SocialButterfly.

Last week, I published a post on Health 2.0, based on a couple research studies that were recently released.

Also last week, another report was published by the Scientific American Magazine that looked at the concept of Science 2.0, titled “Is Open-Access Science the future?“

About

Before this article was published, the author put the draft version of the article in a wiki, and encouraged readers’ comments and edits…to help formulate the articles final version.

In this article, the author looks at the increasing use of social media within marketing, journalism, and politics - and how it can spread to the field of science, as more researchers increase their use of web 2.0 tools within their research. Some critics think that this new process to scientific discovery curbs the traditional institutional lines and poses danger. Advocates see Science 2.0 as a way to increase openness and collaboration across studies - furthering progress

Science 2.0

Science 2.0 refers to the growing movement of integrating social media into the scientific process and its promotion. Science 2.0 is a component of the broader Open Science movement according to the author of the article, M. Mitchell Waldrop. This Open Science Movement includes other topics such as open-access scientific publishing and open-data practices.

Case Study

The article points to a success project named OpenWetWare at MIT, which:

“OpenWetWare is an effort to promote the sharing of information, know-how, and wisdom among researchers and groups who are working in biology & biological engineering. OWW provides a place for labs, individuals, and groups to organize their own information and collaborate with others easily and efficiently.”

OpenWetWare now hosts more than 15 labs, 6100 web pages and is edited by 3000 registered users. To learn more, gain access, or get involved, you can contact the project at admin@openwetware.org or join here.

Concerns

Due to the content of this budding use of technology, in that it is labeled ’science’ brings many concerns to critics minds. These include:

• Privacy Concerns
• Authorship and Copyright
• Looking ‘unprofessional’
• Undermining the field of ’science’
• Trust-worthiness of information and hackers

Future

Despite concerns, advocates see Science 2.0 as still in its launching point. Future ideas for implementing Science 2.0 include:

• Collaborate for scientific articles and ideas
• online lab journals
• Developing internet-friendly lab equipment
• Virtual scientific conferences
• Virtual Labs
• Updated Lab ‘feeds’
• Data-Sharing
• Truth-Based Social Marketing
• For more information regarding these ideas and more visit here.

More

• Duncan Hull wrote up an insightful blog post about science 2.0 by interviewing scientist and researcher Dave DeRoure. DeRoure mapped out what he thinks is a widening gap between scientists and the web infrastruture. You can read the post here.
• For those who like reading how trends relate, the Columbia Journalism Review wrote up a great article about web 2.0 and its evolution to Journalism 2.0 and Science 2.0, and how the two concepts relate. The author demonstrates how concerns towards the two fields are similar and the implications this has for science journalism 2.0.

What are your thoughts on Science 2.0?? A ‘yay’ or a ‘nay’ …share with us your thoughts

According to a January 2008 study titled How America Searches, Health and Wellness:

• In the past 12 months, 59% of adults reference the internet to find or access health and wellness information.
• 67% of adult searchers use general search engines as an online tool or resource for health information and only 7% referred to online drug advertisements.
• 36% of adult searchers use online health information to see what other consumers say about a medication or treatment

Because of statistics like those above, the concept of ‘Health 2.0′ has increased its usage and importance. Simply, Health 2.0 = the merging of social media into healthcare. However, others see the movement of Health 2.0 as something much wider and farther reaching. Even Google image searching shows a variety of more complex definitions. I’d be interested to see how you all define it for yourselves or for your practice.

Examples of Health 2.0

Websites

• Carol.com , started in 2006, is the marketplace for care, allowing hospitals and providers to ‘bid’ for consumers’ care
• Vitals.com, allows patients to review their current doctor’s or a potential doctor’s reviews and ratings
• DoubleCheckMD, allows consumers to check for potential drug interactions quickly and easily
• American Well , creates a healthcare marketplace where consumers and physicians come together online to acquire and provide convenient and immediate healthcare services

Wikis

• Wikipedia
• FluWiki
• WiserWiki, a medical and healthcare information wiki edited exclusively by physicians
• Clinfo Wiki, a wiki devoted to clinical informatics
• Ask Dr. Wiki, allows those with a medical background to publish review articles, clinical notes, pearls and/or medical images to the wiki. The main focus has been on Cardiology and Electrophysiology, but they have expanded to other areas.

Blogs

• DiabetesMine, a blog all about diabetes
• HealthMatters (Healthline), a collection of weblogs by professionals, covering different aspects of health, wellness, treatments, and recent advances
• WebMD, provides health and health-related information

Social Networks

• OrganizedWisdom, the first human-powered search service for health information
• PatientsLikeMe, find patients who are receiving the same or similar treatments
• DailyStrength, helps one find support groups
• Sermo, a community for physicians to share information, questions and observations amongst themselves, encouraging collaboration
• ReliefinSite, helps with pain managemnt
• NursesRecommendDoctors
• TheHealthCareScoop

Video-Sharing

• ICYou, the source of healthcare videos and videos related to health information
• Cleveland Clinic on Google Video
• TauMed, a virtual health community where one can search and share information on a variety of health topics

Online Forums

• Revolution Health Groups
• Google Health Groups, find support and community groups
• iVillage

Podcasts

• Johns Hopkins Medical Podcasts
• NIH Podcasts
• NY Times Health Pocasts
• CDC Travelers Health
• dLife podcasts for diabetes, information and inspiration for those with diabetes

Caution

Health 2.0 researchers warn that patients should be cautious about posting personal health-related information through unsecured social media as health insurance providers could gain access to this information, as well as potential employers.

Future

Social Media combined with health information, patients and user-generated content can be used for:

• User-generated health ratings for hospitals and doctors
• Bridge the gap between doctor and patient
• Bring communities together in new, innovative ways
• Establishing patients as opinion leaders
• Managing health and managing community health in new ways

For specific case studies and more information, view this report titled: The Wisdom of Patients: Health Care Meets Online Social Media prepared for the California Healthcare Foundation by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn.

Questions to Ponder

• Is Health 2.0 helpful or harmful?
• Is the content trustrworthy? Does it matter? Will consumers take the information at face value?
• Why are patients labeled as consumers? What does this mean/say about how health 2.0 is being approached?
• What are the ethical concerns?
• What are the privacy concerns?

Can’t wait to read your insights in the comments. =)

Continuing in my blogger outreach series, this post will focus on law that addresses issues bloggers need to know, understand and be conscience about when deciding how to go about starting a blog, conduct blogger outreach or a blog marketing plan.  

As the democratization of journalism increases, many bloggers can be considered journalists. One issue with the current Shield Law being debated in the Senate is that some would like there to be a definition on who/what is a journalist. Indeed, bloggers are recognized by the Supreme Court as having the same protections as media individuals and organizations since they engage in similar activities. (Since the Shield Law is currently developing, it is important to note that Shield Laws do not necessarily always protect bloggers). As of now, no such definition exists and the implications of such a definition, could be, well…interesting….and perhaps, dangerous.

But enough about that, as I admit, I’m no politician and I haven’t been following the case the whole three years it’s been going on. My point –> it is important for a blogger to understand some of the issues the law addresses .

As a disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, but these are concepts that must be considered in the broader media industry. There are many, but this post will focus on defamation and negligence, while part b will cover copyright and privacy.

1. Defamation

A person or organization can file suit for ‘defamation of character.’ For content to be considered defamation, a private plaintiff must prove:

• falsity (this includes insinuation or implication)
• about or concerning the plaintiff filing the suit
• exposes the person to hatred, contempt, aversion or introduces an evil or bad opinion about the plaintiff

In addition, the law is written differently when the plaintiff is a public official or a public figure. A public official or figure must prove: actual malice. A public official is defined as someone who has been elected, appointed, presented to a position. A public figure is someone who is either known to the public already or someone who were drawn into the issue. Actual malice means that the false statement was published “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” To determine actual malice, courts will look at the process and extent of pursuing the truth.

Other way defamation occurs comes from misidentification.

Defamation Lessons:

• Be conscience of legal terminology. (i.e. accused vs. alleged)
• Take extra measures when any content involves a minor or a private citizen.
• Double-check names or contact the person to fact check names mentioned in posts.
• Before publishing an address, phone number or email, be sure it is the correct contact information for the individual/organization.
• Be wary of depended on internet sources and search engines. This includes wikipedia. =)
• If you do realize a mistake, correct it, and write a retraction. A retraction acknowledges the mistake and re-iterates its correction.
• If you are faced with this issue, truth can act as a defense.
• Satire, parody and hyperbole are not considered defamation.
• Opinion is not considered defamation. But, whether you and the plaintiff agree that the statement in question can be classified as ‘opinion’ is another story.
• Corporations are not public figures. They are judged like private figures.
• There is such a concept as defamation insurance, even for bloggers.
• Each state has a different statute of limitations for how long someone can sue after a posting has been made.
• See here for more extensive details about issues of defamation and libel as it applies to bloggers.

2. Negligence

Negligence means that the author acted recklessly beyond that of a reasonably, responsible person would have. Private figures - friends, coworkers, people at the bus station - only have to prove negligence to win their case; whereas, public officials and public figures must prove actual malice.

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If you are filed a law suit for what you blogged, the Electronic Frontier Foundation advises you to seek an attorney who is knowledgeable about Anti-SLAPP laws. SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and the Anti-SLAPP laws are enforced to help people who get sued for making legitimate, protected speech about public issues.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation offers a link to the The First Amendment Project, which has a helpful FAQ on Anti-SLAPP laws. Please note, that Anti-SLAPP laws currently don’t exist in every state and tend to vary.

Stay tuned for my continuing series on Blogger Outreach, issues to address when developing blogging outreach plans.

Next week: Law Issues Part B, Copyright and Privacy

Helpful Source: 12 Laws Every Blogger Should Know provided by Aviva Directory