HIV/AIDS Education in a Virtual World
by Maverick Grunfeld
| A virtual land area named Karuna, an ancient word from India meaning “to ease suffering,” in Second Life has numerous attractive spots for visitors to be exposed to an important topic in the world today: HIV/AIDS. The area works to celebrate life by making a supportive and collaborative community, to provide educational materials about HIV/AIDS, and to collect/preserve stories of those affected by HIV/AIDS. |  |
| Robin Mochi brings her skills and experience to help provide a special resource of education in the Virtual World of Second Life. Outside of the virtual world, she is an academic librarian. Within Second Life, Robin is a Consumer Health Librarian at the Karuna Resource Center. The Center holds one of the largest virtual resources on HIV/AIDS from a variety of sources. At the Center residents can directly access information from the National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health.
“Second Life is such a great platform for this kind of thing” commented Michele Mrigesh while visiting the Center. |
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| Robin spends some of her time assisting those with questions about HIV/AIDS find the proper resources. “One of the things about HIV/AIDS is that people aren’t always comfortable talking about it” she said. “The beauty of this place is that they can come 24/7 and gain access to the information here.”
Monthly, the resource center conducts presentations about a variety of AIDS related subjects for individuals to attend. The library, which was funded by a grant from the National Library of Medicine, includes an achieve of past presentations. |
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| Beyond the formal education aspect, Karuna has worked to capture stories from individuals who have been impacted by HIV/AIDS. “The Garden of Experience” is seemingly a field of flowers, however each one tells a story. Real stories have been collected from individuals to be sure that future generations can hear the emotional challenges that HIV/AIDS have caused to countless people. |
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| “There are many volunteers; this place couldn’t run well without them they are critical. Many of us working in here really do care about the topic and many of us have personal stories related to HIV/AIDS. So we are passionate about wanting people educated” added Robin in closing. |
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| Some of the other notable areas include: a “Celebrate Life” Hand Sculpture to inspire individuals to fight for a cure to HIV/AIDS; “The Path of Healing,” which shows images from a variety of artists; and the Island of Hope, which includes a “Flame of Hope.” The Flame was lit on World AIDS Day 2008 and will remain burning until a cure for HIV/AIDS is discovered. |
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The Daily Planet SL: http://kryptonradio.com
Visit Karuna: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Karuna/128/128/22
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