Virtual Epidemics
Over two decades, we have designed different virtual epidemics—WhyPox, DragonSwoopingCough, and SPIKEY-20— in Whyville.net, a large-scale virtual world with over 2 million youth ages 10-12 years. We have investigated the potential of virtual epidemics for players to use their own experiences and observations of the community to learn about processes of infection and immunity, the interactions of social behavior, and reactions to perceived health risk – investigations difficult to replicate in real life due to ethical considerations. See an overview of the curriculum and details on the website.
Contributors
Deborah Fields, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Amanda Strawhacker, Michael Giang, Tyler Hansen, Yue Xin
Related Research
Strawhacker, A., Kafai, Y.B., Giang, M. T., Fields, D., & Tofel-Grehl, C. (2021). Designing the Virtual SPIKEY-20 Epidemic: Engaging Youth in Seeking Information and Using Personal Protection. In Interaction Design and Children (IDC '21) (pp. 558-562). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3459990.3465208. Link to PDF
Fields, D. A., Kafai, Y. B., Giang, M. T., Fefferman, N., & Wong, J. (2017, August). Plagues and people: engineering player participation and prevention in a virtual epidemic. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games. Link to PDF
Fields, D. A., Kafai, Y. B., Sun, J., Fefferman, N., Ellis, E., DeVane, B., Giang, M. T., & Wong, J. (2016). The great dragon swooping cough: Stories about learning designs in promoting participation and engagement with a virtual epidemic. GLS 12 Conference Proceedings. Pittsburgh, PA: ETC Press. Link to PDF
Kafai, Y. B., Quintero, M., & Feldon, D. (2010). Investigating the “Why” in Whypox: Explorations of a Virtual Epidemic. Games and Culture, 5(1), 116-135.
Kafai, Y. B. & Fefferman, N. (2010). Virtual epidemics as learning laboratories in virtual worlds. Virtual Worlds Research, 3 (2). Online Journal. Link to free access
Kafai, Y. B. (2008). Understanding Virtual Epidemics: Children’s Folk Conceptions of Computer Virus. Journal of Science Education & Technology, 17(6), 523-529.
Kafai, Y. & Wong, J. (2008). Real Arguments about a Virtual Epidemic: Conversations and Contestations in a Tween Gaming Club. In Kanselaar, G., Jonker, V., Kirschner, P. A., & Prins, F. J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference for the Learning Sciences, Volume 1 (pp. 414-421). Utrecht, The Netherlands: International Society of the Learning Sciences. Link to PDF
Kafai, Y. B., Feldon, D., Fields, D., Giang, M., & Quintero, M. (2007). Life in the times of Whypox: A virtual epidemic as a community event. In Communities and technologies 2007 (pp. 171-190). Springer, London. Link to PDF
Neulight, N., Kafai, Y., Kao, L., Foley, B. & Galas, C. (2007). Children’s participation in a virtual epidemic in the science classroom: Making connections to natural infectious diseases. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 16(1), 47-58.
Neulight, N. R. & Kafai, Y. B. (2005). What Happens if you Catch Whypox? Children’s Learning Experiences of Infectious Disease in a Multi-user Virtual Environment. In Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play. London, UK. Link to PDF