As soon as next school year, students can get medical advice from a nurse without leaving their dorm rooms.
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Using a Web site, students can access the Health Center from 4:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Students will see a live video image of a nurse and will be able to talk to him or her through a telephone. Nurses will be able to show students pictures of burns or cuts, for example, and video clips to show how to treat those burns and other medical problems, said David Ferguson, director of the new Center for Media Design.
This new technology will have its trial run during the last week of March through early April, said Rodger Smith, associate director of the center. If proven successful, the technology will become a part of the services offered on campus.
The health initiative will give a softer touch to technology, Smith said.
"It puts a human face on something that students feel is less than personal," Smith said.
The new health care initiative is just one of 40 projects that the center has on the table for the near future, Ferguson said.
The Center for Media Design is "the engine of the iCommunication project," Ferguson said. The project is funded by the Lilly Endowment.
The center will have its grand opening ceremony at 7:45 p.m. Thursday in the Ball Communication Building. It is an invite-only event.
"It's dealing with broader issues to make connections to the digital media world on and off campus," Ferguson said about the new center. "It will open a window on the world."
The focus of the center is to partner with other media and technical organizations to pool resources and test new technology.
"In the world we find ourselves heading to, we'll see a decentralized (media) environment," Ferguson said.
"Now anybody can generate something in the digital world. So it makes just as much sense for Muncie to be the center (of technological advances) as Hollywood or the East Coast."
Ball State is working with a United Kingdom-based company, iSeeTV, to bring the health initiative into reality, said Glyn Radcliffe-Brine, executive vice president of commercial operations for iSeeTV.
Several years ago, Media Logic, another UK-based company that owns iSeeTV, conducted a similar project with Britain's National Healthcare System, Radcliffe-Brine said. Televisions, however, were used instead of computers.
"We found that people using the service felt very reassured by the fact they could see the nurse on the screen," Radcliffe-Brine said. "When they saw somebody wearing a uniform, they felt more confident."
Once the success of the health program was discovered in the UK, iSeeTV and Media Logic wanted to extend the service to an overseas audience.
One of the features that make the new technology stand out is that it can be accessed from virtually anywhere in the world, Radcliffe-Brine said. The connection is clear and can be accessed from a personal digital assistant as well as a computer.
Radcliffe-Brine said he was impressed with Ball State's eagerness to enter the ever-changing world of technology.
"If you consider what's going on here, it's quite amazing," Radcliffe-Brine said. "The vision to make Ball State a center of excellence in the practical application of technology is a really good thing.
"There is a momentum building," he said.
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