Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
preferences, and usage patterns of individual researchers for usability and high
productivity. Online collaboration and a knowledge sharing framework allow
the researchers to interact with coresearchers through integrated e-mail, cal-
endaring, instant messaging, and Web conferencing. The researchers will be
able to insert annotations, research outcomes, and discover knowledge and
share them with coresearchers even in a different scientifi c discipline for inter-
disciplinary research.
18.5
SOCIAL COMPUTING
An emerging computing model for society on the Web is referred to as “social
computing” and can address the most critical success factors for clinical trials:
well-maintained open communication among the health care providers, clini-
cal trial sponsors, the media, and the public to overcome real and perceived
barriers to clinical research participation.
According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org), social computing is
defi ned as “systems that support the gathering, representation, processing, use,
and dissemination of information that is distributed across social collectivi-
ties such as teams, communities, organizations, and markets.” The key objec-
tives are to fi nd like-minded people, develop trusted relationships, and share
information (raw data, preprocessed data) and knowledge (result data,
discoveries).
The current younger generation are believed to fully leverage IT for per-
sonal networking and communications. In fact, they depend heavily on tech-
nology (e.g., cell phone, iPod, digital camera, PC, calculator) for their daily life,
such as text messaging with friends, listening to music, and writing reports for
school assignments. From a technology perspective, as commodity hardware
and software technologies reach the masses, computing power migrates to the
edge of the network and the computing power of the hand-held devices
becomes as powerful as that of desktop computers.
With the high-speed wireless network and powerful hand-held devices such
as cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), social computing
expanded its playing fi eld to the pervasive mobile infrastructure. Real-time
text messaging became the primary means of communication among the
younger generation.
If the health care providers, clinical trial sponsors, the media, and the
public use real-time text messaging to exchange ideas and up-to-date infor-
mation, some of the issues in clinical trials, such as overcoming real and per-
ceived barriers to clinical research participation and collecting current and
accurate data in a timely manner, can be fully addressed. Of course, security
issues and compliance with privacy laws must be addressed in order to
use text messaging as a means for communication and data collection in clini-
cal trials.
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