Web 2.0: CDC invests in Second Life real estate
Monday, August 13th, 2007Reprinted from “Government Health IT“
BY Ben Bain
Published on Aug. 10, 2007
A virtual world where millions of beautiful, eternally young people with designer bodies fly from island to island seems more like a setting for a beer commercial than a place where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would put its money.
But CDC’s decision to purchase its own island in the virtual world of Second Life makes real-world sense, said John Anderton, an associate director of communications science at CDC. His Second Life avatar, Hygeia Philo, is an attractive woman inspired by Hygeia, the ancient Greek goddess of health.
“Avatars have the good fortune of being sort of eternally youthful and healthy, but each of those avatars is connected to a person and those people do have real health needs,” he said. “It’s people’s health CDC is interested in, and people are using different tools to access [health] information.” (more…)



