Grand Opening of Virtual Ability Island, in Second Life

VIRTUAL ABILITY ISLAND GRAND OPENING!

Join us on Saturday, August 16th at 1 PM SLT to celebrate the Grand Opening of Virtual Ability Island.
The island was developed with a new resident orientation center, advanced tutorials, and training facilities for individuals with disabilities or chronic health conditions. The entire island is accessibility-friendly for new and experienced residents and will provide ongoing classes for people who want to search for and evaluate health information. Funding came through an initial grant from the National Library of Medicine to the Alliance Library System and is sustained by the generosity of individual contributors to Virtual Ability, Inc. We are excited to present this important resource to members of the Second Life community!

Location: Virtual Ability Island
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Ability/128/128/23
Contact Carolina Keats or Eme Capalini, inworld, for more information.

–
Carol Perryman MSLIS
TRLN Doctoral Fellow
School of Information & Library Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research page: http://tinyurl.com/ymljs5

An unambiguous gesture of Olympic spirit and friendship: a handshake. Join in, and watch it circle the globe

As the Beijing Olympics begin, the world looks on with mixed emotions. It's a moment which should bring us closer together, and Chinese citizens deserve their excitement -- but the Chinese government still hasn't opened meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama, or changed its stance on Burma, Darfur and other pressing issues.

Even worse, extremists in China are promoting the view that Olympic activism like ours is anti-Chinese. We can't stay silent, but we also can't let our efforts be abused to divide people. So what can we do? The answer comes from the Dalai Lama himself, in an unambiguous gesture of Olympic spirit and friendship: a handshake.

It began in London, passed hand to hand by thousands of us -- now the handshake has gone online, and is criss-crossing the globe on its way to Beijing. All of us can join, Chinese and non-Chinese, and it comes with a promise: to hold ALL our governments accountable where they fall short, in Tibet, Iraq, Burma or beyond. We'll deliver our message in a bold media campaign in Hong Kong and around the world: Click below to see how the Olympic handshake started, sign up to join in, and watch it circle the globe --

http://www.avaaz.org/en/handshake

The worldwide outcry has produced a little progress, but much resistance from Chinese officials so far. If we are to see advances not setbacks after the Games, we need to show both that our voices will never fall silent, and that our challenge is a positive one.

We have one last chance to reclaim the spirit of the Olympics, with the message of friendship and dialogue we share with the Dalai Lama. The more people join the global handshake, the more powerful our message will be when it hits the Chinese and international media. So let's forward this email on, encouraging everyone to join in. "One World, One Dream" is an ideal that's bigger than the Olympics -- it's time for citizens around the world to take it back.

With hope and respect,

Paul, Ricken, Ben, Milena, Graziela, Iain, Pascal, Veronique and the whole Avaaz team

PS For a report on Avaaz's campaigning so far, see:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2

In a representative survey of us from all over the world, 92% of respondents recommended we pursue this handshake instead of the often-suggested boycott -- there's a strong consensus that this is the way to get our message across right now.

For more about the Dalai Lama's support for the Olympics and positions on Tibet and China, see:
http://www.dalailama.com/news.229.htm
and:
http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/05/chinese-student-interviewing-the-dalai-lama/



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ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

Click here to learn more about our largest campaigns.

Don't forget to check out our Facebook and Myspace and Bebo pages!

Teleporting to Laps Grid (OpenSim) from Abandoned Land (Second Life beta grid )

Teleporting from Abandoned Land Linden Lab beta grid to Laps Grid

Success !!!

Laps Grid in Second Life beta grid

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Open_Grid_Public_Beta

Potete visitare LapsGrid scaricando uno degli

Open Grid Public Beta/Open Grid Beta Viewers

e utilizzando la seguente riga:

http://mimirgrid.dyndns.org:9000

Laps Grid in Second Life beta grid

Second Life for eHealth: Prospects for the Use of 3-D Virtual Worlds in Clinical Psychology

A Second Life for eHealth: Prospects for the Use of 3-D Virtual Worlds in Clinical Psychology

Alessandra Gorini^1,2, MSc; Andrea Gaggioli^1,3, PhD; Cinzia Vigna¹; Giuseppe Riva^1,3, PhD

http://www.jmir.org/2008/3/e21/

¹Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy
²Research Institute Brain and Behaviour, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
³Psychology Department, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy

Corresponding Author:

Alessandra Gorini, MSc

Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab
Istituto Auxologico Italiano
Via Pelizza da Volpedo, 41
20149 Milan
Italy
Phone: +39 02 619112892
Fax: +39 02 619112892
Email: alessandra.gorini [at] gmail.comalessandra.gorini [at] gmail.com

---

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present paper is to describe the role played by three-dimensional (3-D) virtual worlds in eHealth applications, addressing some potential advantages and issues related to the use of this emerging medium in clinical practice. Due to the enormous diffusion of the World Wide Web (WWW), telepsychology, and telehealth in general, have become accepted and validated methods for the treatment of many different health care concerns. The introduction of the Web 2.0 has facilitated the development of new forms of collaborative interaction between multiple users based on 3-D virtual worlds. This paper describes the development and implementation of a form of tailored immersive e-therapy called p-health whose key factor is interreality, that is, the creation of a hybrid augmented experience merging physical and virtual worlds. We suggest that compared with conventional telehealth applications such as emails, chat, and videoconferences, the interaction between real and 3-D virtual worlds may convey greater feelings of presence, facilitate the clinical communication process, positively influence group processes and cohesiveness in group-based therapies, and foster higher levels of interpersonal trust between therapists and patients. However, challenges related to the potentially addictive nature of such virtual worlds and questions related to privacy and personal safety will also be discussed.

(J Med Internet Res 2008;10(3):e21)
doi:10.2196/jmir.1029

KEYWORDS

3-D virtual worlds; virtual reality; eHealth; p-health; Second Life

Social Networking Wars (da Current TV, in Italiano)

Un stupendo video dalla versione italiana di Current TV. Un ragazzo, come molti altri al giorno d'oggi. è assediato dai social network. Da notare le verità *ASSOLUTE* dette da Tom di Myspace.

Semplicemente stupendo.

Aggiunto: 28 luglio 2008

Da: silentman