Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
sources support tagging by users (i.e. JSTOR, PLoS, PubMed, and ScienceDirect).
Human knowledge, captured in the categorization and characterization of articles, or
web sources in general, can be exploited by intelligent agents in order to provide rec-
ommendations about related sources or tags.
Cyberspaces
Although the term
cyberspace
dates back into 80's, it is becoming more and more
realistic nowadays. The improvement of 3-D visualization technologies and the need to
refurbish the link-based Web surfing allowed the development of new platforms and
virtual environments, which allow users to replace accounts with avatars, hypertext with
interactive 3-D objects and browsing with walking, flying and teleporting. The educa-
tional possibilities of these virtual environments are many [2] and the projects and
workgroups that have been created are numerous [20] (e.g. the IBM 3D Virtual Health-
care Island in Second Life, the OpenSim project that can be deployed individually).
It is obvious, that all the services presented above, differ from typical web services,
in the multitude and nature of information sources they cover and the way of enhanc-
ing and exploiting this information.
3.2 The Structure of Medical Community
A medical community that will encompass all the people interested in medical issues
should be open to new members. Trustfulness is critical in medical issues and specifi-
cally in medical consultation, so the identity of consultants has to be valid and acces-
sible to the community members. In the same time, the anonymity is necessary (or at
least helpful) for patients that seek for consultation.
Information/content providers and information consumers are the two main types
of users. The former should necessarily use their real identities, whereas the latter can
remain anonymous or behind use virtual personas. Information consumers (i.e. pa-
tients, people asking about medical issues etc) can potentially become providers, since
their questions, remarks and bookmarks are made available to the community.
However, the quality of this content is questionable. Moderators, administrators and
facilitators stand in-between the two types of users and are responsible for the smooth
operation of the community. They control the registration process and guarantee the
validity of expert members' identities.
The community members are able to form groups inside the community based on
common needs and interests. The needs of each group are different and sometimes con-
tradictory. It is necessary for the community to allow members to communicate their
similarities and join their forces, whilst protecting their individuality. A healthcare
community can attract scientists and researchers, doctors and nurses, patients and people
with personal interests in medicine and healthcare, companies. More specifically:
•
Scientists and researchers join the community in order to exchange knowl-
edge and promote their science. They communicate with patients, analyze
surveys' results and population statistics and get useful feedback on patient
needs, on medical issues that arise etc. They co-operate with other scientists
for their experiments and disseminate their findings to companies and indi-
viduals. They also give useful directions to medical associations concerning
public health.
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