Blogs and Web 2.0 - Cuba Health Informatics 2007

Blogs, podcasts and Web 2.0 tools for developing social networks and collaborative professional knowledge development in health and nursing informatics conferences

Peter J. Murray, Scott Erdley, Margaret Hansen, Karl Øyri, Rod Ward

Peter J. Murray

Founding Fellow, CHIRAD, UK

W. Scott Erdley

Clinical Associate Professor, University at Buffalo, NY, USA

Margaret Hansen

Assistant Professor, The University of San Francisco, USA

Karl Øyri

Nurse manager, Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Norway

Rod Ward

Senior Lecturer, University of the West of England, UK

Blogs, podcasts and Web 2.0 tools

... and not forgetting our other co-conspirator ...

Bill Perry – Kettering Medical Center, Ohio, USA

Informaticopia -

Eclectic news and views on health informatics and elearning, by Rod Ward & colleagues.

http://www.rodspace.co.uk/blog/blogger.html


Toronto, Canada – May 2006

Exploring blogs as a collaborative tool

Seoul, Korea – June 2006

Collaborating on various blogs, podcasts,vodcasts and other projects

www.hi-blogs.info

www.differance-engine.net/rutgers2007

www.differance-engine.net/SINI2007blog

Also blogging on Informaticopia:

www.rodspace.co.uk/blog/blogger.html

Content

1. What is Web 2.0?

2. Blogs – some basics

3. Use of blogs for virtual conference participation - theory and practice

4. Wikis for collaborative documents and podcasts for education

5. Some lessons learned

6. Podcasts, wikis – a short introduction



Web 2.0

• Term originated in 2004 with O’Reilly

• Second generation of the Web

• Collaboration, interaction, customization

• Wikipedia takes on the challenge of trying to define and

explain Web 2.0

• “Web 2.0 doesn't have a hard boundary, but rather, a

gravitational core”


Web 2.0 websites are different from those of early web development, retroactively labeled Web 1.0.

They are designed to deliver interactive, versus static, applications to end-users. Their content is characterised by open communication, decentralised authority, and freedom to share and re-use materials across a more dynamic, interlinked and interactive World Wide Web.

They are often referred to as 'read/write web' applications.


Ajax

– Ajax = Asynchronous JavaScript and XML– Not a single technology – rather a group of technologies

working together – Truly interactive 2.0 applications– Uses

• XHTML and CSS for markup applications• JavaScript or Jscript to interact with display• XHR (xmlhttprequest) as API


Blogs (web logs), podcasts, and wikis constitute a sub-set of what are commonly described as Web 2.0 or social networking tools.

They increasingly provide international online communication and collaboration among nurses and health informaticians.

Many applications are available as libre/free and open source software and will run on all operating systems – eg GNU/Linux, Mac OS ...

(and Windoze if you must).


Blogs – some basics

A blog (or weblog) is a website in which messages are posted

and displayed with the newest at the top ... blogs often focus on

a particular subject ... Some blogs function as online diaries.

A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs,

web pages, and other media related to its topic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog


Blogs – structure (1/4)

A blog is usually edited, organised and published using a

Content Management System (CMS) ... many of are built with

Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP (LAMP) architecture.

Blogger (www.blogger.com) - owned by Google

WordPress (www.wordpress.com) - FLOSS

Serendipity (s9y.org ) - FLOSS



A blog entry typically consists of:

Title - main title, or headline, of the post. Body - main content of the post. Comments - comments added by readers Permalink - the URL of the full, individual article. Post Date - date and time the post was published.



A blog entry optionally includes the following:

Categories (or tags) - subjects that the entry discusses Trackback - links to other sites that refer to the entry

A blog site typically contains a list of links, or blogroll, of other

blogs that the blog author reads or affiliates with.




And then it starts to get interesting ;-))

Other embellishments we have used: automatic podcasts with text-to-speech software

eg Talkr, feed2podcast RSS feeds – Feedburner, etc. tags –Technorati, etc added swickis and other things





Why do we want to provide blogs for virtual conference participation?

- not everyone can get to conferences

- what goes on at such events may not be shared with others

- so much good learning may be 'lost' to most colleagues – or those most in need of it


Conferences provide an opportunity for both formal and informal professional development, social networking, and collaborative knowledge development.

Web 2.0 tools, many of which are also often described as social networking software, afford connection and collaboration among individuals who wish to affiliate with one another.


Why do we want to provide blogs for virtual conference participation?

- to provide virtual interaction for those unable to attend

- to promote the event

- to play with (explore) the technology

- to explore/research a collaborative model of blogging


Blogs for virtual conference participation

Some examples (either dedicated blogs or via Informaticopia):

Medinfo2004 (San Francisco) SINI2005, SINI2006 (Baltimore) MIE2005 (Geneva); MIE2006 (Maastricht) HC2005, HC2006 (Harrogate) EFMI STC2006 (Timisoara) NI2006 (Seoul) Rutgers2006 (Toronto) AMIA 2005, 2006 (Washington DC)



What we hoped for:

lots of people wanting to post items

lots of comments

lots of readers

demonstration of the collaborative model working.



What we found:

many promised but few delivered

the principal providers were the main bloggers

levels of use were lower than hoped

reminders to people help in readership levels

interaction is lower than hoped for


Blogs, interaction and participation – some evaluation data

Generally felt to be a useful adjunct to events Most felt was easy to use Should be available post-event (archive)

'...personal ancedotes give a sense of voyeurism...being there without actually being physically there.'

'I like the first person 'conversation' style - as though speaking directly to me. Informal, easy to follow and relate to. If I disagreed or had comments, I knew I could add the blog to benefit other readers.'


Blogs, interaction and participation – some lessons learned

Must be as easy as possible to access and participate- eg wireless – or people won't post during the event

Reminders boost readership

RSS feeds to email/browser


Blogs, interaction and participation – is it worth the effort? - where next?

We currently do new clean install for each blog- to try out new tools – but labour-intensive

May look at one site for multiple events – but possibleconfusion here

We believe it is worth it, and valuable to those who douse it- but need to boost both readership and interaction


Wikis and related beasts


-Wikis

- are dynamic, group-developed web pages that can be easily created and accessed via a browser

- the content may be updated or changed by anyone visiting the website.

- Wikis allow for asynchronous group socialisation, communication and collaboration and a tool for archiving documents, brainstorming, and collaborative writing.

Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page), Wikinews (www.wikinews.org/wiki/Health).


Writely (now Google docs and spreadsheets)

- was 'one of the top 10 technology applications affecting education in 2005

-- allows anyone to compose online and collaborate (write and edit) with others in real time

- some success in collaborative document development (eg conference paper submissions)


Podcasting

Margaret Hansen (prev. Maag)

Assistant Professor

School of Nursing

University of San Francisco


Podcasting

• A portmanteau of “broadcasting” and “iPod”

• Audio event, conversation, lecture, song, speech, group presentation

• Delivered via RSS• Mobile device synchronized with a

computer• “Push” “Pull” technology



Strengths of podcasting

– Instructor’s desire to assist students’ meta-cognitive skills

– Keep up with the reality of the students’ lives and use of media

– Academic podcasts easy to use: faculty and students

– Easy to access via iTunes or desktop– Students report being more engaged in lecture


• Concerns– Slackers will skip class!– Visual images not captured as in F2F

• Remedy may be podcasts with video• Future?

– Empirical research needed– N340 Principles and Methods Fall 06– An increase in number of faculty using MP3

technology in the classroom

Maagnursing: Podcasts. http://www.maagnursing.com/podcast/


Some future plans

medinfo2007 – provide virtual interactions for those unable to attend

EFMI Special Topic Conference on free/libre and open source software in health (London, September 2008)

- building virtual interaction before, during and after with blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc. plus Moodle

- deliberate attempts to share and generate knowledge

Watch for news on:www.chirad.infowww.hi-blogs.info

Further information and contact

www.hi-blogs.info

[email protected]


Technology

Blogs and Web 2.0 - Cuba Health Informatics 2007