Bit of a cross-post, this, but writing is writing, right? We’re all rather chuffed to have our research paper in the Journal of Medical Internal Research. The link is on my other blog here Continue reading Using Virtual Reality to Provide Health Care Information to People With Intellectual Disabilities
This post was due up last week, then the news about Samantha Backler came through. She deserved her time in the spotlight. On March 17th, an extraordinary event took place at the Lighthouse in Brighton’s North Laines. The R&D department at Sussex Partnership has been developing ideas for projects – research and clinical practice – that seeks digital solutions to health care problems. Second Life is already a research environment for some of us, and more projects are either underway or at the work-up stage. We are also keen to capitalise on social media for communication with staff and service … Continue reading Wired for Health
Imperial College London | Treet TV. Imagine making a live TV show with a bunch of potentially maverick scientists and a studio audience. Nervous? Good. Now imagine that you’re going to do this in a virtual world with all your presenters and guests represented as avatars and communicating using text, in-world voice, and VOIP. Not to mention you need them to face front at the right time, have in-world voice turned on but not up so you get lip sync without echo, and nobody’s connection cracks up. That’s the challenge faced by the Treet TV team that followed Dave Taylor, … Continue reading Imperial College London | Treet TV
‘Future Tense‘ is a networked programme coming from ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and fronted by the superb Antony Funnell. It focuses on developments in technology and, if its presenter’s level of knowledge, interest and awareness is anything to go by, it has a discerning and informed audience. This episode includes an update on our virtual world study and it’s in the extremely good company of studies of distraction therapy using gaming for children with severe pain, a technique called the Decision Tree to help people engage with and monitor their own health, and medical self-tracking. These programmes, which cover … Continue reading Virtual Worlds Research: interview on Australian radio
There can’t be many conferences where delegates spontaneously generate, sit on your head, arrive stark naked, or drop out of the sky into their seats but, at yesterday’s Virtual Worlds twenty-four hour global event, that was pretty much the norm. Hosted in the UK by the Open University, renowned specialists in technology, health care, and social applications in education & learning had begun presenting in Hong Kong at 1 a.m. UK time, handed over to us at 9 a.m. and concluded with the US timezone from 5 p.m. It is almost more difficult to imagine bringing speakers of such calibre … Continue reading When people fall out of the sky and you’re sitting next to a crow
∑ Until mid June at any rate! For some reason, all the calls for new research funding bids are open now and have to be submitted in the next few weeks, come Hull, Hell or Halifax! Along with that is the mandatory report on our virtual world study, delayed by Christmas, snow, and participants who would rather go line dancing (who can blame them?) than talk to us. We pleaded for an extension. Computer said no. Resoundingly. So today I went into free-fall over the data for the recent study, had an apoplectic moment over my mean squares while trying … Continue reading Goodbye friends and family!
Remember my post about Havok7 and things tumbling about in virtual worlds? Well this week, events in my real world have been tumbling about too! First up, I played football in Second Life with Dave Taylor (Our Man at Imperial College ) using an on-the-spot created ball by way of a demonstration of what the current version of Havok can do. We already have bump, jiggle, and dislodge, it seems so next time we can maybe incorporate it into our build. That’s the value of teams – Dave knew what could be done but not that it might be useful, … Continue reading What Havok and Smurfs can do for you
Most of us have heard of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, Sony’s alternative product, and the various other challengers for the electronic library market. If you set aside the disadvantages of being largely monochromatic, generally wedded to particular publishing outlets, and not much cop in the bath, this tech seems to be on the verge of mass indispensability. BBC ‘Click’ highlighted Dutch firm, Liquavista, which is bringing that position closer to reality by not only developing colour and video capability, but also working on incorporating the oil-based system into flexible plastic sheets. Imagine, your whole library+ mag and newspaper subscriptions rolled up … Continue reading Electro-wetting: no, not an embarrassing disorder!
IndigoMertal, a builder in Second Life, sent me this link to a wonderful video of what seems to be the next generation of Second Life viewers. In this iteration, the underlying physics engine allows for tumbling, bumping, and colliding in ways not possible at the moment. Take a look here, magic! Of course, that isn’t where it stops, this isn’t just a pretty face. The kind of reality introduced by this capability seems likely to increase the sense of presence people experience in the virtual environment and that has huge implications for the kinds of social, psychological, and medical research … Continue reading Havok7 in Second Life
It’s not often you get a personal tour around a space science research centre, especially one that has a dance floor, free drinks, and a sofa on the ceiling! Yesterday, at Space Destiny SylvianaJ took three of us in a big blue bus to see what’s being developed there. Space Destiny is a research facility used by scientists from many different disciplines – environment design, sustainable agriculture (hydroponics), physics, biology, amongst others. The venue is open to the public – just so long as you are a Second Life resident – and there are open days during which you can … Continue reading Space Destiny in Second Life
Dr Suzanne Conboy-Hill 