Implementation of Web 2.0-services in the Norwegian Electronic Health Library
|
If you are the presenter of this abstract (or if you cite this abstract in a talk or on a poster), please show the QR code in your slide or poster (QR code contains this URL). |
Abstract
The Norwegian Electronic Health Library is a government funded website for Norwegian health personnel. The website provides national access to a wide array of scientific journals, major databases, clinical decision support, rating scales and clinical guidelines. Being a portal with predominantly static content and a one-to-many approach, the website contrasts with interactive, dynamic web services labelled "Web 2.0" where active participation from the users is necessary to expand.
Our objective was to assess benefits and limitations in different Web 2.0 services and to pilot some of the services in our website. We searched for blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, social bookmarking sites, blogs, wikis and social networking websites aimed at health personnel, and published in English or Norwegian. The identification of sites was performed by searching through databases, portals, websites, general search engines and reference lists. The results were published in a Norwegian medical journal.
Important benefits of the services offered include asynchronous use, automatic updates and personalization. Transparency, dialogue and more specialized communities of practice are other possible advantages of the services. Potential disadvantages include questionable quality of content, privacy concerns, problems of retrievability, ownership and a "chronic state of temporariness". The dynamics driving Web 2.0 services in the domain of amateurs does not necessarily apply to experts.
The Electronic Health Library is gradually putting into use different Web 2.0 services on its Mental Health Specialist Library. RSS feeds from major journals and from automated searches in the Norwegian Google News is extensively used in the mental health specialist library to provide dynamic content. Through tailor-made Google Coop searches users can search for pasient information, Open Access journals and government information in a list of quality-assessed websites. Quality assessments and project plans are produced collaboratively on web-based word-processors and spreadsheets and are linked to from the website, reducing the problems of distance and version control. The mental health specialist library has established and improved more than 30 Norwegian Wikipedia entries within the mental health field, as this online collaborative encyclopedia is an important information source to patients, yet still has varying content. Our long-term goal is to move from today's practice of extensive deep linking to automated services, which would decrease the workload as well as make our content more updated and complete. We have thus suggested to the Cochrane Library and to the Guidelines International Network that they make their new reviews and guidelines available with the use of topic specific RSS feeds.
Six months after starting applying Web 2.0 services in our website, the share of refferals from search engines has doubled. The number of front page views in the specialist library has increased by 15 percent during the period. It has proved difficult to evaluate on a more specific level the results of the adjustments.
References:
www.helsebiblioteket.no
www.helsebiblioteket.no/Psykisk+helse
Eiring et al. Blogg, RSS og podkast i medisin og helsefag. Michael 2008;5:24-39.
Our objective was to assess benefits and limitations in different Web 2.0 services and to pilot some of the services in our website. We searched for blogs, podcasts, RSS feeds, social bookmarking sites, blogs, wikis and social networking websites aimed at health personnel, and published in English or Norwegian. The identification of sites was performed by searching through databases, portals, websites, general search engines and reference lists. The results were published in a Norwegian medical journal.
Important benefits of the services offered include asynchronous use, automatic updates and personalization. Transparency, dialogue and more specialized communities of practice are other possible advantages of the services. Potential disadvantages include questionable quality of content, privacy concerns, problems of retrievability, ownership and a "chronic state of temporariness". The dynamics driving Web 2.0 services in the domain of amateurs does not necessarily apply to experts.
The Electronic Health Library is gradually putting into use different Web 2.0 services on its Mental Health Specialist Library. RSS feeds from major journals and from automated searches in the Norwegian Google News is extensively used in the mental health specialist library to provide dynamic content. Through tailor-made Google Coop searches users can search for pasient information, Open Access journals and government information in a list of quality-assessed websites. Quality assessments and project plans are produced collaboratively on web-based word-processors and spreadsheets and are linked to from the website, reducing the problems of distance and version control. The mental health specialist library has established and improved more than 30 Norwegian Wikipedia entries within the mental health field, as this online collaborative encyclopedia is an important information source to patients, yet still has varying content. Our long-term goal is to move from today's practice of extensive deep linking to automated services, which would decrease the workload as well as make our content more updated and complete. We have thus suggested to the Cochrane Library and to the Guidelines International Network that they make their new reviews and guidelines available with the use of topic specific RSS feeds.
Six months after starting applying Web 2.0 services in our website, the share of refferals from search engines has doubled. The number of front page views in the specialist library has increased by 15 percent during the period. It has proved difficult to evaluate on a more specific level the results of the adjustments.
References:
www.helsebiblioteket.no
www.helsebiblioteket.no/Psykisk+helse
Eiring et al. Blogg, RSS og podkast i medisin og helsefag. Michael 2008;5:24-39.
Medicine 2.0® is happy to support and promote other conferences and workshops in this area. Contact us to produce, disseminate and promote your conference or workshop under this label and in this event series. In addition, we are always looking for hosts of future World Congresses. Medicine 2.0® is a registered trademark of JMIR Publications Inc., the leading academic ehealth publisher.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.