Students at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) may interact with students and teachers on campus, as well as online in Second Life. The university has an entire virtual campus in Second Life. The online presence started with the idea of building a virtual hotel environment for the use of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management. "Second Life enables students and educators to create innovative environments for distance learning, computer-supported cooperative work, simulations and teaching," said project leader Paul Penfold. "This use of simulation in a safe environment will greatly enhance experiential learning." Students can access a wide variety of library materials and information about the library via the platform and links on the library's intranet.
On August 17, a sleeve gastrectomy --- removal of part of the stomach as a weight-loss measure -- was twittered live by Sinai Hospital of Baltimore. The procedure, performed by Alex Gandsas, M.D., was a success according to the hospital, and the Twitter account included photos of the operation.