New Media Institutes, Usability Testing, A Photo Booth, and More: Preview of AIDS.gov's Activities at the U.S. Conference on AIDS

By Jennie Anderson

What do new media institutes, usability, and a BIG RED photo booth have in common?

They are some of activities we're planning for later this month at the U.S. Conference on AIDS (USCA) . This annual conference, hosted by the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC) , will take place October 29-31st in San Francisco and will bring together public health experts, people living with HIV, government employees, activists, and community leaders from across the country (and a few from around the world!). We're so grateful to the organizers of USCA — they've put together a packed agenda for the conference, and we look forward to taking part.

2009 National Technology Conference: Highlights for the HIV Community

By Michelle Samplin-Salgado

Last week, Jennie Anderson and I attended the Nonprofit Technology Network's (NTEN) 2009 National Technology Conference (NTC) . Because many AIDS service organizations are non-profits, the conference provides us with an opportunity to gain invaluable insight into how non-profit organizations across the country and around the world are using new media to inspire, connect and collaborate with their audiences. It was inspiring for me to learn from and share experiences with people who really care about what they are doing and believe in the causes they represent. And there is so much we, in the HIV community, can learn from people working to promote their own causes. Here are a few highlights:

Introduction to Mashups: 1 + 1 = Mashups?

AIDSportal “HIV Jobs” Mashup

Mashups -- what are they? Are they being used by the HIV/AIDS community? To learn more, we spoke with Rob Worthington from AIDSportal and AIDS.gov advisor, David Galiel .

What is a mashup?

Rob told us, “A mashup is a way of combining data, content, or a function from different websites in a new or innovative way. This can create extra value or utility.”

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Last week we attended the United States Conference on AIDS (USCA), sponsored by the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC). USCA is the largest AIDS-related gathering in the U.S. Three-thousand people came together to share information, create new networks, and learn about the latest tools being used to address the challenges of HIV/AIDS. Conference participants included healthcare and service providers, advocates, people living with HIV/AIDS, and policymakers. The theme of the conference was “Looking Back, Moving Forward.”

International AIDS Conference: New Media and the AIDS Community - Some Good News

Last week, we "twittered" from the International AIDS Conference (IAC) , and we planned to talk about that this week. We were struck, however, by our conversations on new media with IAC delegates and we decided to write about what we learned at the conference instead. (Stay tuned for more on Twitter soon!)

From the plenary on the future of the global pandemic to AIDS.gov's conversations with a cross-section of the 23,000+ IAC delegates in Mexico City, the topic of new media kept popping up. In that plenary session, Dr. Peter Piot , director of UNAIDS (and one of the leading voices in developing HIV/AIDS policy worldwide), acknowledged the importance of new media in meeting the challenge of HIV/AIDS. Dr. Piot explicitly mentioned Facebook and text messaging as important tools in carrying messages about HIV/AIDS--but he was one of the few who did.