Elahe Amani

Elahe Amani — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 19:03:48 +0000

I am very interested in your SL project on Health Education. Please keep me posted so that we can learn from your experience. Are you measuring the Learning Outsomes of this project?

Comment on Catch them with your mouse if you can! by Harry Greiner

Harry Greiner — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 13:20:12 +0000

Looks great MB. Will be interested in how it develops. I'm going to be bringing our enrichment officer into SL shortly, for the first time. I'll show her your project as an example of how she can engage learners here in SL.

Cheers
Harry (City College Norwich)

Comment on Environmental sound effects: turn your speakers on and enjoy! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Catch them with your mouse if you can!

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:57:46 +0000

[...] of RL buildings in SL for various RL planning/testing, training and marketing purposes.) Realistic sound effects can also greatly enhance the ambience and immersiveness of educational [...]

Comment on Tour of Sexual Health SIM by Faye Doris

Faye Doris — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 09:27:58 +0000

An interesting approach to sexual health education. I work in a contraception and sexual health clinic and see a young clientele. I think that they would find this method of delivery attractive.

Comment on Tour of Sexual Health SIM by M.N.K. Boulos

M.N.K. Boulos — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:44:51 +0000

Yes, Jim Purbrick (Linden Lab) covered SL demographics in detail (but not any specific Plymouth figures) in his presentation at the ‘Eduserv Symposium 2007: Virtual worlds, real learning?’ last May – Watch full presentation at http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation/symposium/2007/presentations/purbrick

There is a separate ‘teens grid’ for those <18. We are doing our project in the ‘main grid’ (18+).

Comment on Tour of Sexual Health SIM by Ray Jones

Ray Jones — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:11:38 +0000

Nice video. Are there any age/sex/region prevalance figures on SL registrations? e.g. Does anyone know what % of 15-25 year olds in Plymouth UK have SL registrations?

Comment on The Big Quiz Game! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Free (virtual) male condoms for every visitor!

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:31:34 +0000

[...] (fpa) for possible collaboration with them, and added an in-world link to their homepage to our blue Web URL Cycler/Launcher cube by the [...]

Comment on The Big Quiz Game! by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Our project is covered in Eduserv’s July 2007 snapshot of UK HE and FE developments in SL

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:06:31 +0000

Comment on Initial construction work and networking began by A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life (University of Plymouth) » Blog Archive » Our project is covered in Eduserv’s July 2007 snapshot of UK HE and FE developments in SL

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 23:04:27 +0000

[...] have just received an e-mail from John Kirriemuir (SL: Silversprite Helsinki) saying that the report he was collecting information for is now published online: [...]

Comment on New project land granted on 9 July 2007 until 31 July 2008! by Andy Pulman Edublog » Blog Archive » Sexual Health In second Life

Andy Pulman Edublog » Blog Archive » Sexual Health In second Life — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:55:36 +0000

[...] on A Sexual Health SIM in Second Life at the University of Plymouth project which has just been [...]

Comment on Initial construction work and networking began by John Kirriemuir

John Kirriemuir — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 08:16:59 +0000

This is cool and interesting stuff. I came across it as I’m doing a survey for the Eduserv Foundation (http://www.eduserv.org.uk/foundation) on how UK universities and colleges are using SL for useful stuff. Can I email someone involved in this project a few short questions, please? (update 13/7/07: e-mailed and received response from M.N.K. Boulos)

Comment on New project land granted on 9 July 2007 until 31 July 2008! by John Norris

John Norris — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 06:42:21 +0000

Best of luck to you all…this is just the sort of thing that SL can do really well. The closest I’ve seen so far is the free condoms they were giving away at Health Info Island for the HIV/AIDS Programme!

You can follow my SL Healthcare travels, at http://www.sluniverse.com/pics/Default.aspx?Name=Knoh+Oh

I’ll stop by occasionally, feel free to contact me about your project-

Knoh Oh

John Norris (RL)