Avatar Assisted Therapy 2013
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, the would have said ‘faster horses’.” "A new idea is first condemned as ridiculous and then dismissed as trivial, until finally, it becomes what everybody knows.“
The Big Idea
Gartner Technology “Hype Cycle” Virtual Worlds
People Tell us Where They Want To Go
Pay Attention! Copyright © , Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved worldwide.
Pay Attention! 2008 Facebook Users 130 million Tweets per month 170,000 Monthly Smartphone Use 4.5 hours
Facebook Users 130 million 900 million+ Tweets per month 170, billion. Monthly Smartphone Use 4.5 hours90 hours Pay Attention!
Emerging Technology ACHESS NIATx Support Teams Online Group Discussions “Panic Button” High Risk Location Alert Ask an Expert Meeting Locations
Emerging Technology iHeal Wristband and Mobile App UMass-Worcester/MIT +
Emerging Technology Web-based Collaboration e.g., eGetGoing, Valley Hope’s AC/ESS
Virtual World Counseling Platform A persistent, computer based, simulated 3-D environment in which real people, using avatars, are able to interact in meaningful ways with each other and the virtual environment.
Avatars, Simply Defined Avatar: A computerized figure which “represents” you in a virtual space, and allows you to meet and interact synchronously with others who are in the same space.
Early Avatars
Avatars, v. 2.0
Commercial Virtual Worlds
Virtual World Conferencing
Avatar Assisted Therapy
Interactivity Immersive Interactive Static TextBasic Web UIRich, Interactive 3D-Digital ? OnlyGraphical UIExperience Richness of User Experience Pre-Web Internet World Wide Web Web 2.0 Web 3D Web XD Immersiveness + Interactivity = Engagement
Avatar Assisted Therapy The computer and the internet itself become a tool – a tool that “disappears” the more you become comfortable with it!
The Big Idea - Revisited
Avatar Assisted Therapy “Advanced Telemedicine” 1. Immersive engagement at a level well beyond "talking heads" or audio only 2. 24/7 availability with educational and support opportunities. 3. Far more access points than with traditional telemedicine 4. Inexpensive creation of imaginative, appealing environments 4a. Environmental modifications on the fly 5. Middleware applications allows tracking and interaction (management level) with the virtual experience 6. Avatar choice/modification creates therapeutic opportunities 7. Private direction of group dynamics via 1:1 chat function 8. Avatar aliases and audio modification supports high level identity protection and anonymity
Avatar Assisted Therapy But, Does it Work? 90% Program Completion Rates 2.4 x Activity Engagement
Avatar Assisted Therapy But, Does it Work? 90% Program Completion Rates 2.4 x Activity Engagement “Easier to Talk About Difficult Issues”
Avatar Assisted Therapy Therapeutic and Practical Uses of Virtual Worlds Individual and Group Counseling Role Play Family Counseling Staff Training Virtual Conferencing Job Interviews
Avatar Assisted Therapy Ongoing Considerations: Funding Licensure Technology Skills and Abilities Availability of Assistance
Avatar Assisted Therapy "It is not necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice. There are two other possibilities: one is paper work, and the other is nostalgia."
Avatar Assisted Therapy For More Information: Dick Dillon