As part of the INFODEV-L online conference on Health Informatics, being
co-sponsored by Bellanet (Ottawa) and the infoDev program of the World
Bank, we are posting some semi-conceptual pieces to start the discussion.
Several of them are of general interest and I will cross-post them to
one or both of HI4DEV and CLICK4HP as appropriate. - Sam Lanfranco -
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This is our first posting to the INFODEV-L online Conference Health
Informatics since last Week's announcement that we would devote 8 weeks to
a discussion of Health Informatics in Development.

We have delayed posting anything for the first few days in order to give
time for people to hear about the online Conference and SUBSCRIBE. We now
have 190 subscribers, up from 114 a week ago.

Health informatics is a broad field. Rather than start with a series of
postings which try to give an overview of the field, we are starting with
bits and pieces surrounding health as a concern and objective and will
build an overview as the online conference progresses.

The INFODEV-L facilitators have a background framework for that overview
which will be presented as the discussion progresses. A KEY ELEMENT in
that framework is to treat information and communication technology (ICT)
as both:

(a) a new bag of applied tools in the service of health and medicine, and
(b) a new (electronic) venue for activities involving health and medicine.

A second KEY ELEMENT is to examine how the new 'tools' and this new
'electronic venue' will impact on the structure of organizations and the
work process in traditional and new areas within medicine and health.

In addition to assessing the (positive or negative) impact of ICT on
efficiency and effectiveness in medicine and health, this online
conference will explore the ways in which ICT are a transformative
technological revolution. ICT will go to the very heart of health and
medical practice as we know it today.

ICT will change many of the ways we use the knowledge we now have. It will
change how we organize and how we work in areas ranging from high-tech
medicine through to the appropriate uses of traditional medical and health
knowledge.

The central purpose of this INFODEV-L online conference in health
informatics is more than just taking stock of the new tools on the shelf.
The objectives also include helping to understand ICT as a NEW VENUE for
all facets of our work in the pursuit of health and wellness.

We intend to shed light on how to threat these NEW TOOLS and this NEW
VENUE at the levels of (a) making health policy, (b) formulating and
funding health strategies, (c) implementing health programs and projects,
and (d) evaluating outcomes and impacts at all of these levels.

One measure of the success of the INFODEV-L online conference will be the
extent to which we have helped each other organize and arrange our ways of
thinking about ICT in health. This is much more important than just
exchanging information about the newest ICT-based technologies, and
fundamental to the appropriate uses of such new tools and new electronic
venues.

To begin to give some focus within this proposed 'new tools/new venue'
framework we take as an example the upcoming:

            MEDNET 97: WORLD CONGRESS ON THE INTERNET IN MEDICINE
                          November 3-6, 1997
                       Brighton, United Kingdom
              http://www.mednet.org.uk/mednet/mednet.htm

        Organized by:  The Society for the Internet in Medicine

<MEDNET 97 FOCUS>

The rapid spread of internet technology is having a significant impact on
healthcare development, management and practice. In order to disseminate
ideas on this matter, and to discuss its implications, the Society for the
Internet in Medicine is organising Mednet 97, the World Congress on the
Internet in Medicine.

Mednet 97 follows on from the highly successful Mednet 96, and will again
bring together a multi-diciplinary body of hospital doctors, general
practitioners, computer and information professionals, academics and
hospital IT managers from around the world.

Mednet 97 will feature a full technical programme demonstrating the latest
developments in internet technology as applied to medicine, together with
both basic and advanced teaching workshops and a large commercial
exhibition.

<MEDNET 97 TOPICS>

Presentations are invited on all applications of the internet and intranet
in medicine, including the following topics:

Primary care
Telemedicine
Medical education
Medical libraries
Access to health and medical information
Hospital management and the internet
The internet in general practice
Research using the internet
Internet security
The internet and the developing world

<ELECTRONIC CONTACT AND ACTIVITY VENUES>

Information may be found at:

        http://www.mednet.org.uk/mednet/

Mednet Secretariat email: [log in to unmask]

For Congress Updates subscribe to the Society for the Internet in Medicine
list-server by sending a message containing the single line:
        subscribe sim
to [log in to unmask]  Send postings to:     [log in to unmask]
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Treating MEDNET97 as an example it is noteworthy that the SUBJECT of the
Congress, the ongoing application of "the internet and intranet' -here
applied to medicine- is also the VEHICLE (webpage and email) to facilitate
the conference event, and provide it with a VENUE (listserve and webpace)
for on-going participation and the sharing of information before, during,
and after the conference.

This relationship between the uses if ICT in medicine, and its role in
medicine's pursuit and diffusion of knowledge is unique across medical
technologies.  It will transform both medicine and medicine's links to the
the rest of society's pursuit of health and wellness. This cross-over
relationship, made possible by ICT, will be more important in its impact
on medicine than will be the individual uses of the various ICT
technologies.

By positioning part of the process in the electronic venue, the Congress
becomes increasingly ACCESSIBLE and TRANSPARENT to interested parties
(STAKEHOLDERS?) beyond those involved with the event. The diffusion of
information in the electronic venue is more an issue of access than it is
of distribution.  More one of the cost of access than the cost of
distribution.

(An understanding of this point is behind the extreme concern for
extending access to the more marginalized sectors of society and areas of
the globe. As 'access' is tackled, the focus shifts to (i) access to what?
and (ii) participation in what?)

Lastly, the relationship between ICT and medicine, as described above, is
also the relationship between the MEDNET 97 Congress, as an 'event', and
the electronic venue (MEDNET webpage, listserv, and email) as a 'place'.
As well, it is the relationship between Health Informatics as an applied
field, and this INFODEV-L electronic venue.

Each provides for ongoing participation in a process, using the electronic
venue for access to , and the diffusion of, knowledge. This includes the
sharing of lessons learned, and the teasing out of tacit knowledge. It
also includes those exchanges of opinions and applications of wisdom
essential to consensus in areas relating to policy.

This electronic venue is more than just a place to record and store
'validated' scientific knowledge about medicine and health. It is a place
in its own right, a venue, for the direct pursuit of knowledge, and of
health and wellness.  If this INFODEV-L online conference on health
informatics has a vision, it is contained in these words.
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Posted: Sam Lanfranco <[log in to unmask]> Feb 24, 1997