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.

World AIDS Day 2008: The Power of YOU

Photos from the Facing AIDS Flickr group

December 1 marked the 20th annual observance of World AIDS Day . At AIDS.gov, we used several new media tools to commemorate this day. We invited you to blog, to upload photos of yourself wearing a red ribbon to social network sites, and to join us in the virtual world of Second Life. But today’s blog post is not so much about what we did—it’s about YOU.

Facing AIDS

We asked you to help reduce HIV stigma by posting a photo of yourself wearing a red ribbon to your online social networks--showing that you care about HIV/AIDS and helping to promote HIV testing.

How YOU responded

You responded in full force. Nearly 700 of you joined the Facebook group , and 460 RSVP’d for the Facebook event. In addition nearly 200 of you posted photos to the Flickr group. You passed the word to your friends, and you posted discussions and comments about what World AIDS Day means to you. Avatars in Second Life, drag queens in England, and our parents in the Midwest sent us photos. Our colleagues at the CDC took great initiative in generating a workplace photo response--even CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding uploaded a photo! One of you took a photo of the Empire State building lit up with red lights, and another submitted a photo of your son who died of an AIDS-related illness. Some of the photos are below - and we encourage you to visit our Flickr page to see many more. Also, if you haven’t already, it’s not too late to upload your photo!

Bloggers Unite

We partnered with NIDA and Bloggers Unite to encourage bloggers to dedicate their posts on December 1 to HIV/AIDS.

How YOU responded

You responded with posts more powerful (and plentiful) than we could have anticipated. We are still reading all the posts and following the conversations you generated. You got the word out, told your stories, linked to resources, and told your communities, your friends, families, and readers why HIV/AIDS matters to you. Some of the bloggers that inspire the AIDS.gov team, like Beth Kanter and NTEN’s Holly Ross , also dedicated their blog to World AIDS Day.

World AIDS Day in Second Life

Our colleagues in Second Life invited us to speak at the opening of Karuna , the first island in Second Life solely dedicated to HIV/AIDS information, support, and education. We accepted the invitation and created our avatars, virtual posters, and note cards for the event.

How YOU responded

Almost 500 people (or rather, their avatars) visited Karuna on World AIDS Day - and for many of you it was your first time exploring this virtual world. Our colleagues in Atlanta, Maryland, Virginia, California, and North Carolina created their own avatars and took the unfamiliar plunge into Second Life. People who had lost friends and loved ones came to the event to share their stories and remember.

But that’s not all...

There were many, many other World AIDS Day events and activities that involved new media. We were inspired by the following examples - a small sample of the many:

• Many people twittered about World AIDS Day. People like Social Butterfly , Chris Brogan , Chris Penn , and hundreds more !
• The World Community Grid developed a virtual space in Second Life to promote their Fight AIDS @ Home Campaign .
• The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee created a website for youth where they submit their own videos and postcards.
• Peace Tiles used online media to create digital murals that raise awareness about HIV/AIDS issues and to commemorate World AIDS Day 2008.

YOU make the difference.

Thank you. For caring enough to take photos. For telling your friends. For telling your stories about HIV/AIDS. For embracing new media for social change.

We were inspired by your creativity and compassion. YOUR involvement in the many World AIDS Day 2008 new media activities demonstrated the potential power of new media. But more importantly, it shows the power of YOU.

Now what?

We learned a lot from you this World AIDS Day - and we have a lot more to learn. Now that the dust has settled, we’re taking the time to ask ourselves: moving forward, how should we use new media to respond to HIV/AIDS? What worked well? What could have worked better? What do YOU think?

Facing AIDS for World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day is in less than a week (December 1)! In addition to our Bloggers Unite and Second Life activities, AIDS.gov invites you to join us in using social networks to help reduce stigma around HIV/AIDS and to promote HIV testing.

Why use social networks? Many people are already using social network sites to share information about issues that are important to them. For example, (Product) RED’s, MySpace page has over half a million friends and has another 100,000 fans on Facebook . MySpace created MySpace Impact , “a channel for the causes and campaigns MySpace users care about.” Facebook Causes , created by Project Agape , were developed to organize people for collective action - and Causes is now on Myspace as well. According to Facebook, “the real power of Causes… is that supporters of the cause can easily multiply their impact by inviting their friends to join and donate to the cause.”

Reaching Latinos with New Media for National Latino AIDS Awareness Day

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Tomorrow is National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD). According to a recently released CDC fact sheet, Latinos represent only 15% of the total U.S. population, but make up 18% of new HIV infections. Among Latinos, men make up the vast majority of new HIV infections (76%), but Latino women are also at disproportionate risk for HIV. They are infected with HIV at a rate four times greater than white women.

In recognition of this important day, we’re continuing our conversation from last week by highlighting additional examples of using new media tools to reach the Latino community with HIV information.

"A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words"-- How to Increase Involvement in World AIDS Day 2008

“A picture is worth a thousand words” and today we will be talking about two different powerful pictures that relate to World AIDS Day--one which involves data, and the other which involves you.