CDC Island in Second Life
Nov 8th, 2009 | By Gene A. Wright | Category: General, Information Technology, Innovation, Technology StrategyWhile checking out the CDC for social media (Thanks Chris) I noticed that there is a CDC Island in Second Life.
They are also on Facebook
The CDC seems to be adapting “all” of the newest technologies on the web. Interesting.
Have you visited either?
Again just a great example of the ways in which social netowrking sites can have a positive impact on the lives of people. Since so many people. especially young adults and teenagers are memebers of some form of social networking sites, I think this is a great tool to use to spread awareness about HINI and other communicable diseases and the ways in which we can protect ourselves. Spreading awareness such as this is the first step towards contracting and curbing the spread of dangerous diseas. Not only are these social netwroking sites popular among teenagers and young adults but are becoming popular among our parents generation.
I had not visited this earlier and I think it is indeed very cool!
No, I had not visited either and will most likely not do so in the future. First of all, regarding Second Life, people don’t get out enough as it is and now we are providing people with information on real world issues in a “fake” world? I don’t mean to offend anyone, but if you’re screwing around in/on (whatever it is) Second Life, chances are you’re not out in the world enough to contract H1N1. The government is everywhere now. Is there no place sacred that they are not involved? It’s almost time to move to Montana, off the grid.
Great way to grab the attention of younger folks who might not care to read or watch the news and educate them on general health issues including urgent problems like H1N1.
There seems to be way too much time and resources spent in individual’s and group’s second lives than in their real lives where not all needs are met.
I definitely agree with the above poster. WIth organizations like CDC, communication plays a huge role in disease prevention, why not pursue as many social networks as possible? If the resources are there, Second Life would be a great way to get prevention information and latest news about disease control out to the public. Not only is it another avenue for information sharing, but it is a very cost effective approach to getting information out in an almost real-time fashion.
It is almost ironic I read about this, because in another class of mine, Introduction to E-Business, we are doing an extra credit assignment with the professor involving healthcare on Second Life. According to our professor, this new venture is sort of a virtual WebMD where doctors will have avatars and speak to patients (other avatars) and discuss symptoms and diagnosis.
I support the use of the new technology by the CDC. In an emegency such as in the flu epedemic, it is important to inform as many people as possible. If the social media helps in that mission it is a good thing.
Ok, here comes the old fiscal conservative EMBA guy on the blog. CDC is funded by the US tax payer. Although this is a cool use of technology, could this money be better spent and reach more people. According to the second life blog:
https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/features/blog
It looks like about 40% of Second Life users are US residents. With total repeat logins reaching 750,000 for September 2009, that means about 300,000 US residents are online on average(there is some assumption here). It would be interesting to see how many actually visited the CDC Island, and how much the CDC actually spent on creating the island. I am not saying this is not cool use of technology, but is the cost really worth the effort. Here is another blog that interviewed the CDC on their efforts:
http://www.social-marketing.com/blog/2006/11/cdcs-second-life.html
Views of health change from decade to decade (case in point, the redefined “food pyramid”). While it may have some value for the CDC to have a presence, I hope being inundated with information (accurate or not) does not further encourage Americans to ignore some of the alarming things the CDC does not mention in it’s aggressive campaigns. The health of our nation is a mess; is it due to a CDC failure to communicate (which this may help) or is it caused by decades of health misinformation? Or maybe the CDC needs this presence to ward off the growing influence of the detractors (example practitioners who are convinced H1N1 vaccine is not safe or effective)? It’s all about information. I say more is better, but, agreeing with the previous poster, let’s verify ROI on this.
I suppose it is a good idea for CDC to be on Second Life considering so many people use it for different purposes recently. I think it is interesting how this social networking site can help educate people about specific diseases. And if they have the opportunity to do so, why not? People learn about news and facts in all different ways and everyone has their own preference on how they do so.
I don’t even know where to begin with second life. I remember in one of my other classes there was a demonstration on the social network showing how it can be used for business issues. That’s when I saw a character running around naked with the chatbox saying “who wants to buy drugs”.
As long as that is going on within the network, businesses need to stay out of virtual worlds such as Second Life.
thank goodness that my avitar got the vaccine for H1N1….. it doesn’t hurt that CDC is on second life, but I can’t imagine that it helps that much in reducing or managing illnesses.
Just a quick spin-off from dsbaker26, I would bet it does help in predicting and modeling different ways to handle illness. For instance, I remember a long time ago I read an article (I’ve put the Wikipedia link below) about an a bug in the game World of Warcraft. It was a disease that could be contracted on a character and then spread by coming in contact with other characters in the game, which ended up killing tons of people. Pretty crazy, but anyways, a couple researchers were interested investigating this because it resembled how people in real life move from place to place and how quickly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrupted_Blood_incident
Yes, I think it makes sense for the CDC to be in social media. At this point in time, I think every company or organization worth their salt should have an online presence (not just a web site.) That said, I don’t think Second Life is the right place for them to be. First of all, as someone above pointed out…not that many people use Second Life. Secondly (ha), even if they did, as I understand it, the participant would have to seek out the CDC in that environment. If they instead focused their attention on Facebook (and Twitter-with the real-time existance, which I think is more appropriate for what the CDC needs to convey), they could reach more people without as much investment. Coming up with an 140-character statement takes a lot less time than crafting the perfect avatar…
I was surprised to see this post about the cdc on second life. I would like to meet the CDC employee who presented this idea to management. I would just like to point out that it really isn’t that hard to beleive, there are alot of education organizations that use second life… even Ivy League schools. Is there a greater educatonal benefit for people wanting to learn about it through an interactive 3D enviroment. I also wonder if the CDC uses it for their own communications.
Second Life is a marketing tool. The CDC recognized this fact and decided to pursue this avenue to spread the word about health issues surrounding our world today. The world of Second Life has been used to hold cyber conferences, trade shows, and general meetings in the workplace today. IBM saved a lot of money by holding an annual conferrence via Second Life. The conference saved IBM from paying for travel costs, room and board, and meal expenditures. The CDC is just using this site to spread information to the public. The distribution of information can be done on any platform as long as it is viewed by current and potential customers. It would be interesting to find more information on how the success of this operation is measured. Does the CDC field a lot of questions via Second Life? I wonder if information is then relayed in real-time? There are so many possibilities for success and failure in this operation. What will government agencies do next??