Aidsspace
AIDSspace.org was a social networking service for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS developed by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) that was active between 2009 and 2016. The site was launched on 24 November 2009 in Shanghai, People's Republic of China.[1]
AIDSspace.org was one of the first social networking sites dedicated to connecting the global HIV community by providing a free service to share HIV resources and related information. At its peak, the site had a membership base of more than 7000 users. Of the site's functionalities, the document library was one of the most used features of AIDSspace.org, with over 1600 items uploaded by the community to a central repository. The tagline of AIDSspace.org was "Connecting the global AIDS response".[2] After six years in operation, UNAIDS suspended the site in June 2016.
History[edit]
The concept behind AIDSspace.org was first proposed by former UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot who envisaged a 'situation room' managed by UNAIDS that would provide real-time data on the global HIV epidemic. In June 2006, the governing body of UNAIDS, the Programming Coordinating Board, at its eighteenth meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, approved funds for "additional investments in information technology and information gathering" to support the work of the UNAIDS Secretariat.[3]
Despite initial support for the development of a social networking service for the HIV/AIDS community, led by UNAIDS, work on the project did not commence until early 2009. The delay was largely due to internal challenges associated with initiating a technology start-up in an international organisation setting.
Michel Sidibé, who became Executive Director of UNAIDS in January 2009[4], encouraged the development of AIDSspace.org, and provided the necessary backing and approved the required resources to get the site underway. By March 2009, a California-based non-profit communications firm, Resource Media, was hired by UNAIDS to build AIDSspace.org.
On October 29, 2009, AIDSspace.org was released in beta at the United States Conference on AIDS in San Francisco, California.[5]. Mr. Sidibé officially launched the platform in Shanghai on November 24, 2009, ahead of World AIDS Day.
At the time of the launch, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé said, "[t]hrough sharing the vast knowledge and experience out there, from the community organizations doing excellent work but do not have the resources to maintain a website to the PhD student wanting to publish their thesis, I know AIDSspace can bring us all together and will contribute towards a more cohesive and well informed AIDS response."[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ UNAIDS. "Eight-year trend shows new HIV infections down by 17%--most progress seen in sub-Saharan Africa", 24 November 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ↑ UNAIDS. Outlook Report 2010, 13 July 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ↑ UNAIDS. Decisions, Recommendations and Conclusions, 18th Meeting of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board Geneva, Switzerland, 27-28 June 2006. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ↑ United Nations. "Secretary-General appoints Michel Sidibé (Mali) Executive Director of UNAIDS", 17 December 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
- ↑ HIV.gov. "Highlights from the 2009 U.S. Conference on AIDS", 3 November 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
- ↑ UNAIDS. AIDSspace.org: Supporting the global AIDS response through social networking, 18 December 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
This article "Aidsspace" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Aidsspace. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
