Experimenting in the Social Media Lab at the CDC HIV Prevention Conference

By Josie Halpern-Finnerty

Last week we shared updates from the 2009 CDC HIV Prevention Conference. While at the conference, we had the opportunity to co-host a Social Media Lab with our CDC colleagues. The Lab was open throughout the conference, and participants were invited to come, sit down in front of a computer, and talk one-on-one or in small groups about using social media in response to HIV. Over 125 conference participants from community-based organizations, government agencies, national policy organizations, and academic research institutions sought out the Lab.

CDC's 2009 HIV Prevention Conference: “Innovation and Action to End the Epidemic”

By Michele Clark

The 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference is reaching over 3,500 of our colleagues in Atlanta this week. Thanks to conference organizers, this year’s highlights are shared to those unable to attend via Twitter: CDC NPIN , AIDS.gov , and others are tweeting with the hashtag #NHPC09 . CDC also provides conference participants with text message updates , and videotaped many of the presentations to broaden reach (CDC NPIN should have these posted around September 7th).

Miguel Gomez, AIDS.gov Director, presents at NHPC09

This morning, AIDS.gov Director Miguel Gomez presented on the plenary panel, “Advances in HIV Prevention Science and Technology.” The AIDS.gov presentation focused on how the HIV community can adopt new media tools to further their work. Miguel said, “we have a responsibility to learn about new media—to learn what clients are doing online, what new media is, and how to fit it into our overall HIV prevention planning.”

"Participation Powers Prevention": Highlights from CDC's 3rd National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media

By Jennie Anderson

Last week Miguel Gomez and I joined 1,000 other public health, social marketing, new media, health education, and health communications leaders at the CDC's 3rd annual National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media in Atlanta. We enjoyed having this opportunity to learn from colleagues (new and old), and present on some of our own new media lessons learned, as we did in past years attending this conference. I presented on a panel with some of our CDC colleagues about user-generated content , highlighting some of our experiences from World AIDS Day and National HIV Testing Day, and Miguel gave a presentation about our AIDS.gov new media strategy .

World's Largest Open Scientific Conference on HIV/AIDS Uses New Media Tools

By Miguel Gomez

This weekend approximately 5,000 of the world’s leading scientists, clinicians, public health experts and community leaders will convene in Cape Town, South Africa, for the 5th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention (IAS 2009) to “examine the latest developments in HIV-related research, and to explore how scientific advances can—in very practical ways—inform the global response to HIV/AIDS.” The conference will run July 19-22, 2009.

Capitol Hill Conference: Future Directions in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS

By Miguel Gomez

On Wednesday I had the pleasure of speaking about new media during the “Capitol Hill Conference: Future Directions in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS” co-sponsored by amfAR and Research!America . This event brought together international HIV experts, celebrity advocates, and government officials to talk about the importance of HIV research and a National AIDS Strategy. The day started with information from the recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey showing that Americans' sense of urgency about HIV has fallen and that we need to reinvigorate ourselves in the fight against AIDS.