A Consumer Health Librarian’s National Library of Medicine Funded Project in Second Life®

 Robin Ashford (aka SL Robin Mochi) - May 2009-April 2010

First - What is Second Life? – The Internets largest user created, 3D virtual world community – It’s not a game

The Karuna Project

• Abstract of the Project - The Alliance Library System is requesting RFQs from qualified firms or individuals with Masters of Library Science Degrees, experience with medical/consumer health information, an up-to-date awareness of consumer health resources, and experience in the virtual world of Second Life managing events and creating displays to coordinate the HIV/AIDS Grant Project (Karuna)

 Responded to the above request for RFQ, interviewed and presented

before a panel in Second Life, offered and accepted the position of Karuna Island Consumer Health Librarian in May 2009

Karuna Island - Dedicated to HIV/AIDS education, outreach and support, and funded by the National Library of

Medicine, with the support of the Alliance Library System

The Karuna Resource Center (RC) - My primary work location as  the Karuna Consumer Health Librarian

The Karuna Resource Center Entrance - We'll step inside in a moment but first let's look at some of the project objectives...

Project Objectives for Karuna

• To develop and compile quality resources in a library (Karuna Resource Center) on AIDS/HIV

• To train AIDS/HIV patients, their families, and others on how to search for quality information on all aspects of the disease

• To provide informational displays on AIDS/HIV

• To increase awareness of NLM resources on AIDS/HIV

• To collaborate with other AIDS/HIV and health information agencies to provide quality health information

Provided with a new building, I filled it with relevant and timely content (mainly information resources from government agencies such as

AIDS.gov, CDC, NLM, etc.), created a comfortable place to meet and share, give presentations, collaborate with others and more

Visitor asking "what exactly do I do in this position?" - Let's head inside and I'll show you some of my work...

The Karuna Resource Center Reference Desk

Let me show you around on the main floor...

 Displays shown here are all "clickable" and when touched either give out an information notecard or open up the website in an "in-world" web browser, which can also be opened in an external browser for later reference. Let me show you what I mean...

Speaking with a professor from Puerto Rico and arranging to meet the next week with his class

A 23 sec. video demonstrating how some content is accessed in the Karuna Resource Center

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPSsLFFTH6M 

  Providing Tours - Professor Diane Nahl and her class from the University of Hawaii at Manoa LIS Program tour the Center

After students finished touring we headed over to the fireplace for a time of questions and answers...

 University of Hawaii student discussion and Q&A time after tour

See blog post for further information and pics on this visit: http://tinyurl.com/n2tsc9

Seated comfortably or standing, we converse using voice or text chat (in private or public mode), usually whichever the

visitor prefers (though public text chat is typically the default)

Visitor asking questions about the World Health Organization HIV/AIDS display and report

Posterous blog post on display: http://tinyurl.com/yd36vxk

My presentation on the World Health Organization and UNAIDS Global summary of the AIDS epidemic 

After the presentation two visitors remained and we continued our discussion - Eventually I had to leave and bid them good day, or in the case of the one chap from Finland, good night (a global audience for small and large events/presentations is a common experience in SL) 

George Fox University Graduate School of Education class tours Karuna RC - Discussion and Q&A time after tour

Meaningful work, interesting people...

Events - International Information Literacy Week in Second Life, November 2009  Karuna Resource Center Rooftop Exhibit - Information Need: HIV Testing

Above is a screen-shot of my posterous blog post on this event which includes 10 pics of my exhibit and can be found: http://tinyurl.com/ya6t8to  

A Successful Event - Thanks much to Sheila Webber-SL Sheila Yoshikawa!

 Information Literacy cont.

Planning for World AIDS Day, Dec 2009 - Karuna Partners: IBM, RTI International., AIDS.gov, NLM and more

Karuna Project Coordinator and myself meeting with our National Library of Medicine rep to discuss World AIDS Day 

Creating AIDS.gov Facing AIDS Campaign exhibit for World AIDS Day on back deck of the Karuna Resouce Center

Sign placed at the Karuna RC entrance pointing visitors to the back deck Facing AIDS exhibit on World AIDS Day

 

  Facing AIDS - AIDS.gov representative and visitors  World AIDS Day - Dec 1, 2009 

Blog post on this event: http://tinyurl.com/ygwoug5

Preparing for World AIDS Day - World Community Grid FightAIDS@Home presentation on Karuna RC Rooftop

 

IBM representative presenting on the World Community Grid on the Karuna RC rooftop on World AIDS Day

IBM World Community Grid FightAIDS@Home Exhibit - 2nd Floor

Lessons Learned - Challenges

• The learning curve in Second Life (SL) is steep (not necessarily difficult to learn but many feel it's too time consuming)

• Hardware & bandwidth requirements limit access for many • SL needs a higher number of active users for some people and

businesses to be able to offer live services - as the two challenges above are addressed, there should be growth

• As numbers of concurrent users grow and more synchronous events and activities take place, additional technical problems are often experienced related to "lag" (the condition of slowness and poor computer performance - this can be caused by the server, your internet connection, or the objects, scripts and activities of others around you in SL), which can lead to an inferior and at times frustrating experience 

•  Popular events fill up quickly-the number of simultaneous avatars on a sim/island needs to be raised without causing performance issues 

Lessons Learned - Benefits• Virtual worlds such as Second Life allow a level of anonymity valued by

many (especially important in the case of HIV/AIDS and other diseases with stigma and privacy/trust issues)  

• The ability to globally collaborate/connect/network can be a life saver for some who are able to find community and help here

• A strong sense of presence beyond that of web conferencing systems and other technologies   

• Information available on the Web, evaluated & chosen by professionals and placed in context in places like the Karuna RC provides added value

• A persistent environment with 24/7 access  • People can make valuable connections in serendipitous ways   • Opportunities to explore, learn and develop personally and professionally • Creativity abounds and includes immersive learning experiences• SL can be a very engaging and enjoyable place, an extra benefit for

people who are dealing with difficult issues related to HIV/AIDS and other problems

Karuna Team - Sharing our final report at the Karuna Community Center - Jena Ball, Project Coordinator, and me, Robin Ashford,

Consumer Health Librarian, sharing with Lori Bell, Project Administrator, and Tom Peters, Project Evaluator

 

 Our NLM grant ends April 1, 2010 - It's been a remarkable journey  Thank you to the Karuna Team listed above, the NLM, Alliance Library System,

and all who made this opportunity possible  

  Karuna Consumer Health Librarian posts on posterous blog