Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
7.1
SCENARIO: COLLABORATION TOMORROW
We conclude by revisiting Martha's scenario from the Introduction, envisioning how her search
might have progressed if she had access to some of the emerging technologies discussed throughout
this lecture.
At her doctor's appointment, Martha learns that her recent breathing difficulties have been
caused by asthma. Martha's doctor prescribes some steroid medications to ease her breathing, and
using the computer in the exam room, augments Martha's electronic health record with a medical
search stub containing links to trusted websites describing the medication, as well as medical termi-
nology used during the appointment that Martha had asked him to define for her. When Martha
returns to her office, she logs into her health record and uses the search terms and sites her doctor
entered there as a jumping-off point to learn more about the treatments he prescribed, as well as the
factors that might have contributed to her adult-onset asthma.
Martha's search yields several results claiming to list causes of and treatments for asthma,
but she is able to choose which to explore in-depth because her browser shows her which results
come from domains that were rated as trusted by her physician. One of these sites mentions that
environmental factors can be an asthma trigger, and it lists several common household irritants. She
wants to share this list with her husband, who isn't online at the moment, so she uses the browser's
“share” feature and selects her husband's identity from her contacts list.
When Martha returns home, she tells her husband, George, about her desire to check whether
their home contains any of the irritants she learned about online. They turn on their family computer,
and when George opens the browser he can see that Martha has shared a webpage with him; clicking
the notification opens the list of household irritants in his browser. George scrolls through the article
quickly, so Martha opens her mobile phone browser and tells it to synch to the nearest PC, enabling
her to view the same content as George, but to read it at her own pace. As George and Martha each
read through the list, they annotate the webpage to indicate which items they know don't apply to
their home; their annotations are synched across their devices in real time, and soon they can see
that the only irritant neither of them can confirm is not present in their home is mold.
George begins searching for information on local mold-inspection companies. Martha receives
a phone call from her sister, Beth, so she exits the session in order to take the call, but knows it will
be easy for her to see George's queries and findings the next time she logs into her browser. Martha
discusses her diagnosis with Beth. Since Beth is concerned about her condition, Martha adds Beth to
the list of people who can access her search materials on asthma. After their phone conversation, Beth
reviews the materials from Martha's search, and she sees that Martha and George are considering
mold-removal as a preventative treatment option. Beth recalls that her friend Jim, who lives near
Martha, considered using a mold-removal service last year, and she sends a note to Jim asking him
whether he has any information that could help Martha and George select a reliable company.
Although it's been a year since Jim conducted his search, he is able to check his browser's
topical search-session history to return to the collection of queries and pages he used in making
his choice. His search includes comments he added to several companies' sites containing pricing
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