Posts Tagged ‘Web 2.0’
Quoted on Government Health IT
April 2, 2007
On the Government Health IT blog, GHIT Notebook, in a post entitled “Bridging the (Disruptive) Divide“, my opinion about Web 2.0 on being disruptive in health care is noted. Specifically, I see Web 2.0 as a real issue for health care organizations which are policy driven and rely on medical authority as in direct conflict with the open-ended, flexible and non-authoritative nature of Web 2.0. At the same time, Web 2.0 is based on collaboration, the central focus of medical practice at least in group practice settings.
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The Growing Impact of Social Media
March 27, 2007
Today I attended the meeting of the Web Association in Cleveland to hear some of the local bloggers talk about Web 2.0 trends. The speakers were George Nemeth of Brewed Fresh Daily, John Ettorre of Working With Words and Dan Hanson of Great Lakes Geek and other ventures, many of which now include podcasts. One of them brought up the Long Tail concept and made me wonder, has this been applied to health care? Is much of web marketing in health care focused on the big money procedures like heart disease while the long tail of many diseases and conditions may hold a wealth of opportunities?
Three value propositions were cited for blogs in business: education (how tos, etc.), communication and marketing/brand awareness including improved search engine position.
Share this:Cleveland 2.0 – Avatars and Innovations
March 17, 2007
Today I attended Cleveland 2.0 – a new confederation of business, education, the arts and healthcare to move the “best-kept secret” city to a new level using Web 2.0 innovations. One of the features was a new island in the virtual word, Second Life, representing the city of Cleveland including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic. This growing phenomenon may just seem like a new toy for the gaming set but companies are investing in becoming the first to set up shop in this world, for instance, Reuters.
The meeting generated hundreds of ideas with planned followups for each topic group. Since the groups have entrepreneurs as well as a social conscience, great things are possible. Unfortunately, health care, such as large force in the city, was under represented. More as this unique phenomenon develops.
If you haven’t watched the “Web 2.0 – the Machine is Us” video on YouTube, do it now.
Share this:New Medical Wiki Gaining Interest
March 15, 2007
Cardiology fellows at the Cleveland Clinic have established www.askdrwiki.com with a growing catalog of cardiology information for physicians and other medical professionals. The wiki includes videos, images and text with a growing group of screened participants. This is a good example use of Web 2.0 technology in health care using techniques to control who contributes but allowing collaboration among professionals as a way of building a knowledge base. They have been cited by the journal Nature.
Share this:Cleveland 2.0
March 10, 2007
I have been invited to attend a half day meeting and brainstorming session in Cleveland on using Web 2.0 technologies to meet community needs through becoming more of a connected community. It’s a great idea called Cleveland 2.0 which is being sponsored by Case Western Reserve University, my alma mater. Specifically it is the brain child of Lev Gonick, CIO of the university. His treatise on Web 2.0 and Cleveland is extensive. Some of the proposed ideas are:
- A common, replicable and scalable web 2.0 framework enabling citizens to propose legislation in their cities
- Personal Digital Citizen Initiative – a device for all low income people
- PledgeBank is a web 2.0-enabled site to help people get things done, especially things that require lots of participants
- The Cleveland Health Interpreters Network
- International Center for High Definition Presence in Support of the Arts and Culture
Should be an exciting day. Will report more after the fact.
Share this:Web 2.0 for Patients in the UK
March 9, 2007
A comment from ICTconsequences, I was pointed to a website in the UK which proposes to improve the National Health Service there through allowing users to give their opinions about their care at local hospitals. Patient Opinion includes search options as well as sorting responses by hospital and key words, like “food”, procedure (hip replacement), nursing care, disabled parking, etc. It is good to see positives and negatives as well as mixed reviews. What could be one long complaint posting board really gives the spectrum of experiences. Given the recent revelations at Walter Reed Hospital here in the US, we could use similar tools to start an earlier groundswell about patterns of problems in our hospitals. However, in the legal environment of US healthcare, would such a site be misused?
Share this:Web 2.0 in Health Care – Where’s the Value
March 6, 2007
Today I was interviewed by Government HealthIT regarding Web 2.0 adoption in Healthcare. If you have been reading my blog, you know my answer is – gradual adoption, wait and see. Some of the reasons for this is that Web 2.0 is a disruptive technology and especially so toward healthcare. Specifically, health care organizations, especially hospitals and medical practices are risk adverse (read liability crisis). Healthcare typically view information as authoritative and works hard at controlling that authority through clinical trials and the peer review process. This way health care information is owned by authoritative sources which maintain the public’s trust. Web 2.0 promotes that content is owned by all and that truth is achieved through social networking (e.g., Wikipedia). At the same time, healthcare has always been a collaborative science and for decades, patient advocacy movements, such as, cancer survivors, have interacted online in social networks.
Conclusion: Web 2.0 concepts have been present in healthcare for a long time but at the same time the technology is perceived as a threat. A contradiction? No, just a social trend which will take time to sort out.
Share this:Steve Case on Good Morning America
February 22, 2007
On his blog, Steve comments on his appearance on this mainstream morning show. He seems irritated with Tim Johnson’s old school approach. A video of the interview is posted on YouTube. He believes in a mix of standard medical information from trusted sources (Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic) and social networking. Some skepticism of the interviewers on personal health records brought him back to his consumer advocacy stance – he wants the consumer to be in charge of their health information. He really wants to jumpstart change in health care, and his is one of the strongest Web 2.0 approaches in health care yet.
Share this:More on Web 2.0 in Health Care
February 22, 2007
In a post from December on Connected For Health Discussion Forum, Sally Lakeman from Australia asks some provocative questions:
- “Using social networking tools, is it possible for us to deliver health solutions that encourage the patient to actively participate in an online environment?
- Can we create an online space where people can not only manage their conditions but are encouraged to create, participate and collaborate in driving online health applications?”
Some interesting comments follow including an emphasis on the need for secure data exchange (from Web 2.0 technologies?) and the fact that these technologies will consume us in the health care professions rather than us consuming them.
Still more questions and hypotheses than answers.
Share this:Wall Street Journal on Social Bookmarking
February 21, 2007
In a rare move, the WSJ posted a free article last week on this topic. It’s a good review of all the major sites – Digg, Del.icio.us, and others and their potential business models including being purchased by the big internet portals.
Some choice quotes on the debate about their future:
“Though these sites are undeniably popular, there’s ongoing debate about whether the model of filtering content through voting ultimately will pose a challenge to traditional media. Some say the voting-site approach can more quickly distill what’s important for busy readers.”
“But critics say it’s simply an aggregate of borrowed content and links to a relatively small pool of blogs. And while they sometimes drive traffic to Web sites that are spotlighted, the spike can be temporary. “Influence implies that I can change your mind and they’re not necessarily doing that,” says Duncan Watts, a professor of sociology at Columbia University.”
But the question remains, is even temporary influence in the Internet world a real event? Is the definition of influence shifting in Web 2.0? What does this mean for healthcare? As I have said before, social networking and tagging in health care is at the early stages and may sort out in the next 6-12 months.
Also, check out this comment by if:book
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