NOTE FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
On behalf of the Editorial Board, I am pleased to introduce this guest editorial by two health sciences reference librarians at the University of British Columbia. The first author, Eugene Barsky, served also as the Physiotherapy Outreach Librarian for the Physiotherapy Association of British Columbia (PABC) from 2006 to 2008. During his tenure in that position, Eugene provided dozens of extremely helpful podcasts to PABC members, as well as helping individual members perform Web-based literature searches to enhance their practice. The recipient of the Emerging Leader Award by the Canadian Health Libraries Association and the Partnership Award by the Canadian Physiotherapy Association for his work as the PABC outreach librarian, Eugene has contributed immensely to enhancing evidence-based practice among PABC members.
Susan R. Harris, Editor-in-Chief
In this guest editorial, we focus on the tools of Web 2.0: blogs, wikis, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, social networking sites, and podcasting. We believe that social software transforms how physical therapists (PTs) obtain, process, and exchange information and how they adopt best practices. The World Wide Web provides a well-connected network of practitioners within which knowledge exchange is open and social—two important features of Web 2.0.1–3 Open exchange of information and the freedom to share ideas are facilitated by new technology. What impact do new information tools have on PTs? How can these new tools be used to improve patient care?
BLOGS
Blogs are online journals, published chronologically, with links to and commentary on various issues of interest.4 Many blogs are constructed around a common theme or purpose, and authors post thoughts that revolve around a discussion of research or current events. Blogs engage people in knowledge sharing, and they can attract a large and dedicated readership; they draw virtual groupings of individuals interested in co-constructing knowledge around a common topic within a community of practice.5 Moreover, blogs frequently allow discussions of scientific issues that do not typically take place in the scientific literature.6
Some popular PT blogs are
MyPhysicalTherapySpace (http://blog.myphysicaltherapyspace.com), defined as “an education and business practice consultation company whose sole reason for existence is to create and promote a culture of evidence-based practice within the physiotherapy profession”
Physiospot blogs (http://www.physiospot.com/), defined by musculoskeletal, sports, women's health, neurology, paediatrics, cardiorespiratory, and orthopaedics topics that aim to “to provide a set of research article blogs that allow physiotherapists to easily stay up-to-date with current research”
UBC Physio Info-Blog (http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/physio/), by Eugene Barsky, a physiotherapy librarian at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Library, whose goal is to “discuss physiotherapy informatics with an emphasis on Evidence-Based Practice”
Two specific search engines that specialize in searching blogs are
Google Blog Search (http://blogsearch.google.com/), a specialized search engine for working with blog posts only
Medworm (http://www.medworm.com), a collection of blog posts organized by subject, including one for physiotherapy (http://www.medworm.com/blogs/index.php/Physical-Therapists/130/)
REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION (RSS) FEEDS
RSS provides a way to follow updates that take place on the Internet. Typically, users subscribe to RSS feeds using aggregators that link to news several times an hour. Aggregators display new feeds and help users to access items.7
RSS feeds can be any of the following:
Blog updates: By regularly updating their blogs, many health professionals have become part of the media. Any RSS feeds set up will allow blog readers to stay informed as a blogger posts new information.
Newspapers and journals articles: The majority of newspapers and scientific journals provide new content via RSS feeds. For instance, the New York Times health section feed notifies subscribers about new content published in the health section at the moment this information goes live.
Press releases and announcements: RSS feeds can be very useful for more formal announcements. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides a number of RSS feeds, including the agency's press releases, recent recalls, withdrawals, and institutional alerts, at http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/rss.html.
News and database updates: Some major services such as Google News (http://news.google.ca/intl/en_ca/news_feed_terms.html) and PubMed (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/techbull/mj05/mj05_rss.html) provide search results in RSS format. RSS is now a popular way to stay current with news and recently published research in specific areas of practice.
A special tool called an RSS reader or aggregator enables users to read RSS feeds. One example of a simple, free Web-based aggregator is Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com/). Because this is a Web-based tool, there is no software to download, and subscribed feeds can be accessed from any Internet-connected machine. What is important is that RSS feeds provide a useful way to avoid information overload. They organize online content from the best blogs and evidence-based sites. RSS feeds are indispensable for following new trends and obtaining up-to-date information.
PODCASTING
Podcasts are digital files that can be downloaded and listened to using portable devices or at the user's desktop. Free (or low-cost) software makes it easy to subscribe to podcasts using RSS feeds; an iPod is not needed in order to listen to podcasts; any MP3 player, laptop, or desktop computer with speakers and media software, such as Windows Media Player or Real Networks RealOne Player, is sufficient.
Podcasting is used in medical schools to deliver student lectures and consumer health information.3–4, 8 A few free, general medical podcasts are
Johns Hopkins Podcasts (http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/mediaII/Podcasts.html)
Nature magazine podcasts (http://www.nature.com/nature/podcast/index.html)
Scientific American podcasts (http://www.sciam.com/podcast/)
In physical therapy, there are at least two free podcasting services:
UBC Physiotherapy Outreach podcasts (http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/physio/podcasts/), recorded by Eugene Barsky and focusing on evidence-based practice in physical therapy
American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) podcasts (http://tinyurl.com/2zrhhw), provided by the APTA with the intent of keeping physical therapists up to date on timely issues
Podscope (http://www.podscope.com/), from TVEyes (http://www.tveyes.com/), is one of the first tools to allow users to search by keyword and proceed directly to where words are spoken in the programme (transcript search); Podscope is a good place to start searching for podcasts.
Podcasting is in its infancy, but it continues to grow in popularity as it receives more attention, better functionality, and more awareness thanks to iPods and MP3 players. Podcasts are particularly useful in remote communities where PTs have limited access to continuing education.
WIKIS
A wiki is a collection of pages that allows users to add, remove, or edit content.3 Wikis are used to share and exchange ideas, with no requirement for knowledge of mark-up languages; their critical feature is “Web-based editing,” which allows learners to create content and track changes using the “histories” feature stored in an underlying database.9 Wikis can be used as information sources and to collaborate with others (e.g., in group learning, where wikis offer a collaborative environment to construct new knowledge or belong to a virtual community of practice).5
The most popular wiki is definitely Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.org), which has more than a million articles. Its model surpasses the size of most conventional encyclopaedias, such as the Encyclopædia Britannica, and it is is now the ninth most visited Web site.10 A comparison of Wikipedia and the Encyclopædia Britannica revealed a similar number of errors and inaccuracies in both sources.11
An example of a popular, expert-moderated wiki in health sciences is Ask Dr. Wiki (http://www.askdrwiki.com), “a nonprofit educational Web site made by physicians for physicians, medical students, and healthcare providers. Its purpose is to serve as an online repository of medical information that can be accessed by anyone.” As part of Ask Dr. Wiki's detailed editorial policy (http://tinyurl.com/3d09rq), authors must be approved as physicians before they can edit.
As of this writing, the authors are not aware of a specific wiki for PTs. We have noticed a sharp increase in the use of wikis in medicine in 2007. To view the range of the 50-plus medical wikis in development, see David Rothman's comprehensive list of health-related wikis on his blog (http://davidrothman.net/list-of-medical-wikis/).
Interestingly, some physicians and health librarians have expressed concerns about using wikis to create reference works, suggesting that poor authority and editorial controls lead to medical errors.3,9 We believe that wikis are not meant to replace trusted print and digital information. When used as part of an overall content-management plan, however, wikis can enhance traditional reference sources. Wikis will likely continue their rise over the coming years, and will lead to applications of this technology for PTs.
SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES (SNSs)
Social networking sites are relatively new kinds of virtual communities, structured to build upon relationships that members have with each other by being part of a larger community. These sites collect data about members and store these data as user profiles. The data, or profiles, are shared among site members. SNSs offer a free, easy way to create personal Web pages and fill them with content: blogs, digital photographs, music, and short video clips. Social networks are formed as members link their Web pages to those of their friends and search through the vast number of profiles in search of new friends who might share common interests.12
One example of the power of SNSs is Patient Opinion (http://patientopinion.org.uk/), whose members share opinions about their caregivers. Health care providers have initiated services like CarePages (http://www.carepages.com/), used by the University of Pennsylvania Hospital to connect patients and family members, which shares information between health professionals and nursing staff for patients in long-term care.3
Two popular SNSs are
MySpace (http://www.myspace.com), the world's sixth most popular site and the sixth most popular in any language,10 with a groups feature to share common pages and message boards
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/), available to users who will indicate their age range, where users join one or more participating networks, such as high school, place of employment, or geographic region
A few SNSs are designed for health professionals:
Sermo (http://www.sermo.com), endorsed by the American Medical Association (AMA), is a networking site “where physicians around the nation exchange the latest medical insights with each other and improve patient outcomes—24/7.”
Nurse LinkUp (http://nurselinkup.com/) is an online community for nursing professionals, student nurses, and those involved or interested in nursing and health care.
Generally, PTs use one of the SNSs mentioned above, as there are no specific tools for PTs.
Unfortunately, SNSs have had their share of infighting, and are susceptible to “hate campaigns” against vulnerable groups and even to the online exploitation of minors. Because they offer little or no protection against fraudulent online profiles, we recommend that users beware.2
CONCLUSIONS
The dominant feature of Web 2.0 is social interaction, which is facilitated by social software tools. Most social computing tools are free and help PTs to connect with information and with other PTs. Web 2.0 is a democratic space where PTs can collaborate and communicate, free of strictures and barriers. As it evolves, the World Wide Web should remain an open and optimal learning space. For this space to be used well, information technology experts within the profession of physiotherapy will be needed to advocate for increased awareness of its benefits and to teach PTs how to use these tools effectively as part of an overall information-management plan.
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