Alice Krueger (SL: Gentle Heron) of the Virtual Ability Island,
a Linden Prize winner in 2009, at SLCC 2009.
(Image credit: HVX Silverstar)

Track Sessions & Schedule

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010

GimpGirl: Weaving a Virtual Support Network for Women With Disabilities

Katherine Mancuso (SL: Muse Carmona)
Saturday, 9:30 to 10:30am – Thoreau

GimpGirl’s mission is to connect women with disabilities through social technologies to support each other’s lives. Our community is unique in the virtual world disability community in integrating a virtual world and active web-based communities. We believe the lessons we have learned about how universal design and accessibility apply to facilitating conversations about healthcare and support across platforms are translatable to other community building, education, and collaboration efforts in Second Life.

Katherine Mancuso is a woman with a disability and a GimpGirl community liaison. In addition, she is an accessibility professional who has worked at Disney Imagineering and the Center for Assistive Technology & Environmental Access. She also volunteers with the W3C and IETF to develop accessible virtual world standards.

Chance Encounters: Tales of Health and Support

John Lester (SL: Pathfinder Lester), Janyth Ussery (SL:Saxet Uralia)
Saturday, 11:00 to NOON – St. James

What is the potential for Health and Support in Second Life? The power of community and connection will come to life in tales of how lives are changed by giving or receiving support in a virtual world.

John Lester worked at Linden Lab from 2005 to 2010, where he acted as a general strategist and product expert to help customers using Second Life for teaching, academic and healthcare research, medical education, simulation, and scientific visualization. John is currently exploring opportunities to help organizations understand and cultivate innovation at the intersection of virtual worlds, online communities, education and creative expression. Janyth Ussery is the Executive Director for Virtual Helping Hands, cofounder of SecondAbility Mentors and Max the Virtual Guidedog. Janyth is the lead organizer of Helen Keller Day, an annual event held in June, which focuses on topics of accessibility.

Design & Development of a Virtual Medical Simulation Center

Matthew LeClair (SL: MattWL Nootan), Jason Paden (SL: Dev Penberg)
Saturday, 2:30 to 3:30pm – St. James

This presentation will review our Hospital Networks’ proof-of-concept project in designing and developing a virtual Medical Simulation Center and Orientation Activity for our nursing students. This will include our journey through researching best practices (healthcare related and non-healthcare related), system support challenges, a showcase of our design, as well as reviewing our “next steps” in implementation.

Matthew LeClair holds B.S.in Telecommunications and is a manager of Distance Learning and Instructional Systems Designer, he is skilled in the research, development, and implementation of instructional programs and technologies which align to activity objectives and educational standards. Jason Paden is an undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science and a Research Scholar of Social Media Technology at Lehigh Valley Health Network.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2010

From Brain Candy to Eye Candy: The Brain Candy Project in Second Life

Henry Allen (SL: Jaywick Forcella)
Sunday, 4:00 to 5:00pm – St. James

Come hear about how the founder of the Brain Candy Project found personal healing and growth after the loss of his child by bringing his foundation into a virtual realm. Learn about the development of The Brain Candy Retreat in the Health Commons of NPC to provide a support system to parents dealing with or on the other side of a pediatric health crisis. www.braincandyproject.com

Henry Allen was steeped in world culture from an early age. The son of a US diplomat, his global experiences had a profound impact on his life and work as an artist, educator and parent. Surviving cancer, overcoming obesity, and losing his 13 year old son to brain cancer have taught many lessons in courage, empowerment and integrity. Henry founded The Brain Candy Project (www.braincandyproject.org), a non-profit organization that serves parents who are living in the hospital with critically ill children.

About the Track

The Health & Support track explores cutting edge health care activities in Second Life. From large hospitals and research universities simulating patient care, training, clinical studies and research initiatives, to using Second Life for rehabilitation and therapy, to accessibility issues for the disabled, to small ad-hoc support groups and mental health advocacy groups, the health care community is an integral and growing part of the Second Life experience.

Track Leader

Janyth Ussery (SL: Saxet Uralia) is the Director of Web Education at Texas State Technical College and has 14-years experience in higher education. As one of the co-founders of SecondAbility Mentors, Janyth has worked with others on making this a resident assistance group specializing in assisting real-life disabled people learn how to navigate the Second Life interface and to find groups of their common interests.