How Web 2.0 is changing medicine - 0 views
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Anthony Robinson on 08 May 11In this article, Giustini (2006) explains how web 2.0 and it's intrinsic "spirit of open sharing and collaboration" aids the "continual loop of analysis and refinement" of medical information. Giustini (2006), like Maag (2005), uses the example of blogs - in this case Ves Dimovs's Clinical cases and Images - to demonstrate how online collaboration promotes interactive discussions and timely updates on peer-reviewed medical material. Giustini (2006) also touches on how Google can serve as a diagnostic aid, but this will be examined in my commentary on "Googling for a diagnosis" (Tang, 2006). This article is a valuable resource because it highlights another form of online collaboration: the wiki. Giustini (2006) sees wikis as a place "to create optimal knowledge building opportunities for doctors", which will ultimately advance medical science. Wikis can do this in a number of ways. Firstly, by providing an environment "where knowledge exchange is not limited or controlled by private interests" (Giustini, 2006). Wikis also allow "participation and conversations across a vast geographical expanse" and "permit continuous instant alerting to the latest ideas in medicine" (Giustini, 2006). Wikis could also be used "as a low cost alternative to commercial point of care tools". Giustini's occupation as a medical librarian at the University of British Columbia enhances the credibility of this article. This is why I have chosen it to demonstrate the positive effect online collaboration is having on the medical industry. This article is important because it places the idea of a medical wiki in a much larger context. By breaking down the "old proprietary notions of control and ownership" (Giustini, 2006) of knowledge, wikis "may be the answer to the world's inequities of information access in medicine" (Giustini, 2006). References: Giustini, D. (2006). How Web 2.0 is changing medicine. Retrieved April 16, 2011, from http://www.bmj.com/content/333/7582/1283.full Tan