Island SLife

My colleague Maged Kamel Boulos and I were interviewed today by a reporter from Associated Press, about our collaborative research programme (with Susan Toth-Cohen, of Thomas Jefferson University, USA) in Second Life. Readers of this blog will know It's a sexual health SIM which provides regularly updated information, particularly for young people, on safe sex, contraception and pregnancy. There is also a Big Quiz open for anyone to take. A complete list is available of all the educational institutions (SIM Teach) currently operating in Second Life - SL won't get overcrowded though, because Linden Labs will simply build more islands, Dubai style!

One of the things the AP reporter will (hopefully) investigate is the excellent video tour (I can say this because I didn't help to make it) of our SIM on Education UK Island. You can find it on YouTube, but it's easier to get it here. Hope you can take a few minutes to watch it and then post your comments.

Second Life and us

We're really excited! We have just been notified that we have been awarded a free land grant in Second Life to set up our own university health education centre. The grant runs until next July, and we have molto-Linden Dollars to spend on the installation.

You can read all about it on the blog the team has set up, and follow our progress over the next year as we investigate how we can use SL to provide 3D virtual learning opportunities. The programme we will be creating and delivering relates to sexual health, and my co-investigators are Maged Boulos (here in the Health and Social Work Faculty of the University of Plymouth) and Susan Toth-Cohen, who is based in Jefferson College of Health Professions, Thomas Jefferson University, USA. Hope you can join us - see you in Second Life!