(the) health informaticist

collaborative blogging for health, fun and, erm, profit

http://healthinformaticist.wordpress.com/

• What our blog is all about

• The origins of (the) health informaticist

• The experience of collaborative blogging

• Top posts

• Connections to other organisations

• Plans for the future

Outline

Who we are

Hanna: Researches clinical guidelines for NICE. Science nut. Involved with SLA Europe and the LIKE group. Loves a good argument.

Alan F: NHS librarian of longish standing and above average height. A past Chair of HLG and is on more committees than he cares to own up to. His enthusiasm for all things info is occasionally scary to other, more slapdash tHI authors. The only one of us who is a MCLIP

Danielle: Charities, Sharepoint, BMJ, NICE guidelines, question-answering services, Cochrane, CILIP Gazette. You name it, Dani has done it. Also really quite tall. Oh, and she’s Canadian too

Alan L: Lonely information specialist for small EBM company Bazian. As well as the usual searching stuff also looks after knowledge management, intranet, webpage etc, and manages a few BMJ journals. Failed academic

We’re not the only collaborative blog out there…

Library Garden

In the Library with the leadpipe

TechCrunch

Pubmed Search Strategies

How it all started

1. To encourage me to become and remain more aware of current developments in my field;

2. To act as a notepad or journal of interesting things I've read or heard about…;

3. To possibly act as a useful current awareness tool for others in the field of health informatics.

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Why switch to group format?

• Lazy founder-blogger, needed help

• More frequent posts would attract more readers. Also surely co-bloggers would read posts?

• Group blog would allow differing points of view on issues

• Founder-blogger is sole info specialist in small company - wanted friends

Why only four bloggers?

• Tried to find some others but difficult to find regular contributors

• Could still add more but as now a group blog would be more of a group decision

• Felt a good range of sectors / views had been reached

Best and WorstTop Posts Guides on how to develop integrated care Clinical Reader: Malicious or just stupid? Boots teams up to Web MD Authentication is confusing Rate your doctor

Not so hot (2010’s underachievers) Looking to the Future of CILIP – if anyone can be bothered… Group blogs- what’s your experience- this drew a blank! HBR’s predictions for working in 2010 - filler, I admit. Medlib’s Rounds- why oh why? Suggestion Tools – this was even illustrated!

Top 10 Search Terms

informaticist boots md health informaticist cochrane guidelines rate your doctor is google street view a threat to privacy integrated care pathways integrated care pathways nhs buy sativex commonly misspelled medical words

Benefits of group blogging

• Raise profile – and motivate yourself to keep up to date as you need something to write about

• Profitable – not monetarily but you get out what you put in, broaden your horizons, learn about other aspects of information management

• Fun – meet new people, argue about issues down the pub

And some disadvantages…

• Lack of personal brand or consistent voice

• There is the potential for two posts on same topic , though this is rare

• Everyone might decide to post on the same day, then quiet for a fortnight

• Design – we can never agree on what looks good

• stats envy: “how come that post got more views than mine?”

Connections to other organisations and outreach

• Recommended resource for journalists (Cochrane Library)

• Listed on Medpedia

• Cross posting on Twitter / Linkedin- Twitter a top referrer!

• Personal connections to professional groups

• LIKE group

Future plans

• Market ourselves more

• Find an interface we can all love

• Find a few more blog authors – anyone interested?

Did we mention the

pubs?

(the) health informaticist

Any questions?

http://healthinformaticist.wordpress.com/