Web 2.0 and Pediatrics

The world-wide web technology has been with us since the last two decades and continues to provide access to endless amounts of information. Unlike the previously used static pages on the net (Web 1.0), Web 2.0 refers to using, sharing and exchanging information on the world-wide web on an open platform.(1)

Web 2.0 is primarily about the benefits of easy to use and free internet software. It includes blogs and wikis which facilitate participation and conversations across a wide geographical expanse. Information pushing devices, like RSS feeds, permit continuous instant alerts to the latest ideas in medicine. Multimedia tools like podcasts and videocasts are nowadays popular as a virtual information source in the medical schools in the west.(1,2)

A blog (WEBLOG) is a web site that contains dated entries in reverse chronological order (most recent first) about a particular topic. It essentially functions as an online journal. Entries contain important text, abstracts, commentary, links to other web sites, and images.(3,4)

Unintelligent Design http:/www.theclayexperience. blogspot.com/

Pediatric Grand Rounds http://pgrarchive. blogspot.com/

Neonatal Doc http://www.neonataldoc. blogspot.com/

Blog MD http://blogmd.samblackman.org/

Podcasting is about creating content (audio or video – vodcasts) for an audience. Users can listen to podcasts and watch vodcasts on their computer (e.g., using Windows Media Player), or download to portable MP3/MP4 players and listen/watch on the move, which is perfect for the busy health professional.(3,5)

Nature http://www.nature.com/nature/podcast/index.html

New England Journal of Medicine http://content.nejm.org/misc/podcast.shtml

Medicine-net http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=47344

A wiki is a collaborative web site whose content can be edited by anyone who has access to it. The best example of a wiki is ‘Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopedia’, easily accessible on the net. Wikis can be used as a source for obtaining information and knowledge, and also as a method of virtual collaboration, e.g., to share useful information among participants in group projects.(2,3)

Similar to podcasting, RSS (Real Simple Syndication) uses XML file formats to allow Internet users to subscribe to websites with rapidly changing content, such as news sites or blogs, and regularly download text files to a mobile or personal digital assistant (PDA).

RSS feeds help to organise new web content, in real time by the best medical blogs, evidence based sites like the Cochrane Library and Pubmed, and newly published video and audio from major medical journals. One of the latest websites to offer RSS feeds is PubMed, which has just announced that daily search results now can be exported and sent automatically to your RSS news reader.(2,3)

Medical RSS feed directory http://www.rss4medics.com/directory.html

Sidharth Kumar Sethi,
Fellow, Pediatric Nephrology,
Division of Pediatric Nephrology,
Department of Pediatrics,
All India Institute of Medical Sciences,
New Delhi-110029
E mail: [email protected]

1. Giustini D. How Web 2.0 is changing medicine. BMJ 2006(23);333:1283-4.

2. Barsky E. Introducing Web 2.0: weblogs and podcasting for health librarians. J Can Health Libr Assoc 2006;27:33-4.

3. Boulos MN, Maramba I, Wheeler S. Wikis, blogs and podcasts: a new generation of Web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education. BMC Med Educ 2006; 6: 41.

4. Chesanow N. Doctors and "blogs". Med Econ. 2004;81:33–37.

5. Anon: Podcasting in medicine. J Vis Commun Med 2005;28:176. doi: 10.1080/0140511060-0560128.