Drawing Parallels between Web 2.0 and Games for Health
This week I will be attending the 5th Annual Games For Health Conference and have created a complementary blog to document all the exciting events!
I will also be delivering a short-short presentation about the similarities between Web 2.0 and Games for Health audiences and platforms. Below is a description of my session:
How do certain Web 2.0 technologies impact people’s health and fitness decisions? Are the audiences who spend hours of screen time in online destinations like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Second Life similar to the audiences who are drawn to exergaming and other games for health? Which outcomes from playing video games parallel those who micro-blog, engage in online social networks and nurture their avatars in virtual worlds? As programmers and researchers, what can we learn from making these observations?
Since the advent of broadband technology and the increased prevalence of wireless networks, the web has evolved into a powerful, interactive and ‘real-time’ environment – allowing content to be much more user-centric and user-generated. And because of this shift in digital culture, more fitness professionals are embracing online tools to create everything from fitness podcasts to cyber coaching sessions.
The objective of this brief, informal session is to bring these ideas to the forefront of our conversations, as they relate to games for health. More research is needed in this area and potential collaborative efforts could benefit from having gaming/web-based hybrids.
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June 9th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Hey like the thoughts. Pod casting in PE for fitness is a good thing. Kevin
July 5th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Sounds like an interesting conference! Personally, as a relative newbie to social networking and Web 2.0, I’ve found sites like Dailymile and Twitter to be highly motivational for my fitness goals. They keep me honest, and the support other members of these sites provide has been great. They’re also great for finding information about these topics – for example, I found your blog via StumbleUpon.
The experience is very different than using something like the Wii – Web 2.0 for me is motivational, the Wii is more of a tool or piece of equipment than anything else.
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