Dave Taylor

I have a track record of successful projects and products based on emerging and best practices in Virtual Worlds, Web and New Media, Software Products and 'Serious Games'.

I lead a research unit at Imperial College developing the use of Virtual Worlds for Healthcare. I previously set up and ran the UK National Physical Laboratory’s Virtual Worlds business area.

I am a founder of the SciLands, a Second Life continent for Science and Technology, that has grown from 5 islands in 2006 to over 65 in 2009 and have created many virtual world projects that deliver real world benefits.

Prior to 2002 I was Vice President of Global Web for a leading multinational. Before that I managed Letraset’s European Software business, working with Adobe Systems, Pixar and Apple Computer. I developed the award-winning LetraStudio graphics software app in 1998.

I have achieved success through vision and a pragmatic approach to getting the job done. I have strengths in team motivation, stakeholder engagement, project management and in applying my knowledge to provide innovative solutions that deliver improved customer service, effectiveness or efficiencies in accordance with business needs.

My goal is to continue to explore next generation networking technologies and their application to new sectors, services and markets.

1. Software Project Management
2. Web Project Management
3. Product Development
4. Product Management
5. Marketing Strategy
6. Online Research
7. Research Design
8. Virtualization
9. Virtual Worlds
10. Start-ups
11. Science
12. Multimedia
13. Government
14. Web 2.0
15. E-learning
16. Social Media
17. User Experience
18. Research
19. Strategy Development
20. Program Management
21. Online Marketing
22. E-commerce
23. Marketing Communications
24. New Business Development
25. Team Leadership
26. Team Building
27. Teaching
28. Digital Marketing

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• Single and multi-user virtual patient design in the virtual world

  • Stud Health Technol Inform. 2011;163:650-2
  • 2011
  Authors: Dave Taylor, Patel V, Cohen D, Aggarwal R, Kerr K, Sevdalis N, Batrick N, Darzi A

  This research addresses the need for the flexible creation of immersive clinical training simulations for multiple interacting participants and virtual patients by using scalable open source virtual world technologies. Initial development of single-user surgical virtual patients has been followed by that of multi-user multiple casualties in a field environment and an acute hospital emergency department. The authors aim to validate and extend their reproducible framework for eventual application of virtual worlds to whole hospital major incident response simulation and to multi-agency, pan-geographic mass casualty exercises.

• Implementation of virtual online patient simulation

  • Stud Health Technol Inform. 2011;163:440-6.
  • 2011
  Authors: Dave Taylor, Patel V, Aggarwal R, Darzi A

  The development and use of virtual patients has become more expansive. Previous strategies to aid their development have been described to aid their formation. This study describes the development of a series of virtual patients following a methodology proposed by Posel et al. Ten virtual patients with surgical pathology were developed using a reproducible framework. This article serves to guide virtual patient authors as a working description of virtual patient design in order to assist them for future virtual patient development.

• Improving Informed Consent of Surgical Patients Using a Multimedia-Based Program?

  • Annals of Surgery Issue: Volume 249(3), March 2009, pp 546-547
  • 2009
  Authors: Dave Taylor, Patel V, Aggarwal R, Kinross J, Davies R, Darzi A

  One aim of our research agenda is to exploit the interactive nature of the virtual space, accessible from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, to enable patients to access information about diagnostic investigations, surgical procedures, emergency care facilities and ward activities. This tool allows the patient to be an active choreographer of their “visit” to the hospital, which may be guided by a standard procedure pathway, eg, for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. A patient may wish to spend more time learning about anesthesia if this, in particular, produces anxiety for them; another patient may be more concerned about the facilities available for their relatives in the hospital. There is the potential to make each patient tour unique, supported by a health professional guide as necessary.

• Surgeons have held conferences in Second Life

  • British Medical Journal
  • 2008
  Authors: Dave Taylor, Leong J, Kinross J, Purkayastha S

  On 22 April 2008, the first international Virtual Association of Surgeons (iVAS) meeting was held in the virtual world of Second Life. Forty seven delegates from five countries attended, ranging from professors to students of medicine and engineering.
  
  The conference lasted for two hours, and ideas were exchanged about surgical robotics and technology. A questionnaire survey was completed by the delegates; of the people who responded, 96% “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that the overall experience was highly rated, and all delegates “agreed” or “strongly agreed” to attend another meeting in the same medium.

• Using Virtual Reality to Provide Health Care Information to People With Intellectual Disabilities: Acceptability, Usability, and Potential Utility

  • Journal of Medical Internet Research
  • November 14, 2011
  Authors: Dave Taylor, Valerie Hall MSc DPhil, Suzanne Conboy-Hill BA(Hons) MSc MPhil PhD

  Objective: This study assessed the acceptability, usability, and potential utility of a virtual reality experience as a means of providing health care-related information to people with intellectual disabilities. We designed a prototype multimodal experience based on a hospital scenario and situated on an island in the Second Life 3D virtual world. We wanted to know how people of different ages and with varying levels of cognitive function would participate in the customized virtual environment, what they understood from being there, and what they remembered a week later.
  
  Background: People with intellectual disabilities have poor access to health care, which may be further compromised by a lack of accessible health information. To be effective, health information must be easily understood and remembered. People with intellectual disabilities learn better from multimodal information sources, and virtual reality offers a 3-dimensional (3D) computer-generated environment that can be used for providing information and learning. To date, research into virtual reality experiences for people with intellectual disabilities has been limited to skill-based training and leisure opportunities within the young to mid age ranges.
  
  Conclusions: A sample of adults with intellectual disabilities of all ages, and with varying levels of cognitive function, accessed and enjoyed a virtual-world environment that drew on a health care-related scenario, and remembered aspects of it a week later. The small sample size limits generalizability of findings, but the potential shown for experiential learning to aid retention of knowledge on which consent is based appears promising. Successfully delivering health care-related information in a non-National Health Service setting indicates potential for delivery in institutional, community, or home settings, thereby widening access to the information.

Websites:

• Presentations

Honors and Awards:

- MacUser's 'Eddy' award for 'Best New Product' category for Letrastudio in 1989.
- Penman was a finalist in the 'Prince of Wales Awards for Innovative products'.
- Letraset website was a finalist in the Sunday Times/BT Awards 1996, second to Sun Microsystems in ‘Design’ category.
- Clinical Scenarios was a finalist in the Linden Prize 2009, and was awarded an Honorable Mention.
- Winning Poster Presentation at the MMVR18 / NextMed conference, 2011 http://booksonline.iospress.nl/Content/View.aspx?piid=19393