Comments for (the) health informaticist

Comment on Usefulness of social networking for scientists: greatly exaggerated? by Alan

Alan — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:02:35 +0000

I agree with much of what you say, and I’ve no doubt that as more people become more engaged with social networking sites it will become a richer medium. Many new technologies and web-sites have great excitement for a year or two, but that they then dwindle away into the void. I suspect twitter will be around for a while yet (though the number of twitterati remains very very small compared to e.g. the number of facebook users), but in the world of serious scientific research not much can be said in 140 characters. Having said that, it’s one way to meet new people who are working on similar things, and will carve itself a role. There are hundreds of millions of people out there commenting, blogging, tweeting, status updating etc themselves (the firehose of unfiltered information that slaps us in the face every time we turn a computer on), and no doubt many of them having interesting things to say, however as with any other profession, research scientists can only flit about on social networking sites for so long before turning off and buckling down to some real work

Comment on Usefulness of social networking for scientists: greatly exaggerated? by Danielle

Danielle — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:59:44 +0000

I think the subtext of what you have written is that someone who is highly specialised doesn’t have to bother with meeting new folks or deriving ideas and inspiration from the weird and wonderful things one can encounter, by following folks on Twitter, for example. Perhaps if they are at the end of their career and have other priorities, then I wouldn’t be surprised at this attitude (it reminds me of a psych prof of mine who was nearing retirement and obviously didn’t care much for trying to make his classes engaging or interesting. A prof whose classes I wished weren’t required!)

I would argue that the relationships that come from Twitter, blogging etc are of a quite different nature than those fostered through meeting up at conferences. They aren’t face to face. They are international (I am following someone who is a Aussie information architect/ tech whiz who tweets when I sleep). They are strictly informational- one can build relationships without small talk (or can one?-debatable). They are ‘take it or leave it.’ If you find yourself stuck in a boring discussion online-leave it, or start a more interesting one. It is simpler to tease out people’s interests online, I find, than at a dining table at a conference.

I think that Jiscmail serves a good purpose, but I personally find the interface for using it quite clunky (unless they’ve revamped it since I last logged in) and not optimised for discovering new and wonderful lists. I find the entire premise of listservs-that information is force-fed into your email account for you to sift through-wearying. I’d much rather login to something when I have the time, to discover discussions rather than have them clog up my email inbox. I understand that everyone does not share this view. I think that professionals are impoverishing themselves by turning a blind eye to social networking and probably missing out on grants, jobs ads, and discussions that are posted in unfamiliar (to them) spheres. It makes the web 2.0 sphere more interesting when more people are engaged.

Comment on Usefulness of social networking for scientists: greatly exaggerated? by Alan

Alan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:55:11 +0000

Also often highly specialised scientists know everybody else in their field anyway, meeting up at conferences etc. They’d probably argue what can social networking bring that I can’t already do through emails to established collaborators and the odd call for help through a specialist online noticeboard (e.g. JISCmail); now they DO have critical mass.

Comment on Patients on the Internet – choices choices by NursingJobsUK

NursingJobsUK — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:54:50 +0000

Definitely an interesting article. For patient state of mind it is vital for there to be one thoroughly comprehensive and trustworthy site.

Comment on Size matters by Which is bigger: HIV or rhinovirus? « Eric P. Green

Which is bigger: HIV or rhinovirus? « Eric P. Green — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:51:46 +0000

[...] HT: (the) health informaticis [...]

Comment on The curse of IE6 by Eli Bastin

Eli Bastin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:45:27 +0000

Thank you for this. In 2007-2008 NLH commissioned LBi to look into these personalisation and other interactive features, thinking to add these to MyLibrary. The data and research is therefore around about what healthcare professionals (etc!) need, use, value, and yet NHS Evidence does not appear to be developing in an evidence-based manner. What does the NHS work force need? What do they use? It’s all rather agonising.

Comment on Windows 7 ‘flying off the shelves’ (well, in my local PC World) by Alan

Alan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:38:36 +0000

My wee mousie is scampering happily across the desk, thanks for asking. I’m not sure when I’ll get a chance to try Windows 7, so we’d all appreciate a nice review post from someone who has… (was that a subtle enough hint?)

Comment on Windows 7 ‘flying off the shelves’ (well, in my local PC World) by Danielle

Danielle — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:33:21 +0000

How's your wee mousie, Alan? I wouldn't go so far as to organise a Microsoft tupperware party, and I've only just had a little look at Windows 7, but I think it isn't too bad. It seems quite quick (on ageing hardware) and the only silliness I've encountered so far is shaking a window to close the windows behind it. But I had to try it-a bit of fun, perhaps, because Bill Gates is ageing as well, and has let his hair down?

Comment on Accessing journals and other things by africker

africker — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:15:08 +0000

The BL have some fairly prehistoric systems. We recently moved to receiving the notifications in electronic form rather than paper. I think they are phasing them out in paper form.

The likely reason the electronic format message is so much longer and clearer is that it has been added in more recent times. The others date from pre web interface days.

Apparently they are modernising their systems so the old codes may soon be a thing of the past.

NOP NPUR as they say in Boston Spa.

Comment on The annual arrival of the CILIP AGM-foll … by Fashionable Earth

Fashionable Earth — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:44:06 +0000

yes ! we wrote about it as well. wash your hands with soap, kids: http://fashionableearth.org/blog/2009/10/15/global-handwashing-day/