As business and commerce continue to evaluate the potential of marketing through virtual worlds, it is prudent to also acknowledge para-health, namely psychological applications that are being adopted by large organizations.
The U.S. government for example, has shown a marked increase in utilizing technology developed by Linden Labs. A pseudo Second Life™ platform called “DefenseWeb” is a dedicated intra-web software company that operates under contract by The Pentagon, and was built on software developed by Linden Labs. The San Diego software company DefenseWeb was launched in 1998, and boasted earnings of $15.5 million in 2008. It employs approximately 115 full-time staff and is owned by the American health insurance magnate, Humana©
In May of 2009, the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity posted a tender for the development of a group to provide emotional and community supports for amputee soldiers. The aim of the program was to effectively address issues of social isolation and loss, as well as to teach long term adaptive pain strategies by “giving patients and their families access to a virtual support environment [which would] enable them to have access to a critical resource which they may not be able to be part of in the physical world.”
After a six month pilot project, the U.S. Army has launched a new program named OneSource, according to the article “DefenseWeb Helps Launch Soldiers Into Cyberspace” dated January 18th, 2010 by Brad Graves of the San Diego Business Journal.
The goal of OneSource is to provide military personnel with virtual three dimensional interface for debriefing of tactical information and troubleshooting. The initiative will also provide an area for families to interact with relatives deployed abroad. The site also offers a memorial area and “Survivor Community” (which has the appropriate limited access) to offer a place where relatives may honor their fallen loved ones and access psychological services, bereavement counseling and other supports.
The United States Army and its continued endorsement of virtual platforms is a strong indicant of long term growth and the limitless potential that is just beginning to be realized.
The 2009 finanical statistics from T Linden were released today and reported $567 million dollars in overall transactions (up 65% from 2008). Gross resident earnings were reported at $55 million (up 11% from the previous year). For the full report click here.
For early adopters of the technology, it becomes increasingly more difficult not to say “we told you so”.
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Sources (Web) January 19, 2010
2. www.fbo.gov
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