Discipline: Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
Subcategory: Social Sciences/Psychology/Economics
Marqus Parker - Central Piedmont Community College
Co-Author(s): Shernita Lee, Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA; Bryan Lewis, Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA; Kristy Collins, Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Epidemiology is the study of the risks, control, and spread of diseases around the globe. The purpose of this project was to create an interactive game entitled Epidemic2Viral that emphasizes the use of social media as a source of epidemiological data. Social media plays a role because the public posts about their health in real-time and often use social media to inform their health decisions. Scientists in the epidemiology field use social media as a resource to gather data and to pinpoint and develop efficient methods pertaining to controlling epidemic outbreaks. Epidemic2Viral features epidemiological concepts such as population dynamics, and transmission and prevention methods to reduce the mortality from a given virus. Seven diseases were incorporated due to a significant global presence and their association with filtered keywords from online posts to track trending outbreaks. HTML5 coding through the game engine Construct 2 was used to produce Epidemic2Viral. This game allows its users to discover the benefits of social media, use the epidemiology information for critical thinking applications, and implement mathematics to solve health scenarios in an interactive and innovative manner. Incorporation of epidemiology in Epidemic2Viral paves the way for further advancements in controlling outbreaks and aids in the development of vaccines needed to fight epidemics around the world while informing society of the daily applications of epidemiology.
References: (1) Woolhouse, Mark et al. ‘Human Viruses: Discovery and
Emergence.’ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B:
Biological Sciences367.1604 (2012): 2864?2871. PMC. Web. 20 July 2017.
(2) Killingley and Nguyen-Van-Tam (2013) Routes of influenza transmission.
Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 7(Suppl. 2), 42-51.
(3) Ruiz, L., Simon, A., Velasco, L. and Janssen, D. (2017), Biological
characterization of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus from Spain. Plant
Pathology, 66: 376-382. doi: 10.1111/ppa.12587.
(4) Elaine Nsoesie ‘Social media helps officials spot public health threat, but only for the rich?’ The Conversation. N.p., 23 July 2017. Web. 24
July 2017.
(5) Marcel SalathEpidemiology is the study of the risks, control, and spread of diseases around the globe. The purpose of this project was to create an interactive game entitled Epidemic2Viral that emphasizes the use of social media as a source of epidemiological data. Social media plays a role because the public posts about their health in real-time and often use social media to inform their health decisions. Scientists in the epidemiology field use social media as a resource to gather data and to pinpoint and develop efficient methods pertaining to controlling epidemic outbreaks. Epidemic2Viral features epidemiological concepts such as population dynamics, and transmission and prevention methods to reduce the mortality from a given virus. Seven diseases were incorporated due to a significant global presence and their association with filtered keywords from online posts to track trending outbreaks. HTML5 coding through the game engine Construct 2 was used to produce Epidemic2Viral. This game allows its users to discover the benefits of social media, use the epidemiology information for critical thinking applications, and implement mathematics to solve health scenarios in an interactive and innovative manner. Incorporation of epidemiology in Epidemic2Viral paves the way for further advancements in controlling outbreaks and aids in the development of vaccines needed to fight epidemics around the world while informing society of the daily applications of epidemiology. References: (1) Woolhouse, Mark et al. “Human Viruses: Discovery and Emergence.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences367.1604 (2012): 2864–2871. PMC. Web. 20 July 2017. (2) Killingley and Nguyen-Van-Tam (2013) Routes of influenza transmission. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 7(Suppl. 2), 42–51. (3) Ruiz, L., Simon, A., Velasco, L. and Janssen, D. (2017), Biological characterization of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus from Spain. Plant Pathology, 66: 376–382. doi: 10.1111/ppa.12587. (4) Elaine Nsoesie “Social media helps officials spot public health threats – but only for the rich?” The Conversation. N.p., 23 July 2017. Web. 24 July 2017. (5) Marcel Salathé ” The Conversation. N.p., 18 July 2017. Web. 24 July 2017. (6) https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/ geos/ay.html. (7) https://www.cdc.gov/.
‘ The Conversation. N.p., 18 July 2017. Web. 24 July
2017.
(6) https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/
geos/ay.html.
(7) https://www.cdc.gov/.
Not SubmittedFunder Acknowledgement(s): Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech
Faculty Advisor: Shernita Lee, shernita@bi.vt.edu
Role: In this research project, I created an HTML5 based game and an interactive lesson plan for Virginia Tech's Kids' Tech University. To create the lesson plan, I created a worksheet that asks students critical thinking and math questions about what is seen in the interactive game. I ran simulations on the flu virus to observe how different factors affected how the virus spread among a population.