Web 3.0?

Technology drives community learning as it is developing so rapidly that there is a lagtime, or so this article states ( Boulos & Wheeler, 2007).

'Not since the invention of the Web and its subsequent development as a multimedia platform have we seen such an exciting array of emerging technologies, yet to date relatively few health care organizations have taken up the tools and strategic advantages offered by Web 2.0.'

RSS feeds, Blogs, Wikis, podcasting, tags, gaming etc provide the platform for the Web 2.0 and dare we say it Web 3.0 connectivity and global communities of practice.

The authors state that

'There are several instances of amateur knowledge surpassing professional, when the right kind of systems and tools are available. '

which I think we could debate.

There is certainly the possibility of groupthink bias. Investing written word with truth and poor analysis of research and opinion can lead to 'dumbing down'.

I see in my particular field, psychiatry, major flaws in this approach. Government has seen the economic rationalism of 'dumbing down' as a way of reducing health costs. It now prefers to use less educated, unqualified , community funded organisations to treat mental illness, than doctors. This helps it overcome the poor planning and shortfall of doctors in the country. It overcomes the fact that overseas trained doctors that it poaches from poorer nations, lack adequate psychiatry training and have language problems. The governments also see the value in terms of vote buying.

We also see online support groups. These are unmonitored and extremely powerful. Online groups for anorexia nervosa is a way that sufferers share their tips for losing weight and promote illness rather than health.

The same process can be seen for university academics promoting critical thinking and research analysis towards higher levels of knowledge. As they are locked away in ivory towers, grass roots information webs advance. Wikipedia becomes the most important reference.

Thus 'experts' have an important role in global connectivity. In my particular field, websites, blogs, wikis are the growing revolution to connecting with patients, governments and health organisations. Expertise in these areas is however slow. An anti- authoritarian philosophy may prove costly in the long run.

Joyce Arnold

References

Boulos, M. N. K., & Wheeler, S. (2007). The emerging Web 2.0 social software: an enabling suite of sociable technologies in health and health care education Health Information and Libraries Journal, 24(1), 2-23. retrieved Ebscohost, University of Southern Queensland library