#SECOND LIFE FREE FREE#
We registered for a username and password, and then downloaded and installed the free software. To explore Second Life, we opened a free basic account and created an avatar, named Ellebee Helendale. This article not only catalogues the kinds of health-related activities within Second Life, but also summarizes and compares the various strategies used to communicate health information in a virtual world setting. However, to our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive survey of health activities on Second Life. SL Healthy is an online wiki where people can submit information about their health site in Second Life. Other Web 2.0 sites describe a range of health resources in Second Life, such as Meskó’s blog, “Top 10 Medical Sites in Second Life” and websites that provide direct links (SLurls - Second Life URLs) to sites in the program. Hansen (2008) described the potential of 3-D health care learning environments on Second Life in her review of existing literature. Kamel Boulous has also compiled a list of Second Life health resources on a website Health Cybermap. A notable exception is Kamel Boulos et al’s (2007) overview of several health sites, “Second Life: an overview of the potential of 3-D virtual worlds in medical and health education”. There are few research articles describing or surveying the range of health-related activities on Second Life. Many different health care agencies, organizations, companies, and private groups have chosen Second Life as one of their Web 2.0 communication strategies. This makes it a potentially effective tool for disseminating user-generated health information on a site where users can access, learn about, and discuss various health topics. Second Life encourages anonymity and interactivity, and it can be accessed from any location with a high-speed Internet connection. Avatars also come with a variety of common human gestures that can be activated by the user, allowing them to communicate with virtual body language Instant messaging and note cards - text files that users receive when entering certain spaces - are other ways that people can communicate with each other both online and offline. When using text chat, avatars automatically become animated and type in the air as their user enters a message. Avatars can publicly or privately chat with each other either through voice or text tools. For example, sounds become louder as the avatar moves closer to the source. The communication features in Second Life simulate real world communication. Users can also wander through the world however, there are private spaces with restricted access. There are over 19,000 islands in Second Life which users navigate by making their avatars walk, run, fly, or teleport directly from place to place. Similar to the real world, there is a spatial geography to Second Life where users can freely interact. At the time this article was written, the exchange rate was approximately LD $263 to US $1. Linden dollars can be traded for real world currency, based on fluctuating market values. Second Life has its own currency called the Linden dollar which is traded on the LindeX. The average age of a Second Life user is 32, and there are slightly more males than females using the platform. Statistics from Decemindicate that 1,437,910 residents had logged in to Second Life within the previous sixty days. There are over 15 million registered users within the virtual world, and over 1 million active users. The content in Second Life is all user-generated.
#SECOND LIFE FREE SOFTWARE#
Users can search for places to visit, people to meet, and groups to join, and they can even create their own objects and spaces using software provided by Second Life.
#SECOND LIFE FREE DOWNLOAD#
Users can register for a free basic account online at Second Life’s website and download the free software to run the program. Second Life, created by San Francisco based company Linden Labs in 2003, is an online virtual reality world where users, called residents, create their own virtual selves, called avatars, and interact within a simulated 3-D environment, literally living a virtual “Second Life”.
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