Episode 22 of The Drax Files World Makers – Virtual Health Adventures, has caught me somewhat by surprise as I thought the final edit was being published today, with the actual episode going live tomorrow. This is all my own fault as we can see from the blog post from Linden Lab, sponsors of the series and from the excellent review of the episode from Inara Pey, others understood that the final edit meant it would be published today! I’ll embed the video at the end of the post.
This episode deals with usage of virtual worlds, why their immersive nature can be far more productive than a traditional website and it even exemplifies people using The Oculus Rift for even greater immersion. Pay careful attention to that because you’ll see how that issue of where the keyboard is, is a very real issue when you’re using The Oculus Rift. However also pay attention to how important the immersive environment is to this episode and of course The Oculus Rift can help to make an environment even more immersive. The main theme however is one that people probably don’t associate with a virtual world such as Second Life, that theme is working with amputees to assist them to overcome emotional trauma.
Sandra L. Winkler, assistant professor at NOVA University in Florida, who teaches occupational therapy says :
“Second Life is the perfect place for amputees to overcome emotional trauma by sharing stories and realizing they are not alone!”
Dr Winkler, who unlike her namesake Henry, hasn’t yet jumped the shark, is working on a three year study funded by the United States Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. That study is roughly halfway through its three years and whereas Dr Winkler admits that at this stage it’s too early to draw any definitive conclusions from their current work, she does feel that the virtual world environment combined with new technology is a significant next step in tele-healthcare.
Dr Winkler’s research is aided in Second Life by the development work in virtual worlds of Virtual Ability Inc. who have long had a presence in Second Life.
In the episode we see amputees embracing the virtual world and going through exercises as well as putting a virtual wheelchair into a virtual car. There is scientific evidence that this sort of process does indeed help people to be able to transfer these skills to the real world and this was something we also saw in The Drax Files: World Makers Episode 13: Creations for Parkinson’s.
The immersive nature of the project is considered very important with comments regarding how the more an avatar looks like the person behind it, the more that person can take that experience out of the virtual world and into the real world. For example Dr Winkler says that people who have balance difficulties find that if they can walk in Second Life, they can walk better in real life too.
The island itself contains a place for people to meet as well as containing a history of prosthetics museum. This looks at prosthetics going back to the BC era and exemplifies the leaps and bounds that have been made in this area too. There’s also the opportunity for any avatar to try out a virtual prosthetic. This is aimed at those working in the area of prosthetics as it gives people a perspective of what wearing a prosthetic entails. This isn’t a new concept in itself, but the use of virtual worlds to do this is a new development.
The advances in technology excite Dr Winkler who says :
We live in such exciting times technology is making a huge leaps and interactions and digital worlds are becoming more and more immersive. If we let our imaginations fly there’s no limit to what can happen.
Yet again Draxtor Despres manages to capture and highlight a splendid and noble use case for virtual worlds. The video is the usual mix of real world and virtual world footage that works so well with this series but the most impressive aspect is how much information Draxtor manages to pack in to a five minute story. Obviously it takes Draxtor a lot longer than five minutes to produce the episode!
This is a powerful episode and one that is beautifully presented. However Draxtor does have some assistance from the Second Life community too. Marianne McCann assisted with background acting. Drax also gives thanks to Molly Montale, Tanarian Davis, pallina60 Loon, Katharine McGinnis, Miss N. Oleander, Maya, Uccie Galway, Rachel Seelowe, Bloodfang Clawtooth, Flo Memel-Yazimoto, Jenkel and Reinhold Waechter for being the avatar team on the ground.
There’s also special thanks to Dayane Coba for helping last minute with her expertise in mesh design, Jaimy (Dwarfins) Hancroft for fast help in visual design and Strawberry Singh for going shopping. I hope Drax doesn’t pay Strawberry to go shopping, that girl has expensive taste!
Overall this is another brilliant addition to The Drax Files World Makers series and yet again Drax dishes up an excellent use case of virtual worlds and modern technology.
Virtual Health Adventures Website : http://www.virtualhealthadventures.org/