Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-30

May 30, 2010 by · Leave a Comment

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Microblogging for physiotherapy

May 27, 2010 by · Leave a Comment

Micro-blogging is a quick update in the form of a short message usually containing a very limited number of characters. It is a popular feature of social networks like Facebook where you can update your status, but it has become best known because of Twitter who is the clear leader in the micro-blogging field. In essence, micro-blogging is for people who want a blog but don’t want to blog. A personal blog can keep people informed on what is going on in your life, but not everyone wants to spend an hour crafting a beautiful posts. Micro-blogging great way of keeping people informed on what you are up to without the need to spend a lot of time crafting an entire post on the subject.

While Twitter may have started as a micro-blogging service, it is grown into much more than simply a tool to type in quick status updates. It is often described as a cross between blogging and instant messaging. Put simply, Twitter is social messaging. With the ability to follow people and have followers, and the ability to interact with Twitter on your cell phone, Twitter has become the perfect social messaging tool. People use it simply to stay in touch with a close network and share thoughts or start conversations.

Take a look at this video by Common Craft that explains Twitter:

For wider networking Twitter is also used for news reporting and social media marketing. It has become a favourite target for social media marketing and this new form of getting the message out has been used effectively by many as a quick way to connect with an audience, including Barak Obama during his Presidential campaign. Its suitability as a vehicle for delivering news has been evidenced when breaking news has been brought to us live from the local public before the official news agencies can get there, this has encouraged the BBC and CNN to use Twitter.

Personally Twitter has enabled me to network with physiotherapists, learning professionals and like minded geeks throughout the world that I otherwise would not have met. We have engaged in professional conversation, learnt from each other and even collaborated on projects as a result of our meeting on Twitter.

Below are some other examples of how physiotherapists might use Twitter:

Continued Education and Professional Development

  • something you need to know, ask your Twitter network a question
  • find someone in another country who is interested in the same topic you are, follow each other and share information, resources and ideas
  • ask your Twitter network to comment on current national issues
  • communicate with experts

Education

  • with a group of students create a conversation around a #tag with the physiotherapy community on Twitter
  • get your students to connect with experts to assist them with assignments
  • use it to create a class newsletter

Research

  • keeping people up-to-date with how a research project is progressing
  • raise your profile as an expert in your field by regularly tweeting about your area of clinical interest

Business

  • keep people up-to-date with what is happening at your clinic
  • regularly offer health information in your clinical speciality to increase your profile

As usual if you have any other ideas to add to this list, please do add them as a comment below.

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Content Communities for Physiotherapists

May 24, 2010 by · 1 Comment

Content communities look a bit like social networks – you have to register, you get a home page and you can make connections with friends. However, they are   focussed on sharing a particular type of content such as photos, videos, bookmarks and research articles.

For example some of the most popular content communities are:

Content communities display characteristics of what are known as folksonomies. The term folksonomy refers to the way that information is organised – it is a play on the word taxonomy, a classification system. In a folksonomy the information or content is “tagged” with one-word descriptors. Anyone can add a tag to a piece of content and see what other people have tagged, too. Content communities generally make use of the folksonomy approach of tagging content to make it more easily found.

Professionally using content communities is all about having a place to search for specific content that might interest you and archiving this content in a way that is easily searchable by yourself and also by others in your community.   Here’s what to do: Sign up to a content community of your choice to upload and share photos or videos,   archive research and bookmark websites. Then search for like minded colleagues within these content communities, make a connection with them and search through their uploaded or bookmarked content for things that interest you.   You can also sign up to   their RSS feed to follow any activity that they make in the site, this will alert you whenever your connection uploads a new photo or video, shares a bookmark or highlights some research.

This video from Common Craft explains social bookmarking:

If you have used content communities in an innovative way for CE/CPD, education, research or business then let us know in the comments section below.

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Social Networking for Physiotherapists

May 19, 2010 by · 1 Comment

Social networking sites are a kind of virtual community, structured to build upon relationships that members have with each other by being part of a larger community. These sites collect data about members and store these data as user profiles. The data, or profiles, are shared among site members. People joining a social network usually create a profile and then build a network by connecting to friends and contacts in the network, or by inviting real-world contacts and friends to join the social network. These communities retain the interest of their members by being useful to them and providing services that are entertaining or help them to expand their networks. Social networks make the world more open and connected.

Take a look at this video from Common Craft which explains social networks:

Two of the most popular social networks are Facebook and Linkedin. Facebook is currently the most popular social network with over 400 million users from all ages but has recently been embroiled in controversy with regards to it’s privacy features. Perhaps the most ‘grown-up’ of the popular networks is LinkedIn, which allows users build their business and professional contacts into an on-line network. It has been criticised for not being open enough and for charging for too many of its services.   Personally I use Facebook for my personal network of friends and family and Linkedin for my professional network.

There are social networks designed for health professionals, such as Sermo for doctors, BiomedExperts for researchers and Nurse LinkUp for nursing.   For physiotherapists a good place to look for social networks to get involved in is in Facebook where organisations like the APTA and APA have set up Facebook Groups.   Presently there are no specific open social networking sites designed for the physiotherapy profession, however Physiopedia does have this as one of their development projects.

Professionally, social networks can provide places for you to form small networks where there is a common interest and it is possible to set up your own.   A   good place to start for this is with a Facebook Group or for an independent network Ning is a good option.   With some programming experience ELGG, an open source software that is popular in academic institutions, and can be downloaded and used for free.

Below are some examples of how you might use a Social Network within the physiotherapy profession:

Continued Education and Professional Development

  • communicating and staying in touch following attendance at a CE or CPD course
  • networking with other professionals with a common interest

Education

  • forming a network for specific student groups, such as a particular year group or as a pre-induction tool
  • creating a means for students to stay in touch and collaborate with colleagues and tutors whilst on clinical placement
  • communicating with potential applicants, and current and past students
  • support for a distance-learning programme

Research

  • forming a network for remote colleagues working on the same   research project
  • creating for network for research participants to communicate with researchers and each other

Business

  • reaching out to service users by setting up a Facebook group or page
  • a clinic support network could provide   way for patients to communicate with their physio and also with others with the same condition

If you have any other ideas for professional uses of social networks or have examples to share, please do add them as comments below.

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Podcasts and Vodcasts for physiotherapists

May 5, 2010 by · Leave a Comment

Podcasts are audio files and Vodcasts are video files that are published on the internet and that users can subscribe to. They are both are digital files that can be downloaded and listened to using portable devices or at the user’s desktop. Free software makes it easy to subscribe to podcasts using RSS feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. It is the subscription feature that makes a podcast so powerful as a form of social media. People have long been able to upload audio content to the web, but the subscription feature means that people can build regular audiences and communities around their shows. It effectively puts private individuals or brands on a level playing field with traditional media organisations when it comes to competing for people’s attention with AV content online. Podcasts are part of a shift in media consumption patterns, which increasingly sees people watching or listening to content when and where it suits them.

For more information on podcasting have a read of the Leeds University podcasting site and take a look at the Common Craft video:

Examples of good uses of podcasting and videocasting

A few free, health science podcasts are:

In physiotherapy, there are a few free podcasting services:

A good example of vodcasting in physiotherapy is:

Continued Education and Professional Development

Podcasts allow autonomous learners to watch or listen to content when and where it suits them. They are particularly useful in remote communities where health workers have limited access to continuing education and professional development.

Examples of using podcasts and vodcasts for continuing education and professional development:

  • subscribe to the RSS feed and download podcasts or vodcasts from your clinical area of interest, listen to them in your own time
  • create regular podcasts or vodcasts simply using free on-line software to develop your knowledge in a particular topic and broadcast them to the community

Education

Podcasting or vodcasting is often used in education to archive face to face taught sessions or administratively to provide supplementary information to students.

Examples of using podcasting and vodcasting in Education administration:

  • archive face to face taught sessions
  • provide supplementary materials to taught courses such as audio or video tutorials
  • provide regular feedback on assingnments
  • provide podcasts about the application process and attending interviews
  • vodcasts with staff members and their work

iTunes U is an area within iTunes where an educational institution can provide its own collection of audio and visual material (such as lectures, talks and interviews). Unlike the music and films, this material can be downloaded free of charge. Universities can use the service to reach out to a global audience with its vast wealth of audio and video material.

Students can also be tasked with completing assignments as an podcast or vodcast as an alternative way to engage them with the assessment process. It is an effective method for developing media production skils and more importantly for developing oral skills for physiotherapy practice.

Ideas for student assignments using podcasts and vodcasts:

  • produce a podcast of patient advice for conditions such as back pain
  • produce vodcasts of a manual techniques
  • interview leaders from the physiotherapy profession
  • dissemination of student research projects
  • role play the presentation of a condition to a patient
  • deliver a news report on a new piece of evidence

Research

Podacsting can be a novel way to engage the community with your research project and publisise your work.

Examples of using podcasting in research:

  • providing information on the progress of a research project
  • dissemination of results
  • interviews with researchers
  • providing journal abstracts by podcast

Business

Podcasting and vodcasting can be an effective method of marketing your business. You can set up your own ‘channels’ on, for example, iTunes for uploading regular podcasts or YouTube for your vodcasts.

Examples of the use of podcasting and vodcasting for Business:

  • interviews with staff members
  • providing patient information and advice on conditions
  • delivering regular news about your clinic

To get started with podcasting, if you already have an iPod and use iTunes you can click on the Podcast icon in the left-hand toolbar to access podcasts and subscribe to them. To subscribe to vodcasts look on YouTube for a vodcaster that regularly produces video in your area of clinical interest and subscribe to their RSS feed. If you fancy trying your hand at creating your own podcast, download the free audio editing tool Audacity or have a look at the ‘how to’ guide at wikiHow.

The important thing to remember about podcasting and vodcasting is that it is only a podcast or a vodcast if new digital files are regularly published via an RSS feed. Otherwise it is just an audio or video file that has been published on-line!

If you know of any other podcasting or vodcasting channels that might be of interest to physiotherapists then please let us know by commenting below.

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