You may notice that this blog has been quiet for a while, and that's because the IR team has decided that from now on we'll be posting on the HEDS blog instead.
HEDS (Health Economics and Decision Science) is the largest section of ScHARR, and the one in which the Information Resources team is located (though we continue to work with the other sections of the School as well).
We're still the same team, interested in the same things, like: information retrieval; research impact; review methodology; and of course libraries - but from now on we'll be blogging about them in the same place as the rest of our HEDS colleagues.
For a taste of the HEDS blog, why not check out this recent post by IR's Anthea Sutton on search strategies for identifying systematic review tools?
Thanks for all your interest in the ScHARR Information Resources blog since its inception way back in 2007(!) - the archive will remain here for the forseeable future should you wish to access any older posts, but for the latest news from the team we hope you'll continue to follow us in our new home.
Established in 1994 ScHARR's Information Resources team has established itself as a key national player in providing information support to health technology assessment and health services research. The team is made up of professional, highly trained Information Specialists who are involved in the forefront of research, teaching, support and development. This is our blog where we talk about the diverse work we do: #Teach #Research #Search #Support
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Thursday, 22 January 2015
How to avoid bogus health information on the web
Originally published in The Conversation by Andy Tattersall, University of Sheffield
Health is one of the biggest topics searched for on the web, yet despite its importance a large portion of this information is inaccurate, anecdotal or biased.
According to Pew Research, 72% of internet users in the US search for health information. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics said that 43% of users searched for health information in 2013. The empowering of patients to understand and manage their own health is an important issue at a time when departments are under increased pressure.
The NHS is keen to encourage the public to take better care of their health, to know how to spot the early symptoms of bowel cancer for example. But given that inaccurate online information is now just part and parcel of the web, should a universal quality kitemark be applied to good sources to help health consumers make better decisions?
Drinking from a fire hose
There has been no shortage of articles written about the problems of accessing poor health information on the web. One paper in the Lancet in 1998 quoted a US public health official as saying: “Trying to get information from the internet is like drinking from a fire hose, and you don’t even know what the source of the water is.” Seventeen years on this problem still remains.Many people – and patients – don’t realise the origins of some of this health information, just that it was on the first page of Google’s search results. This equates to the idea that a page-rank relates to quality, yet many good health organisations and charities don’t have the resources to optimise their search results position.
All too often searches take users to results such as Yahoo Answers, or some spurious website that claims to sell the product from an online snake oil salesman that can cure them of their ailments. Their existence proves there is very much a market for health cures that have no clinical evidence as to their effectiveness.
Very little attention is also paid to factors such as authorship, web links, date of publication, who is behind the website and whether they have ties to commercial companies. Web 2.0 and social media not only allowed consumers to find information on the web and discuss it, but made it far easier for anyone with a motive to publish, a potentially dangerous scenario in a healthcare context.
There are high-quality health information websites that offer comprehensive services from symptom checkers to peer-support groups. Despite this, the issue still remains, that aside from those like NHS Choices and Boots WebMD how do patients know which websites to trust? Comprehensive health websites built on knowledge and impartiality such as Patient.co.uk and Netdoctor and, in the US, the Mayo Clinic, vie for attention among the many forums, blogs and websites providing inaccurate and potentially harmful information.
Flying kites
So what can be done to give users more trust in particular websites? The NHS could encourage users to access and critique good health information – the NHS have already done this by targeting marketing towards specific health groups. Then there is The Information Standard – a certification programme run by NHS England for organisations who produce evidence-based healthcare information for the public. This could also be more widely spread to online content and promoted. Gaining the kitemark requires that information is clear, accurate, balanced and up-to-date.Another non-for-profit organisation that tries to separate the good from the bad, similar to The Information Standard, is Health on the Net. HON were founded 20 years ago in Geneva and also provide a kitemark for quality information on the web.
The problem for both of these certifications is that most patients are probably not aware of them, despite The Information Standard certifying 250 health-related websites and HON 5,000. And a small badge at the foot of a web page means users are no more likely to be pay heed than to the terms and conditions of Facebook.
Critiquing information
Digital literacy remains a big challenge in modern society. Many socio-economic groups are either excluded from using the web or do not have the level of skills to critique and assess online information. Applying quality standards or kitemarks on a site can only do half of the job. In an age where web users become increasingly impatient to find information it becomes also becomes increasingly important for them to have clear signposting.For patients already in contact with services, front-line healthcare staff – perhaps with some training – could help to teach patients how and where to find the best information about their conditions and symptoms and how to critique the results they find.
Health consumers all want different things from the web, some search for health information for assurance, others for discussion, some for answers and knowledge. Official health campaigns encouraging people to be aware of potential symptoms is good, but teaching them where to access good information for multiple conditions any time is surely better.
At least through a programme of information education and the development of UK health web standards not unlike the Health on the Net organisation, patients could confidently gain a better understanding of their symptoms and conditions and use this knowledge to improve their health.
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Thursday, 27 November 2014
Information Resources blog reaches more than 100,000 views
The blog was first set-up in 2007 and is aimed at fellow colleagues in the worlds of health information and higher education, with many of the posts being relevant to the work of academics more generally. There is often a focus on new technologies and social media platforms, as well as recent and upcoming work undertaken by IR.
Amongst the
107,000, we have received the most ‘page views’ from the following
countries:
- United States
- United Kingdom
- France
- Russia
- Germany
- Ukraine
- Canada
The top five
most highly read blog posts since it all began in 2007 are:
1.
From October
2009:
Total views
= 4145
2.
From November
2007:
Total views
= 1136
3.
From April
2013:
Total views
= 811
4. From
September 2012:
Total views
= 760
5.
From
September 2010:
Total views
= 613
In addition
to the blog, we have a dedicated Information Resources Twitter account (@scharrlib),
which focuses on the
latest developments in health and information science. If you're yet to
set yourself up with a Twitter account but think you might be interested
in the information we post, you can visit the following page and
sign-up for our free daily newspaper via paper.li. Or you could simply
visit the page to view the latest content: http://paper.li/scharrlib/1338371438. Not convinced about the benefits of Twitter? Why not read the following blog post by Andy Tattersall about 7 new ways to work in 2013, where you will find a useful overview of the benefits of Twitter in academia.
We also have a YouTube channel called scharrvids, where you will find a whole host of tutorials on subjects such as online reference management tools and useful searching techniques. There is an option to subscribe available from the main page, so you need never miss out on a new video!
We also have a YouTube channel called scharrvids, where you will find a whole host of tutorials on subjects such as online reference management tools and useful searching techniques. There is an option to subscribe available from the main page, so you need never miss out on a new video!
We're
thrilled that the blog has continued to be so popular over the years,
especially since so many new platforms and tools have become available
in the years since it was first launched. A big thank you to everyone
who has supported the blog over the years, by contributing to it,
reading it, commenting on it and sharing the content with colleagues.
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
More of IR in action at Internet Librarian International
Following on from Andy & Claire's post about "Video Saved The Library Star", Anna and I are also hot-footing it to Internet Librarian International next week to present about
The session covers a pilot we ran in one of our FOLIOz e-learning courses to deliver the materials via a Web 2.0 technology of the participants choosing, allowing us to deliver real "anytime, anyplace" type learning. We'll be reporting on how it went, what the learners thought, and what we plan to do next!
Thursday, 7 April 2011
See Things Differently
Posted by Andy
If you're like me, you like to see more visual content on the Web, and that the thought of reading a wall of text or scrolling down a page as long as the Great Wall of China puts you off finding what your looking for. Well, you can now view the ScHARR Library Blog in more than one way - you can see the posts as a list, as a photo collage or have it implanted in your brain using the latest technology - OK I made that last bit up. So, if you want to see the Blog a different way - try some of the links below, we think you'll like what you see.
Friday, 5 November 2010
HEDS Get Blogging!
Posted by Andy
For those unaware The ScHARR Library is nicely nestled in a much larger organism under the name of Health Economics and Decision Science (HEDS). With the aid of my good self, Professor Simon Dixon has launched HEDS first venture in the realm of blogging with a site that has regular interesting posts about what we do - all of which don't extend beyond 200 words. So no long reams of text, it's all straight to the point, and considering how the average attention span has shrunk to a.........you've stopped reading this haven't you?
More about HEDS
Health Economics and Decision Science (HEDS) is part of the School for Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield. It comprises of around 80 research staff with expertise in economics, mathematical modelling, systematic reviewing, Bayesian statistics and information sciences. HEDS is built around reserach funding from several national sources and consultancy from a range of NHS and pharmaceutical organisations. It runs one Masters degree and its staff teach modules on several others. In the 2008 UK Research Assessment Exercise, ScHARR was ranked number 1 for research power.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Happy 3rd Birthday ScHARR Library Blog
Photo by by Bill HR
Posted by Andy
The ScHARR Library Blog has made it to its third birthday, along the way there's been tears, laughter, joy and pain...OK none of that, maybe a bit of laughter...and some tears; but the less said the better.
In that time we've posted more than 300 items, had over 11,000 visitors, and embedded every known widget at some time or another.
Hopefully we will be here in three years time :-)
Please raise a glass to the old girl.
Monday, 9 November 2009
Blogging in an Academic Health Library Setting - the Case of the ScHARR Library Blog
This was originally penned in March 2008, but I thought it might be useful for any fellow librarians contemplating starting a blog. Obviously as time moves on, especially in the world of the Web, these words become less relevant, but much of the text below is still hopefully useful to any future bloggers. The article originally appeared in Libraries for Nursing Bulletin, March 2008.
Abstract
The ScHARR
Building the blog.
The blog was created using Google’s free software named Blogger https://www.blogger.com/start
Like most free applications on the Internet for the Internet, it does not have all the bells and whistles that the pay for applications do offer. Nevertheless, this is blogging, which in essence should be simple in function and design.
There are other blog creating and hosting websites, some of which are free, whilst others may try and lure you into paying for their services or additional add-ons. Another notable and established free blog site is that of Wordpress, which can be found at: http://wordpress.com/
Again like most things on the Internet the choice gradually becomes more overwhelming, so it perhaps worth using a comparison site to choose how best to bring your blog to life. Just like websites such as Kelkoo.co.uk for comparing the prices of consumer goods, and Confused.com for comparing house and car insurance; there is a way to compare the different types of blog building websites. WeblogMatrix http://www.weblogmatrix.org/ compares the differences between over 20 weblog tools, looking at everything from their cost to whether you can include a photo gallery.
Why go Blogging?
The original purpose of the ScHARR
Another key reason for introducing the blog was that ScHARR’s official Web pages, http://www.shef.ac.uk/scharr/sections/ir/library, as with those of The University of Sheffield, are quite regimented with little scope for flexibility in terms of layout and content. In essence the library service at ScHARR is limited by the boundaries set out by the University website content management system which at times can be limiting, not only technologically but by the content that can be uploaded to it. The original remit of the content management system was to democratise the web pages. Sadly due to the complicated nature of the software this has failed in some areas, and this is where the blog steps in.
Blogs can provide a quick and easy way to publish material without having to learn the ins and outs of an organisational system. This obviously does not mean that there are no rules, on the contrary, the blog is still representative of ScHARR and as a result must adhere to the rules and policies set out by the wider university settings, this is a crucial point all blogs must take into account.
Along with the technological ease, there is the aspect of creating an informal approach to the established service. The very nature of being a
Unlike a traditional website, a blog does not remove old content; obviously as time goes by some links may become broken or dead, but that problem affects all websites. The blog can itself become a resource and a useful tool as organisations store previous posts and the information contained in them. How useful this will become, only time will tell; at present The ScHARR
Blogs are also portable, meaning that new posts can be added from anywhere provided you have an Internet connection and password to access the blog site. Many organisational websites can only be manipulated onsite or through a secured network; editing a blog is as easy as posting to a public forum.
Blogs are also easily navigated with the aid of keywords, provided you tag each post you write. The ScHARR
Target Audience
Like the official ScHARR
A fellow attendee at the workshop was then able to comment and post his own photographs, hosted on Flickr.com from the very same conference.
The introduction of the blog has been integrated into the current awareness email service, where new posts are added to the news bulletins as to keep the blog very much in the minds of staff and students. In addition to this, a small amount of marketing has been utilised to promote the blog to other libraries and organisations. This emphasises a big reason for the blog’s existence, being that it is another conduit to our
Content, Design and Style
What actually goes on the blog is still in a state of flux as the site is only six months old, but in that time the net has been cast further a field to bring in a few interesting posts, resources and stories that we have quite literally stumbled on. The core of the content revolves around a few areas. Firstly there are the research and news bulletins. These can consist of the in-house bulletins we create, such as our research funding opportunities and current awareness compilations. Whilst we have pointers towards external bulletins such as those offered by The Kingsfund, although it is important to note that some of these bulletins have been made only accessible on our own intranet as to adhere to the policies of some external organisations.
Next there are posts relating to the interest to our students and staff, this can include new books to arrive in the
One particular item we post for the wider audience is that which identifies interesting and useful websites and resources. In the past few months we have highlighted websites such as; Google Health - http://www.google.com/Top/Health/ and the Evidence Based Medicine Page Generator - http://www.ebmpyramid.org/home.php
The blog is easily editable and allows several tools which can be dragged and dropped into place. The ideal way to start any new blog is to play around with the functions on offer, try mixing and matching the tabs and options, and do not be afraid to experiment.
Google’s Blogger offers a multitude of options ranging from the basics of URL linkage and photo adding to rss feeding and picture slideshows. When setting your blog up, it is important to decide what additional content you want to supplement the main posts. It is recommended that you include a blogroll which is a collection of external links to other similar blog sites. Other websites can still be linked in a separate box, which is also recommended. Most blogs have their additional information such as links attached to either side of the main textual content. It is important to note, that despite the amount of links and tabs you include, it rarely detracts away from the main content of your blog.
Other useful functions incorporated into the ScHARR
Each item posted on the blog has an accompanying picture and an external link to the copyright holder. Most of these photographs are taken from Frickr using the Creative Commons Licence http://creativecommons.org/.
The main reason for adding pictures is to enhance the look of the blog and to create an informal webpage unlike the text heavy pages many websites are blighted with. Text use is limited and brief, again to keep the visitor engaged. Taking into consideration that most people flit from website to website at the bat of an eyelid and that much online content is scan-read; it is best to make you point as succinctly and briefly as you can.
The blog also allows the imbedding of video content from such sites as YouTube.com and there is the provision for adding automated presentations.
As more content is added to each blog the page will become longer, which in turn means more scrolling down. As a result the ScHARR
The future of the Blog
At present, The University of Sheffield is contemplating offering a blog service for its various departments. If this becomes a reality, then the positives will be that The ScHARR
It is still early days for the blog at ScHARR
Monday, 7 September 2009
Learn how to use uSpace
For members of staff and students at ScHARR, we are running a few short one hour sessions on how to get started with The University's new collaborative, document creating, blogging tool; uSpace. The question you want to ask yourself is:
Do you want to work in new ways?
Do you want better collaboration with your colleagues?
Do you want to teach using discussion forums, blogs, videos and images?
Do you want to work on shared documents, complete with hyperlinks?
The dates of these sessions are:
15th September 3-4
18th September 10-11
25th September 10-11
25th September 2-3
28th September 10-11
Each session is limited to six participants – first come first served.You can book on one of the courses here
more about uSpace
uSpace is the University’s own social web service. It offers a collection of social web tools for communication and collaboration amongst students and staff. uSpace is available through MUSE and hosted at the University so there are no difficult security or intellectual property issues.
Students are casually using a variety of social web services to interact with each other. Staff have also been quick to use different social web services to engage students and collaborate in research. CiCS has implemented uSpace to bring the two communities
together with a common set of social web tools, available from a single University environment.
uSpace is similar to students’ social environment so it seems familiar and allows them to
capitalise on their existing skills. However, as it is clearly a University service, separate from their social environment, students can begin to develop more sophisticated social web skills, evaluating and citing information in accordance with academic practice.
Staff can also experiment with a range of secure social web tools based at the University. Staff can use these tools to collaborate, develop ideas, and jointly author papers free from the difficult questions of intellectual property often associated with external services.
Taken from the latest issue of myCICSnews
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Subscribe to our Blog
You can now subscribe to our blog and get the posts in your mail. You can also add them to your Google Reader as well as the other handy tools shown above. To subscribe to our blog (go on, you know you want to...) just click on the little rss box at the top of the right hand menu.
Posted by Andy
Thursday, 31 July 2008
(the) health informaticist
Posted by AntheaIn the interest of sharing our discoveries of other blogs, allow me to introduce you to "(the) health informaticist". Formed by a group of people working in the field of health informatics, it covers topics such as knowledge management, web 2.0, and evidence based medicine. To give a flavour of the discussions, the most recent posts are about: The Department of Health Information Accreditation Scheme and Information Prescriptions project, Medpedia, and Cuil, a new search engine.
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Psycho-Babble On...
Posted by AndyIt's quite refreshing to learn that we are not the only ones in ScHARR that have a blog, although we'll take the plaudits for being the first ;-)
The Mental Health sub-section of our larger Health Services Research section have created their own blog, aptly called Psycho-Babble On... They refer to it as; "The world seen from psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic perspectives."
The blog can be accessed by pointing your Freudian browsers to:
The blog is written by staff and research students engaged in psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic studies at the University of Sheffield. For more information on their programmes, please visit the webpages below for more details:
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