The JVWR, Volume 2, No. 2
Published: August 1, 2009
The editorial team for this issue includes:
Maged N. Kamel Boulos, University of Plymouth, UK
Maria Toro-Troconis, Imperial College London, UK
Though Second Life has existed since 2002 and there are even other virtual worlds that predate it, most in the health sector are only recently starting to migrate to such platforms, as the technology is gradually maturating and rapidly becoming more affordable and popular. This special issue of JVWR on the theme of ‘3D Virtual Worlds for Health and Healthcare’ provides a good sampler of how healthcare organizations, groups and individuals are currently using virtual worlds such as Second Life(R) and OpenSim-based worlds for a range of clinical and health-related purposes.
Managing Editor Corner
Musings on the State of ‘3-D Virtual Worlds for Health and Healthcare’ in 2009
Maria Toro-Troconis, Maged N. Kamel Boulos
Invited Articles
Virtual Worlds in Health Care Higher Education
Constance M Johnson, Allison A Vorderstrasse, Ryan Shaw
Peer Reviewed Research Papers
The Growth and Direction of Healthcare Support Groups in Virtual Worlds
John Robert Norris
Paul Krebs, Jack Burkhalter, Shireen Lewis, Tinesha Hendrickson, Ophelia Chiu, Paul Fearn, Wendy Perchick, Jamie Ostroff
Does this Avatar Make Me Look Fat? Obesity and Interviewing in Second Life
Elizabeth Dean, Sarah Cook, Michael Keating, Joe Murphy
Research Papers
Susan Toth-Cohen, Therese Gallagher
Research-in-brief papers
Development of Virtual Patient Simulations for Medical Education
Douglas R Danforth, Mike Procter, Richard Chen, Mary Johnson, Robert Heller
“Think Pieces”
Virtual Worlds, Collective Responses and Responsibilities in Health
Rashid M Kashani, Anne Roberts, Ray Jones, Maged N. Kamel Boulos
Maged N. Kamel Boulos, Inocencio Maramba
Towards a virtual doctor-patient relationship: Understanding virtual patients
Vanessa Gamboa González
Assembled (rush to press papers)
Methal Mohammed
Shaping the ‘Public Sphere’ in Second Life: Architectures of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election
Annabel Jane Wharton