HIV and STD guessing games

I have two tidbits today:

The first is that in the UK you can now send in a picture of your STD symptoms using your cell phone or a digital camera and have a doctor look at them. In response you will receive advice, or if it's really obvious, a prescription via email. There's a fee...but if you're choosing this route over inaction it seems best to use a high res camera, rather than your cellphone camera!

Another new guessing game (with a much different purpose) is the mtvU project Pos or not. The site presents photos of people and a little information about them. Then you are supposed to guess whether or not the person is HIV+. After guessing you get see if you were right. After several guesses you are given a zip code search box so that you can find a testing site in your area. Perhaps not being able to guess others' status reminds us that we don't always know our own.

tech take-up and the dating curve

For the first two months after my mom upgraded her cell phone she would hang up on me every time I called. It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to me, it was that she couldn't figure out how her new phone worked. I always got an instant call back. Who can really blame her for not wanting to invest any energy into her phone. She can dial, and send me photos of dogs...and that's what's important.

But what happens when 50 and 60 somethings try out a new online dating site? I'm making an assumption here that the internet dating learning curve might be something like the cell phone learning curve for some older adults. It's a new way of communicating that hasn't always existed. Many dating websites are set up to be intuitive and facilitate quick communication via IM, text or internal email. Resorting to a good old fashioned phone call is not usually an option. Does this shake the boomers, or is everyone just adjusting?

Here are a few real life stories from two lovely ladies I know.

Case Study one: relative of friend, "Betty," 50s
Betty meets a nice man on Match.com. They start to exchange Match.com messages about having dinner together and Betty provides her phone number. "Bill" confirms by email that he would love to have dinner and waits for Betty's email about where. Meanwhile, Betty starts cooking dinner, gets all gussied up and waits for a phone call. They never meet.

Case Study two: relative of friend, "Anne," 60s
Anne signs up on eHarmony and learns how to search the profiles. She quickly gets confused by the prescripted stages of communication that eHarmony forces you through. After sending multiple stock messages with no replies, she abandons ship and goes on a date with a neighbor she met while walking her dogs. "How could I communicate anything personal about myself using that thing," she complained.

But there are success stories too, of course.

I regularly orchestrate multi-friend events entirely over text and things work out fine. I even have a friend who has never once talked to her boyfriend on the phone, only via text. But there is a learning curve for figuring out how to communicate on a dating site, via IM or text message (let alone figure out how to send and receive these messages). Are these skills becoming necessary for older single adults?

And this goes for all ages, but it seems that calling your date has become scarier now that you can send a text or email.

As ET once said "Be Good"

I firmly believe that we are living in the future. Think about it for a moment. True there aren't flying cars whizzing through the air and we can completely exist on chocolate bars (although I bet I could live a pretty long time maybe even thrive on Cliff Bars alone.) That being said, a lot of this tech stuff that these 'future' kids of today casually wield would have amounted to a super-power when I was a wee-one (and I'm still clawing away at my 20s.) They have the power to instantly communicate and organize en masse. All they need is a cell phone touch pad and a rudimentary understanding of a growing system of code (OMG, LOL, ROFLOL, QFT etc) I love using urban dictionary as my rosetta stone to translate this new tech language.
I love the idea of relatively a simple cipher created out of the need for speed and brevity having this much power. Its like watching a language being born. As with every super-power there is always a dark side. What would Superman be without Bizzaro. The dark side of text messaging reared its ugly head as cops in Tokyo and Saitama broke up a ring of junior high and high school girls that were selling sex online via their cell phones. Apparently one of those arrested was in the 6th grade. Wow! What really makes my jaw drop and drag on the floor is that they developed an intricate text/SMS friendly code to advertise their services.

Like:
IkebLURV1700Yukichi2JC1

Ikeb = Ikebukuro. The neighborhood that the girl is in.
LURV = "I will have sex with you."
1700 = Time: 5PM
Yukichi2 = Yukichi Fukuzawa, the guy whose face is on the 10,000 yen note x 2 = I cost 20,000 yen
JC = Joshi Chugakusei (Junior high school girl. JS would be elementary school girl, JK would be high school girl)
1 = Grade 1. In Japan, 1st year of junior high = 7th grade.

I got this break down from www.tokyomango.com

So, wow I say! As our advances in technology continue to bestow upon us futuristic powers I have but one bit of advise - Always, Always use your powers for good not evil!

"Excuse me, did you just grope me?"

A Japanese cell phone application released in 2005 to help women fend off gropers on trains has risen to the No. 7 spot on phone application lists.

I can't seem to find any images of what the messages look like, but it goes like this:
1. You're being groped on a crowded train and you can't move.
2. You show the person grabbing you the first message in the series which reads "excuse me, did you just grope me?"
3. If they continue you can press the "anger" button and your phone ramps up the message to "Groping is a crime." The last message is "Shall we head to the police."

This comment thread is interesting/infuriating/funny.


I read about it in the SF Chronicle. The author is Hiroko Tabuchi.

Shareideas.org - mobile technologies / social change

SEXINFO, ISIS' groundbreaking text based referral service for youth has been prominently featured on Shareideas.org. Shareideas is a wiki (supported by Nokia and Vodafone) that chronicles mobile communication innovations being used for social and environmental change.

Please feel free to comment on the SEXINFO wiki entry.

Initially when I went to edit the entry it blocked me because the word 'sex' was used. Needless to say, this issue has been resolved. Phew!

Love affair in under 140 characters

OurChart, a kickass networking/blogging/multimedia showcase for queer women and their friends, is using Twitter (microblogging tool extraordinaire) in the most delicious way. UnCharted, a soap opera inspired love story in installments of 140 character or less, is being updated every 15 minutes. And because this love story is twittering on throughout the day, you can easily follow along on your phone.

Sneak peak for geeks:
"katrina: @allie: What's your special talent?"

"allie: @katrina: multi-tasking? right now i'm running a mtg, browsing threadless.com and flirting with you. is it working? wanna go out?"

...

Read the OurChart interview with Popnography blogger Shana Naomi Krochmal, or check our the All Things Considered piece on NPR for more.

Multiple ways to (learn) Wiffiti

I just wanted to give a little Wiffiti update and share the varied ways folks are explaining how to text to their Wiffitis (since a lot of my friends were having trouble).

Wiresounds: Make a text message like "@WIR35 Hey Max, how's it going?" and send it to "25622"

Pixelpixel: To make me happy text me starting with @pixelfly then your message to 25622.

Itoldyoutherewouldbebacon: Because I'm something of a moron, it took me forever to figure out how to send a text, what with the "text @whatever message" instuctions. It made zero sense to me. ... 1. If you want your name to come up on your texts, as opposed to the wiffitiXXXX (XXXX being the last four digits of your phone number), you should first create a test message thusly: name (insert name here), then send the text to 25622. ... 2. Any other text you should with to send should essentially be the same: @bacony and then whatever you want to say, then send.

Here are a few more Wiffitis to play with:
Criticalfluff
ar11.net/blog
heehawmarketing
followme.vox.com
podsquadhq

As far as my own Wiffiti/public health exploration goes: SVGL (hey there) felt that using Wiffiti in a classroom setting could be a good idea. A nice way of submitting questions or having a discussion about sensitive topics. A public health friend who shall remain nameless felt that Wiffiti would be way too disruptive. As in people texting all sorts of rude sh*t during a lecture or something. Others needed help or two tries to get it right. That might mean that it needs easier instructions. Getting rid of the pink arrow step would be nice.

Oh, also, if Wiffiti isn't showing up on your computer, you may need to update to Flash 8 or higher.

New America Media surveys youth by cell phone

The results of a New America Media cell phone survey of 600 California residents ages 16-22 have been released, and are downloadable.

Here is the executive summary of the survey:
"One in eight of the nation's young people lives in California. Three-fifths are youth of color, and nearly half are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Taken together, this poll paints a portrait of a generation coming of age in a society of unprecedented racial and ethnic diversity – the first global society this country has seen.

"California's young people, as reflected in this poll, are strong believers in the American Dream, harbor deep concerns about family stability, cite marriage and parenthood as life goals, and are as apt to define their identity by music and fashion taste as by the color of their skin. Despite obstacles, they expect to create successful lives for themselves and imagine a more inclusive and tolerant society for one another. This collective optimism represents a unique source of social capital for California, and a mirror of what the U.S. is becoming as a global society."

The summary is really interesting and separates many questions by race and gender. For example, young men perceive themselves as healthier than young women do, and African American youth perceive themselves as healthier than White Anglo, Latino or Asian youth do.* Surprising to me was that youth did not identify gender as an important way they identify. Either that, or the researchers did not give gender as an option. I think it's the latter. Ooops, big oversight.

*These categories were defined by the researchers and self selected into by survey respondents.

What can we do with Wiffiti?

If you're reading this, I hope you didn't miss the Wiffiti on the right side of this page. Too many people today have asked that the hell it is. I'm starting to wonder myself. Regardless it's fun, and could have some powerful uses in public health/health communications if executed correctly (I think).

So what is it? It's a screen that you can put anywhere that people can send text messages too and have them be visible to anyone who is watching the screen. Right now it's embedded in my blog, and if you click on the mini version in the left sidebar you'll be taken to a larger screen on the Wiffiti sight. If I wanted I could feed it to a gigantic screen at an event, or display it on a laptop at a coffee shop. Get it? The Wiffiti blog explains it better than I do.

How do you use it? Send a text message to 25622. In the body of the message type @isisinc. After @isisinc add your message. If I wanted to say "what's up?" the body of my text message would read: @isisinc what's up?

So what can you do with it? Lots of things I suppose, but are there uses in public health, particularly STD and HIV prevention? Sexual health? Here are some of my ideas. Please add yours.

1. Text the location of services at large spring break events, such as where condoms can be found, or clinical services like STD testing.
2. Use in a classroom setting as a silent brainstorming tool.
3. Embed in a website and use as an easy way to get feedback from people about your projects, artwork, web design, etc.
4. Use as a billboard in an urban area with designated people updating it with prevention messages. Perhaps using a health department sponsor.

Are these boring? What do you think? Post your thoughts here or on my Wiffiti. Click the pink arrow to activate.

"DRNK. FLNG CRZY,HOT,NKD. U?"

So we all catch on at a different speeds...especially with technology. Mark Morford's article in the SF Chronicle today titled "Wanna hook up? Let your thumbs do the dialing," made me laugh, but the way he wrote about SEXINFO, an ISIS project, did not.

It is no surprise that text messaging is used like other forms of communication to bring people together, be it for a drink, a meeting, or sex. Have a gander:

"The trends now appear and disappear so quickly, nothing is really definitive or permanent or actually essential to know. It's all just a shifting throbbing mutating gob of gizmo and sex and desire and potential heartbreak, pouring over the culture like some sort of sticky bittersweet Wi-Fi-enabled honey. Same as it ever was, just with fewer vowels and lots more tendinitis."

"And so maybe I can simply wait for the next wave, the next mode of hot tech hookup whateverthehellitis, which I imagine will be arriving any second now, if not sooner. Instant cell phone video clips? Bluetooth-enabled pineal gland implants? Viagra misters/thong detectors in the new iPhone? We'll just have to see. Can someone please text me when it arrives?"

I think the twitters, the dodgeballs, and the justintvs will have their year in the sun. Text messaging is different. It's like a landline, like a computer, like a TTY. The way we use it will change, but the tool has stuck.

SEXINFO, tree on a plane, badge of honor

So, as I mentioned before, ISIS was awarded a Techie from Grassroots.org for our project SEXINFO. The money arrived, the tabel at the innovations plaza went great, the statue...well, it has a little life of it's own.

I didn't return directly to SF from the NTC in DC. I took a cab to Dulles, then a plane to Boston, then a bus, then a train, then trucked by foot to my friends house. The statue came with me. It didn't fit in my suitcase; it had to be carried. It wasn't until I walked, trained, bussed and crossed security in Boston to head home again that someone actually commented on the statue (there has been plenty of stares). An airport security guard was so excited about it that he offered his own little LCD flashlight into the tree's trunk and the security line got to see the wonderful branches illuminate.

Anyway, It made it home. I made it home. SEXINFO is more known to the world, and I am forever thankful that the tree is in the office and I never have to take it in a train, plane or cab again. Check out these additional Flickr shots of other Techie award recipients.

Micro-geo-insta-bloggers meet Prevention

Is there a use for microblogging tools in Public Health, particularly STD and HIV prevention? What can we come up with?

There's Yellow Arrow: "...a global creative community making a new M.A.A.P. (massively authored artistic publication) of the world." In basic terms, Yellow Arrow links a physical places with a virtual messages that are accessible to anyone with mobile text capability.

IDEA: Rachel Kachur, CDC, says: "I can imagine using this for an STD awareness campaign. Anywhere there is a yellow arrow with a certain code, people call the number, enter the code and get an STD message. 'If you are sexually active, your chances of having chlamydia are 1 in 4. Get tested.' Something like that. We could do a campaign on a college campus and see if it increases testing..."

There's Twitter: a new way to answer the question " what are you doing right now?" by text or computer and then have it broadcast to the web and to others' phones in your network.

IDEA: What are you doing right now? "Downloading a syphilis test." "Asking Dr. K a question." "Sending an InSPOT card." Would people share this info?

There's Dodgeball: I blogged it before. Basically Dodgeball relays texts to as many people as you want or alerts you by text when you are physically close to a "crush" or a "friend's friend."

IDEA: Could a location notify you when you are near IT? Rather than a person setting off your text alert, could you get a message when you are near a bowl of free condoms or a test site? I guess it's possible if there were a phone sitting in the bottom of the bucket or in the pocket of a test counselor.

There's Justin.tv (not a blog per se. More like a really bright idea): Laughing Squid said it best, Metroblogging said it next.

IDEA: Justin has been living on streaming video for 8 days now. You can text in what you'ld like to see Justin do. Maybe Justin should text the word SEXINFO to 61827 and show us all what happens. ... there's a lot of people watching. I'm going to ask him. Check in to see if he does it.

There's vlogging in general:

IDEAs: ?

Let's brainstorm. Public health and STD/HIV prevention does not have to live behind the curve.

NTEN Innovation Plaza

ISIS-Inc. has been selected to participate in the Innovations Plaza at the NTEN 2007 Nonprofit Technology Conference! We are very excited and plan on showcasing several of our projects: InSPOT and SEXINFO. We'll of course be able to answer questions about some of our other projects too: Eavesdrop, Californiamen, Massmen, Hookinguponline, STDtest.org.

So far nearly 1000 attendees are listed for NTC, along with numerous exciting guest speakers. Among others, we're excited to meet the following speakers:

Heidi J. Boisvert, Suzanne Seggerman, Benjamin Stokes, Barry Joseph, Karen Michaelson: "Video Games for Social Change: a New Movement"

Jonathon D. Colman: "Using Online Social Networks to Build Buzz..."

Beth Kanter, involved in 4 different sessions: widgits, Flickr, vlogging, etc.

Dale L. Larson, "Think Mobile! More than Text Messaging"

Look for ISIS at the Innovations Plaza on thursday April 5th.

Dodgeball. In your face.

Your Friends. Friends of Friends. Crushes. I'm not sure where to start with this one. Dodgeball, a google toy, is a networking site for mobile phones.

First off, you can send messages to your friends. So, I can usually handle texting my friends myself, but this feature adds a middlemachine to relay your texts to everyone on your friends list. (or the ones you set to receive messages online). It goes like this (pretend I'm billy): "Hey I'm at Clooney's," to 30 people's phones.

The friends of friends feature alerts you (by text) when you are within 10 blocks of any friends of friends. You'll get a message that says something like: "Billy is at Clooney's. You know him through Jill."

The crushes feature allows you to select up to five people (only five because they "are not a brothel") that you have a crush on. You select them from the Dodgeball site. Then when they are within 10 blocks of you, you will get a text message that says: "Billy is at Clooney's. He has a crush on you. Valencia at 25th"). And, if you are able to receive pictures on your phone, you'll get one of the person who is crushing on you.

Oh, I should say, Dodgeball works in 22 cities, and you can change your city as you travel. You can also find venues by texting in the name to "DODGE" or 36343.