Using web 2.0 tools in health research at UBC

To browse other articles on a range of HSL topics, see the wiki index.

Introduction

See also Evidence-based web 2.0, Digital Communities of Practice (CoPs), Top Web 2.0 Services in Medicine - 2010 and Web 2.0

This wiki entry is a tracking space for a small group of UBC faculty, researchers and health librarians studying web 2.0 tools and health research within communities of practice (i.e. academics, educators and research institutions). The goal is ultimately to incorporate some of the information and media practices into the undergraduate medical curriculum, research at UBC and associated academic centres.

A few major reasons why web 2.0 may be important in biomedicine:

• Health professionals are required to know about and navigate the web's communication and collaboration ecosystems
• Social media such as blogs, wikis, RSS and Twitter are beginning to change medical education, clinical practice and research
• Web 2.0 may be an effective platform to bring patients, physicians and information together
• Wikis and blogs help people collaborate and work together across distances
• Software tools help health professionals to network, communicate and form communities of practice

What is web 2.0?

An iGoogle page of RSS feeds

• For an overview, see How web 2.0 is changing medicine. BMJ 2006 333(7582): 1283-84.
• Web 2.0 is increasingly included in medical, nursing curriculum (2009) - http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2605032
• Web 2.0 use by medical students: Sandars J et al. Web 2.0 and social software: the medical student way of e-learning. Med Teach 2008
• McGee JB, Begg M. What medical educators need to know about "Web 2.0". Medical Teacher 2008 Mar;30(2):164-9.
• I am gathering thoughts (and literature) here about Evidence-based web 2.0

What is medicine 2.0?

• For a discussion, see Eysenbach G. Medicine 2.0: social networking, collaboration, participation, apomediation, and openness. J Med Internet Res 2008;10(3):e22..

What is science 2.0?

• Waldrop MM. Science 2.0: Great New Tool, or Great Risk? Scientific American January 2008
  • See also Academic science 2.0 sites - 2009

Best practice examples

• Medicine: practicing medicine in the web 2.0 era (Quality web 2.0 tools for your practice or research)
• Bottles K. Patients, doctors and health 2.0 tools. July 2009
• One of the best web 2.0 blogs in medicine is Clinical Cases & Images, Ves Dimov, M.D.
• Another web 2.0 in medicine blog, by Bertalan Mesko, a Hungarian medical student is ScienceRoll and his Webicina site
  • See also other Bloggers in health & medicine
• Mesko B. Life After Second Life in Medicine. July 12th, 2009
• Dean's Selected List of Medical Wikis including MedPedia

Medical (or general) courses on web 2.0

• Bertalan Mesko's Med 2.0 course
• CHLA/ABSC Continuing Education(CE) Course - Social software in health libraries
• Cobus L. Using Blogs and Wikis in a Graduate Public Health Course. Medical Reference Services Quarterly. January 2009; 28(1):; 22-32
• LIBR 559M - Social Media for Information Professionals - UBC course taught for first time in fall 2009

Privacy & security

• Hughes B et al. Health 2.0 and Medicine 2.0: tensions and controversies in the field. J Med Internet Res. 2008 Aug 6;10(3):e23.
• Ian Kerr, Valerie Steeves. Lessons from the identity trail: anonymity, privacy and identity in a networked Society. Free online book.

Concerns expressed about web 2.0 in biomedicine

• Physicians do not have time to learn about web 2.0
• Social networking compromises patient safety, patient confidentiality and is intrusive
• Social networks rely on network effects; it takes time to build a social network (no members means no network)
• Scientists are not social when they are working; they are looking for solutions not people
• Social tools must help to solve existing (and pressing) problems; they must fit existing workflows
• Must outperform existing tools and services should have 100% reliability
• Unless social networks are useful, don't expect users to come to a wasteland; they won’t
• Post-docs need to communicate with each other face-to-face not online
• We are too dependent on mobile devices such as iPhone; go to the patient!

References

• Barsky E, Giustini D. Web 2.0 in physical therapy: a practical overview. Physiotherapy Canada, 2008; 60(3): 207-215.
• Barsky E, Giustini D. Introducing web 2.0: wikis for health librarians. JCHLA/JABSC 2007 28(4): 147-9
• Eysenbach G. Medicine 2.0: Social Networking, Collaboration, Participation, Apomediation, and Openness. J Med Internet Res 2008;10(3):e22..
• Chaplin S. Facebook for scientists: map your expertise. IU information scientists receive $1.8 million in ARRA funding. Monday, October 26, 2009
• Malloy L. Marsden blog. Medicine 2.0: Mixing up research and Web 2.0
• Top Web 2.0 Services in Medicine - 2010
• Best Practices in Virtual Worlds Teaching: A guide to using problem-based learning in Second Life http://previewpsych.org/BPD2.0.pdf