I came across what seemed like a really cool site this morning and wanted to share it with you. condomlessandcounting.com aims to show how fast the HIV network could potentially spread through your social network. After obtaining your own link, you the send it out to your network. As people click on the link they are ‘infected’. You see a graphical representation of the rate and reach of the virus. Sounds cool right? Is only I could get a link. After going to the website, I clicked on “identify yourself” and tried entering my ID to “see the damage”.
Except, I could not figure out what code the user is suppose to input. Maybe this only works if you’ve been infected. Meaning, I can only get a code after someone sends me a link. In any case, this is a good start to something that can be built upon. I am a proponent to helping people understand and visualize how diseases move through the community.
I should add that I do have an issue with language on the site. Many people who contact HIV are not engaging in “careless behavior”. This trivializes the very real issues on why certain people contract HIV. Studies have shown that even those with low risk behavior may be at higher risk for contracting HIV because of the dynamics of their sexual network and sexual behavior pattern.
Nevertheless, does anyone know how I can get a code? I would like to see this in action.
Caribbean Health Communication Blog 