OrganizedWisdom Health Blog

Coming Soon: The NEW OrganizedWisdom.com

We are in final preparations to unveil a completely "BRAND SPANKING NEW" OrganizedWisdom.com this fall, coinciding with presentations at the three biggest online health industry conferences including Health 2.0 in San Francisco on September 20th, URAC's 8th Annual Quality Summit & Exhibit in Las Vegas on October 4-5th and the 6th Annual Center for Information Therapy Conference in Park City, Utah on October 8th - 10th.

We've learned a ton since we launched the first phase of OrganizedWisdom in late 2006 when we began building the OrganizedWisdom brand as an “organizer of health wisdom." We've been very busy this summer rebuilding the business and the Web site from the ground up so if you'd like to be the first to preview it, send me an email to steve [at] organizedwisdom [dot] com and we'll be sure to
notify you when you can come try it.

Have a great holiday weekend.

Why Social Graphing Will Overtake Machine-based Search in 4 Years

There has been a major trend brewing on the Web and over the coming months and years it is going to completely change how we find and get information.  Robert Scoble calls it Social Graphing, and explains it in these 3 videos: 

Part I of Social Graph Based Search. 14:41 minutes.
Part II of Social Graph Based Search. 15 minutes.
And a bonus round III. 6 minutes.

The truth is, as a result of Search Engine Optimizers and the ease with which anyone can publish and distribute content, the Web has become a cluttered wasteland.  Not only is there too many mediocre bits and bytes of information as a result of all this excess, but these SEOs have figured out how to game systems like Google.  Furthermore, search engines do a poor job or organizing all of this information.

That's why so many people are searching for information, but not actually finding what they want without completing multiple searches. 

A crop of new social media sites and services are going to resolve the search problem.  That's because as Scoble says, "Humans are better than machines."  He goes on to say that the power is in fabric of a trusted network.  In his videos, Scoble does an amazing job of clearly explaining why humans are better than machines.

Because Google does not understand social behaviors there is no doubt that humans will play a major role in organizing the Web in the years to come.

Who's joining Unity at Health 2.0? Only you can decide

OrganizedWisdom's own Unity Stoakes will be among the panelists on "Social Media for Patients" at the Health 2.0 User-Generated Healthcare conference next month in San Francisco. The organizers have one spot left on the panel, and they can't decide who it should be! So they're taking a poll. Choose your favorite from the candidates listed here.

Medicine 2.0 Blog Carnival

Thank you to everyone who sent submissions for this edition, and especially to Bertalan Mesko for shepherding this project! Now on to new posts about the world of Medicine 2.0:

• thomas robey presents Who Is Sick? posted at Hope for Pandora, saying, "I think 'Who Is Sick' is a very interesting Web2.0 idea, and has the potential to be a useful tool for the public and health providers. (As I point out, it still needs some work though!)"
• Richard A. Schoor, also known as The Independent Urologist, offers a compelling post on why doctors should blog.
• Alvaro at SharpBrains offers 10 Questions to Find the Right Brain Fitness Program for You (which he conveniently makes available in printable one-sheet or bookmark form).
• Jamie Boyle of Duke Law School gave a fascinating TechTalk at Google on Science Commons and current innovations in tech IP law. Thanks to Deepak Singh at bbgm (business | bytes | genes | molecules) for pointing to this one.
• Would you allow your genetic material to be made public? Even if it revealed the details of your past sexual activity and drug use? Jason Bobe at The Personal Genome has an in-depth and excellent post exploring some of the personal privacy concerns around Web 2.0, titled Twittering Toilets and Phenomic Death Wishes.
• Manhattan Research has a new white paper, "Physicians and Web 2.0."
• R.W. Donnell of Notes from Dr. RW asks fellow physicians, "Are You UpToDate Dependent?" and discusses some of the dangers of over-reliance on "look up" tools as opposed to the physician's own knowledge and experience.
• Stephen Palter of Doc in the Machine is excited about the World's Highest Resolution HDTV Surgical Camera, which he used to help film an operation to be shown on National Geographic HD.
• The Clinical Cases blog looks at two algorithms for ranking medical blogs. I find it hard to believe that such blogs can or should be ranked electronically -- it takes a human to decide the questions of "is this worthwhile or trustworthy information?" and "does it satisfy the need I have right now?"
• Medical librarian/blogger David Rothman is encouraged by Nature Clinical Practice's new audio articles, which show promise for helping clinicians keep up to date on new research while driving or working out. He's also speaking out against the idea that patients who research their conditions online are necessarily "cyberchondriacs," and chiding Kosmix's RightHealth for building potentially useful technology with less-than-optimal results.
• Jean-Claude Bradley at Drexel University is blogging about his team's use of Second Life to teach chemistry mechanisms.
• Dr. Hsien-Hsien Li of Eye on DNA points to two interesting Web sites about personal genome technology.
• Walter at Highlight Health uses a Washington Post article as a jumping-off point for a discussion of physician profiling.
• On MedGadget, a first look at a new system making heart imaging available via iPhone.
• Pediatrician Uri Ginzburg at Medical 2.0 offers some potential medical uses for ning and other social networks.
• A University of Saskatchwan page offers a quick guide to medical blogs.
• MedSqod addresses the lawsuit-leery with useful guidelines for medical blogging and podcasting.
• Bertalan Mesko at Scienceroll (the founder of this carnival) has a great post on new tools for medical education, including "mind maps" for helping students remember their material for exams.

As you may have guessed from the length of this list, there is a LOT of great information out there, and the list of Medicine 2.0 bloggers is growing every day! It's an exciting time and I'm delighted to be part of it.

Submit your blog article to the next edition of medicine 2.0 using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Why Wisdom Matters

The New York Times, as part of its series profiling the top causes of death in the U.S., last weekend featured cancer. The article makes the point that cancer care is not standardized and that if one doctor says you have six months to live, the next may give you two years and you may surprise them all by lasting five years.

I particularly noticed this quote from Karen Pasqualetto, a cancer patient near Seattle:

“It’s patchwork, and frustrating that there’s not one person taking care of me who I can look to as my champion.... I don’t feel I have a doctor who is looking out for my care. My oncologist is terrific, but he’s an oncologist. The surgeon seems terrific, but I found him through my own diligence. I have no confidence in the system.”

Pasqualetto is a smart and savvy consumer, able to research her own case and seek out alternate treatment when her first oncologist seemed insufficiently willing to fight the disease. She had just given birth when the cancer was discovered, and has been using all the tools at her disposal to try to extend the time she has with daughter Isabel. She credits her new medical team with giving her precious months of  life that have let her watch Isabel take her first steps.

More than ever, it seems, patients are responsible for being their own best advocates, often at times when they're also sick or scared or in pain. Those of us who have Internet and critical thinking skills, who can sort through the mess of spam and misinformation online, have an advantage, and frequently find ourselves becoming resources in our own communities. (I'm sure I'm not the only one who's helped an older relative choose a Medicare prescription plan!)

That's why we're focusing on health "wisdom" -- the intelligence of ordinary people who deal with health care issues and systems every day. We can't change the system that leaves patients feeling like they don't have a "champion," as Pasqualetto puts it. What we can do is help them help themselves.