Systematic Review Teams, Processes, Experiences

Recently I was privileged to speak with the students of Tiffany Veinot’s course in the School of Information on evidence-based practice and processes. It was an amazing and diverse group of students, with librarians and healthcare professionals from most (if not all) of the healthcare programs on campus! The students had insightful questions, the conversation went on much longer than it should have given the time allotted, but was as richly rewarding for me as I hope it was for them. The approach this year focused more on case studies and storytelling — what is it really like? The slides can’t give you the whole sense of it, but at least it is a start.

Systematic Review Teams, Processes, Experiences

Presentation is also viewable as a Google Presentation.

Systematic Review Teams, Processes, Experiences https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NaaYxG15LqxxlahSI2L1pLu7Q8W870B66pox79prtQY/edit

Apple’s iPhone and iPad in the Health Sciences / Apple in Education (#UMiHealth)

We had a great event this week here at the University of Michigan, focused on ways in which healthcare schools (both local and other places) are using iOS devices and authoring tools in healthcare education, but not just for learning. While the focus was on the academic programs, some of the examples included ways in which management, diagnosis, support, patient education, and even treatment are all being made easier through these tools. I livetweeted the event, and the easiest way to go over it is probably just to give you the tweets.

What most interested me about the event (main takeaways) were these points.
– The size of the audience. Huge numbers of faculty from the various campus health programs here wanting to learn about creating and using content via iOS devices.
– The creativity, insight, and innovation represented in the locally created products that were presented.
– The unique fingerprints of tools selected for use in other academic medical centers. Each location highlighted had a different workflow, different needs, and found tools that fit specifically with their goals and structure.
– “Crowdsourcing” content production by engaging students in creating their own digital learning objects. (This closely parallels another campus initiative on digital storytelling.)
– The sheer size of the mobile environment in the medical center, and the metrics on specific devices (overwhelmingly iOS at this point, but with significant representation for other devices).

---

INTRODUCTION & IOS COURSE DEVELOPMENT / MANAGEMENT

pfanderson At the #umihealth event, AWESOME! Apple in Health Sciences, Better Patient Care thru Education leads off with Hilary Srere @pitbullsrock
pfanderson New report – 6 BILLION Mobile users, even in countries with no landlines #umihealth
pfanderson “In my world, a laptop is mobile. But no more. Laptops are considered desktop devices. Mobile means phone.” #umihealth
pfanderson Ralph Clayman, MD. June 26, 2010. Used scholarship money for whole M1 class to buy iPads (UCI). Put a push on publishers. #UMiHealth
pfanderson @dean_jenkins Yeah, that’s her life, too. BUT in survey it wasn’t used that way. 6bil mobile did NOT include laptop. #UMiHealth
pfanderson The med student reaction to living with iPads http://t.co/6uGnJgbL #mhealth #UMiHealth #hcsm
Berci RT @pfanderson: The med student reaction to living with iPads http://machealthcare.org/articles/15/i-pads-in-medical-school-the-stu #mhealth #UMiHealth #hcsm
pfanderson iTunesU has a built in course management module. I didn’t know that. @pitbullsrock is demoing #UMiHealth
dejah_thoris RT @pfanderson: “In my world, a laptop is mobile. But no more. Laptops are considered desktop devices. Mobile means phone.” #umihealth
pfanderson If you are logged in w/ yr iTunesU management account, link to course manager https://t.co/Jc6IN0wq #UMiHealth
pfanderson Course manager is web form, can include app links, faculty can edit from any web browser. To access course must use iPad. #UMiHealth
pfanderson iTunesU course manager/developer tool allows you set licensing (creative commons or proxyserver or restricted) #UMiHealth
LeonVeltmaat RT @pfanderson: The med student reaction to living with iPads http://t.co/6uGnJgbL #mhealth #UMiHealth #hcsm

APPS OTHER MEDICAL CENTERS LOVE

pfanderson Dr Chrono EHR https://t.co/99SPKaVm #UMiHealth lauded for lowering barriers between physician and patients #mhealth
pfanderson “Get Facts on the Fly” Merck Manual, other medical reference materials, students used tools off the grid in Viet Nam & Africa #UMiHealth
pfanderson “Exponential image improvement” showing neuroanatomy images from 1974 compared to aneurysm image from Osirix http://t.co/PVCeEcvl #UMiHealth
dalziel1 RT @pfanderson: The med student reaction to living with iPads http://t.co/6uGnJgbL #mhealth #UMiHealth #hcsm
pfanderson AWESOME! Osirix has a one-button anonymizer to never save patient data , image sharing RICH in realtime #UMiHealth
pfanderson “Crowdsourcing” student created content for populating iTunesU, learning objects don’t always need to be polished #UMiHealth
pfanderson @subatomicdoc Yep! In the Apple in Education day long workshop. #UMiHealth Awesome content
subatomicdoc Cool! I’ll track your tweets! RT @pfanderson: @subatomicdoc Yep! In the Apple in Education day long workshop. #UMiHealth Awesome content
pfanderson I love this “anthrax” whiteboard talk she pulled fr iTunesU. Was made by a student! Stdts creating videos have higher bd scores #UMiHealth
twit_terrance RT @pfanderson: The med student reaction to living with iPads http://t.co/6uGnJgbL #mhealth #UMiHealth #hcsm
pfanderson Airstrip Cardiology http://t.co/nt1Zb8in to address medical errors in ObGyn/FamMed #UMiHealth #mhealth
pfanderson MT @starpath @dean_jenkins Many mobile phones, many landmines, few landlines = leapfrogging in these countries. #UMiHealth
pfanderson Airstrip cardiology used in Cedar Sinai ambulances, prepped for when patient hits the door at ER #UMiHealth
EXplorerDasta RT @pfanderson: Airstrip Cardiology http://t.co/nt1Zb8in to address medical errors in ObGyn/FamMed #UMiHealth #mhealth
pfanderson Memorial Hermann uses: Airstrip OB http://t.co/jMP725zQ Pocket Medical Spanish http://t.co/fqBaaAoH PEPID http://t.co/mnlMhsIo #UMiHealth
pfanderson Mount Sinai uses VitalHub http://t.co/6jaNgsnG iTriage http://t.co/2ne5JH0c ePocrates http://t.co/twFoPm6I #UMiHealth
pfanderson Mount Sinai: iPhone in Enterprise http://t.co/LaEcAEQW #mhealth #UMiHealth #hcsm #video #youtube
DigMedCom The med student reaction to living with iPads http://t.co/QYUyiqpA #mhealth #UMiHealth #hcsm: The med st… http://t.co/syMPeOQe #hcsmin
pfanderson Remote wipe for security. YOUR enterprise should set policies, passwords, security. Next speaker: iPad in Health Sciences #UMiHealth
pfanderson Ooh, athletics, football, & electronic playbooks. “Coach, I lost my iPad.” Swwwip, remote wipe. #UMiHealth

ACADEMIC PRODUCTIVITY, E-TEXTBOOKS & IBOOKS AUTHOR

pfanderson iAnnotate PDF http://t.co/IF3QMA05 is most used for reading PDFs on iPad. QuickOffice Pro. GoodReader. iCloud #UMiHealth #mobile
pitbullsrock At University of Michigan Medical School with Team Science™ for Apple in Education day long workshop. #UMiHealth
pfanderson Inkling + Lippincott partnership for core medical texts on iPad, includes Campbell Biology #UMiHealth iBooks Author for local authoring
pitbullsrock Warner now talking about iBook textbooks #UMiHealth
pfanderson 11 inch MacBook Air as “iPad for old people” LOL! #UMiHealth
pfanderson Limited fonts on iPad. Helvetica is one recommended. What are others? #UMiHealth
zanskar RT @DigMedCom: The med student reaction to living with iPads http://t.co/QYUyiqpA #mhealth #UMiHealth #hcsm: The med st… http://t.co/syMPeOQe #hcsmin
pfanderson iBook Author demo emphasizing use of Accessibility description option for voiceover rich descriptions #UMiHealth
pfanderson Harvard prof creating patient education #healthlit ebook w/ iBook Author “Know Your pH“, assembled content he already has #UMiHealth
pfanderson Demo of Inkling books for iPad, functionality includes highlight, notes, sharing. Sharing CRITICAL. Study groups, collab, assmt #UMiHealth

UMHS & IOS: DEVICES WE USE & APPS WE’RE MAKING

pfanderson Laurence Kirchmeier, mobile app developer from #UMich #UMMS talking at #UMiHealth
pfanderson LK: Mobile devices at UM Health Systems? Over 6 thousand iPhone, ~3K Android, <1K Blackberry for almost 10K #UMiHealth
pfanderson 200 iPads in Anesthesiology for clinical web apps and education. iPad pilot in Neuro, M1/M2 stdts arrive with tables/iPads #UMiHealth
pfanderson Current mobile base of enterprise devices tends to be Blackberry, makes challenge in development #UMiHealth
pfanderson LK describes diffs btwn native apps & web aps. Network connection needed/not, backend languages (Jave vs HTML5), uses device fcns #UMiHealth
pfanderson Challenge of native apps is iOS app needs to be ported/rewritten for Android / Blackberry. Easy to deploy, but harder to code #UMiHealth
pfanderson Advantages of web-ready websites: ease of updating content, cross platform accessibility, multiple devices with one swoop #UMiHealth
pfanderson MD Stat+ for UMMS Applicants http://t.co/vF2GpRKn #umich #UMiHealth #apps
pfanderson Web app for orange card CME record replacment http://t.co/dHPkv9mw | https://t.co/sb4304X4 #UMiHealth
pfanderson Highly recommended > Apple developer human interface guidelines https://t.co/qTknV3w7 #UMiHealth
pfanderson PPT conversion to iPad tool, close to being released. #UMiHealth Heart Sound Challenge App http://t.co/ZQQ1nO1x #UMich
pfanderson MT @open_michigan @tbirdcymru Duke adopts online learning tools, #opensource iPad app #UMiHealth #mlearn http://t.co/O5Jifqu6 @pfanderson
pfanderson 3D Woodson http://t.co/oRy5p3bm created w/ Bully Entertainment http://t.co/JAQYezgW #UMiHealth
pfanderson M-BERET barrett’s esophagus app in development; MySkinCheck app in development (includes lesion tracker, w/ photosurvey tool) #UMiHealth
pfanderson RiskWatch app for Anesthesiology https://t.co/HDYcSUVg #UMiHealth
pfanderson Watching RiskWatch demo http://t.co/EakOiGng #UMiHealth
pfanderson Neurosurgery using “Citrix Receiver to access core clinical online applications” #UMiHealth
pfanderson Flow for #UMich #UMHS app development includes concept, design, development, testing, release, & support #UMiHealth http://t.co/quoThDEc
pfanderson LK talks about web clips for iOS http://t.co/bMe8QgoF #UMiHealth

UM DENTISTRY & IOS: APPS WE’RE MAKING

pfanderson Dentistry – oral radiology for IOS, Xcode for iCBCT Anatomy app http://t.co/F7Axmw6y #UMiHealth
pfanderson Oral radiology challenge on mobile devices is image resolution, but pinch+zoom gets around that limitation #UMiHealth
pfanderson Power of ebooks to include video for movement / time dependent / sequence informaiton #umihealth
pfanderson Using accessibility feature for rich annotation of radiographic images; using MAYA to create 3d rotatable objects #UMiHealth
pfanderson Hard to teach students “How kilovoltage peaks effect contrast”, use animation + quizzes #UMiHealth #dentistry
pfanderson Roger Gillie & Mike Bleed demoing pair of mobile apps they’ve developed. Challenge of faculty oversight of student clinic work #UMiHealth
pfanderson Requires login, but mobile ready web app is http://t.co/q4Ru82pe Alerts faculty member of request in queue w/ vibrate & beep #UMiHealth
pfanderson Pain Trek http://t.co/YOrddG8J #UMiHealth Burden of persistent pain costs $500BILION per year (back, migraine, neck, facial)
pfanderson Research background: Headache & Orofacial Pain Effort Lab http://t.co/K9TlYe7j App allows precise reporting of head pain #umihealth
pfanderson PainTrek app allows patient to report pain intensity, type, & associated symptom data between appointments #UMiHealth
pfanderson Dermatome Mapping included in app, facial migraine described, location of pain criticail to assessing nerve involvement #UMiHealth
pfanderson Extending PainTrek app 2 include more pts of body, fibromyalgia, back pain, neuralgias, carpal tunnel Alex DaSilve & E Maslowski #UMiHealth
ElinSilveous @pfanderson Thank you for Tweeting #UMIHealth

THE NEW IPAD, APPS OTHER SCHOOLS LOVE

pfanderson Starting back after a blissfully wonderful catered glutenfree lunch #UMiHealth
pfanderson New iPad? Apple A5x chip, 9.7″ backlit LED retina display, multitouch glass screen, WiFi 802.11, cameras, 10hrs battery life #UMiHealth
pfanderson iPad in k12 education – Frog Dissection http://t.co/iPaCvYzx #UMiHealth
pfanderson Demoing some of the apps from this morning’s #UMich presentations #UMiHealth
pfanderson Stethoscope app http://t.co/JHffzAPJ Eye Chart Pro http://t.co/MyIKhJMP #UMiHealth
pfanderson drawMD http://t.co/EsC7qfCN app http://t.co/zeNK9i7T PocketBody http://t.co/jFKw4t7q | http://t.co/SAsz1Knm #UMiHealth
pfanderson @BrianSHall Details are in the tweets that followed that one, or you can skim the hashtag stream for links #UMiHealth
pfanderson John Hopkins BurnMed Pro app http://t.co/EruAcyIP | http://t.co/DbcxHMYk CTisus http://t.co/Pldldgi5 #UMiHealth
subatomicdoc RT @pfanderson: MT @open_michigan @tbirdcymru Duke adopts online learning tools, #opensource iPad app #UMiHealth #mlearn http://t.co/O5Jifqu6 @pfanderson
pfanderson Nursing Central: creating/sharing flashcards, searching core resources, customize, annotate, images, consult http://t.co/eM5Aq3AX #UMiHealth
Bonnycastle RT @pfanderson: Stethoscope app http://t.co/JHffzAPJ Eye Chart Pro http://t.co/MyIKhJMP #UMiHealth
pfanderson Penultimate iPad whiteboard app for $0.99 http://t.co/WM6BwPdK #UMiHealth
pfanderson OMNI GS Graphic Sketcher http://t.co/U4vSKFgP #UMiHealth
pfanderson RT @subatomicdoc @pfanderson Denied! But not for long. I’m making my app list, checking it twice… #UMiHealth
pfanderson FDA approved CT apps : Mobile MIM http://t.co/8P6m5MhO Osirix HD http://t.co/RCmBU6Cx #UMiHealth

CAMPUS VIEWS: IOS DEVICE SECURITY

pfanderson iOS 5.1 http://t.co/rGPnkVRS iMessage (deliver/send receipt), secure encryption <both impt for dr/pt communication #UMiHealth #mhealth #hcsm
pfanderson iCloud discussion divided between the tech & policies. Can force yr iTunes backups 2B encrypted. Stores, syncs to all iOS devices #UMiHealth
pfanderson Can get new device, restore from iCloud backup #UMiHealth “Cloud will rain down applications & data” LOL!
pfanderson iCloud designed for PERSONAL use, not enterprise. Can use Airprint #UMiHealth
pfanderson Device Security: passcode policies (alphanumeric, longer), timeouts, device restrictions, policy enforcement, ActiveSync, config #UMiHealth
pfanderson data security: FindMyIPhone, remote wipe, 256-bit AES (always on), file encryption, encrypted backups, local wipe #UMiHealth
pfanderson App security: no free for all market. Mandatory signing, runtime checks, sandboxed appls, encrypted keychain, credentialing #umihealth
pfanderson iOS 5 compatibility on 8 device types (yow!) #umihealth
pfanderson UCI lessons learned for deployment. 1) ppl want to customize/personalize; 2) shipping in minimal packaging; #UMihealth
pfanderson lessons learned cont: 3) network design: density, 2.4 GHz vs 5GHz. Stdts had 3 devices each for 80 folk. Crashed network #UMiHealth
pfanderson Lessons learned cont 4) hockpuck sized device allows mirroring fr iPad 2 & up or iPhone 4S & up or Apple TV (HDMI). Uses Bonjour #UMiHealth
pfanderson Mobile device management can allow lots of configuration, VPN, account settings, push policy changes, mgmt apps, query device #umihealth
pfanderson Remote wipe and lock, bock backup of certain kinds of data. Can also wipe access to your network. Security goodies #umihealth
pfanderson App licensing: for exploration? gift cards. volume purchase program – special pricing (20 or more), honors tax exempt purchase. #UMiHealth
pfanderson Ed Seminars http://t.co/J43TTp9L #umihealth
RannPatterson RT @pfanderson: MT @open_michigan @tbirdcymru Duke adopts online learning tools, #opensource iPad app #UMiHealth #mlearn http://t.co/O5Jifqu6 @pfanderson
pfanderson JK: Navigating: compliance, regulation, procurement, licensing, copyright, etc #umich #UMiHealth project management, programmatic support
pfanderson JK: Facilitation vs innovation #UMiHealth Researchers bring requests: http://t.co/AHOeuxWp Save $$, usability, wow factor
pfanderson Lots of praise for collaboration with libraries from Jack Kufahl for Anesthesiology iPad project #UMiHealth @wrenaissance
pfanderson Using the Confluence wiki for iPhone help http://t.co/c005SkD4 #UMiHealth
pfanderson Challenges: mobile utilization driven by hardware innovation; blur pro/personal barrier; liability protection vs service; CLOUD #UMiHealth
pfanderson “Wireless dependencies” Everyone has 3 devices, we can’t yet cope, working on it #UMiHealth Academic health centers are on trailing edge
pfanderson 10 failed passwords equals automatic wipe. “Nuclear option” #UMiHealth
pfanderson JK said steering, tech, communication, and heard “scary” LOL! #UMiHealth
pfanderson Regulatory overhead does not make iCloud a possibility at this time. eDiscovery. Security is one thing. Proving it is different. #UMiHealth
pfanderson JK: DropBox isn’t necessarily the answer. Audience laughs. #UMiHealth

Paul Courant on Revolutions in Libraries

This afternoon, well, it was that afternoon when I started this, but a week ago now. Anyway, I was lucky to be able to attend a presentation by Paul Courant in which he passionately expounded on some of the trends and challenges facing libraries as a result of changing technologies around us. I left my laptop in the office, so I didn’t livetweet this one, and I heard from several people that they were disappointed about this, so I promised to blog as soon as I could, and took copious notes. When I printed it off, I found I had taken over 4 pages of single spaced notes in a 9-point font. I will not inflict that chaos on you, and am going to try to pull out some of the most significant issues and take-aways, distilled into a few categories that seem to work with the colorful way Paul presents. Please note that I was taking notes, so please verify the quotes with the video if at all possible. The video should appear here shortly.

WIT & SARCASM

Once upon a time, copying was expensive. Now it is cheap. Perfect copies at next to no cost. Hunh. That might effect an industry based on copying.

Without peer review, why, scholars will not know what to read! Scholars will give up reading!

Do I sound like the boy who cried wolf? Mmmhmmm. Remember, how did that story turn out?

NUGGETS

On revolutions: “You always lose something you care about.”

What do we want? “We want CONTINUED SCHOLARLY PROGRESS.”

On electronic scholarly works & access:
“What if there’s a flood in Amsterdam, or a publisher is sold? Maybe we can dig up a copy, maybe we can’t. This is the world we live in, but we don’t know it yet. Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

Successful societies build libraries because they need information in order to be more successful. If the libraries fail, society fails.

On orphan works and online access: “It’s hard to get permission from people you can’t find.”

People love infrastructure. We don’t always know it.

Look to the purposes of the things, rather than to the things themselves.

CONCEPTS

A new technology makes the old ways of doing things not work any longer, but doesn’t necessarily offer any solutions for the new ways of doing things.

There are two competing claims, both false. One, people won’t create art except for money. Two, Money doesn’t matter in the production of art. Now, take the word “art” and substitute another word for things people do.

Pre-publication peer review USED to make sense. It was an economic necessity because of the cost of publishing. Now that publishing is not expensive, it makes a certain amount of sense to shift the focus to post-publication review.

Libraries like to share things. … Libraries like to buy things, too, things that are too expensive for one person to buy and then they can share with many. We’re still figuring out the impact of reuse on the economics of sharing.

Types of sharing: (1) noblesse oblige sharing (Libraries – you can borrow it, but remember it’s really mine) vs. (2) communist sharing (take a copy, make a copy)

What’s more important to authors? Reputation or money?

Scholarship produced today is at risk of being lost forever!!!!!

Cornell and Columbia are two places working on an e-journal safety net, through such tools as LOCKSS and Portico. A study of these preservation & backup systems found that the content and scholarly record eligible and protected through these initiatives is not 100%, not 50%, but 13% of what might be saved.

There is a perception that others will take care of problem. Do you know who does take care of a problem when people in general think someone else will?

CITES, QUOTES, SOURCES

Margaret Hedstrom & John L. King. Epistemic Infrastructure in the Rise of the Knowledge Economy

http://jlking.people.si.umich.edu/EpistemicInfrast-MITPress.pdf

“He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density in any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move, and have our physical being, incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriation. Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property.”
Thomas Jefferson to Isaac McPherson, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, Document 12.

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_8_8s12.html

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA): http://dp.la/
– as a complementary project to the Google project

“The conventional rationale for copyright of written works, that copyright is needed to foster their creation, is seemingly of limited applicability to the academic do- main. For in a world without copyright of academic writing, academics would still benefit from publishing in the major way that they do now, namely, from gaining scholarly esteem. … But if the publication fees would usually be paid by universities or grantors, the motive of academics to publish would be unlikely to decrease (and could actually increase)—suggesting that ending academic copy- right would be socially desirable in view of the broad benefits of a copyright-free world.”
Shavell, Steven. Should Copyright Of Academic Works Be Abolished? Journal of Legal Analysis Spring 2010;2(1):301-358.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/shavell/pdf/copyright%20of%20academic%20works%20abolished.pdf

“An act for the encouragement of learning, by vesting the copies of printed books in the authors or purchasers of such copies, during the times therein mentioned.”
Statute of Anne (1710) http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/anne_1710.asp

“To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries … “
US Constitution. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

RECAPITULATION*

1. Libraries produce a reliable and reusable corpus.
2. That corpus is reusable, checkable, and verifiable. Reliable over time. This requires preservation.
3. Sharing. The library is filled with things that make sense to share once you have them. Hence, lots of skill at sharing things. (And note the demand side. We want these things shared because it’s cheaper for users that way.)
4. How do we figure out how to share digital (Legal and organizational issues)? (Mechanism design)
– Collective reliable preservation
5. How do we figure out how to share print? More organizational and to some extent ideological.

* This section was copied directly from a photograph of the relevant slide. While possibly the least visually interesting slide in the deck, it was also likely one of the most important, at least in my eyes. Part of what fascinated me was Paul walking through a thoughtful checklist of what things were easy or hard to do with print and what things are easy or hard to do with digital. They are very different lists.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q: What about preserving the right information to respond in major disasters?
A: .. Tell me what kind of disaster we’ll have and I’ll build a system for it
.. There will still be a few print collections
.. There aren’t any solutions that you’ll like.

Q: Why not trust someone over 30?
A: .. At 20, it’s hard to imagine being old.
.. To a young man, age is like California in the Saul Steinberg cartoon ” A View of the World from 9th Avenue”
.. At 30 the rest of life becomes visible, 40, 64 … and wee see into the Beatles song that was so important to my generation, exactly because it was unimaginable to us that we would ever be 64.

Q: The cost of making born digital preservable
A. .. Explosion of stuff
.. Review of what to KEEP is harder
.. Standards could come from the Digital Preservation Network (DPN) type org if it existed
.. Storage isn’t getting cheaper any faster than the volume skyrockets

Q. Elitist assumptions (here at U? Good heavens)
A. .. More folk allowed to vote
.. Market capitalism
.. Clash of cultures
.. Does quality of public discourse (not encouraging) penetrate the halls of government
.. 2019 things may enter public domain
.. Will debate be framed well?
.. Imagine doing the zombie version of Catcher in the Rye?
.. Conversation not so much driven by scholarly needs & purposes, but rather by the ability of fun cultural games for everyone
.. Answer won’t come from deep views, but from commercial interests

Q. I’m writing a book. It has to be just this certain way, because of print standards. What would my book look like in a diff cognitive context?
A. .. Prob of permanence and storage
.. Things that look radically different than books
.. Insist in ironclad terms that publisher ought to deliver full access to your work in 100 years.

Risk, Uncertainty and Sustainable Innovation, Day One

I’ve spent a goodly chunk of the past week livetweeting at the annual University of Michigan School of Public Health Risk Science Symposium. This year, the title and focus was on Risk, Uncertainty and Sustainable Innovation. I will spend time later synthesizing portions of what I learned (I hope), but for now, here are the tweets from Day One of the event.

For those who are unfamiliar with Twitter, the way livetweeting works is this. I attend the event, either in person or remote broadcast. I listen for comments or information that seem to me to be both of interest and “tweetable.” Twitter constrains both the length & frequency of posts. A post can be no more that 140 characters, which includes the “hashtag” (a technique that allows people who don’t know each other to either converse or comment on a shared topic, and which allows all posts on that topic to be aggregated). Because of these constraints, sometimes abbreviations are used to shorten the number of characters, and concepts may either be broken into pieces extending across two tweets (posts) or multiple short concepts compiled into a single post. This also means that sometimes a portion of the context necessary to understand the post inadvertently goes unstated, encouraging people to ask for clarification, and thus hopefully provoking a broader conversation on the issues.

---

UMRSC Risk Science Center: “Live streaming of next week’s symposium on Risk, Uncertainty and Sustainable Innovation” #risksymp http://tinyurl.com/3u4qg3x 14 Sep

UMRSC Risk Science Center: Correction to yesterday’s post. We are not live streaming the Risk Symposium. We are live tweeing at #risksymp. Apologies for the error. 15 Sep

pfanderson: WARNING!! I will be livetweeting all day today and tomorrow for the #UMich Risk Science Symposium, Uncertainty & Sustainability #risksymp . 23 hours ago

pfanderson: Want more info about the #risksymp ? Check umriskcenter.org | sph.umich.edu/riskcenter/ | Symposium www.sph.umich.edu/riskcenter/11symposium/index.htm . 23 hours ago

pfanderson: Impressed with the slides showing the sponsors and cosponsors. Some interesting organizations and activities profiled there #risksymp . 23 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp sponsor Alfred P Sloan Public Understanding of Science and Technology sloan.org/program/3 Digital Info Tech sloan.org/program/28 . 23 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp co sponsor A-CAPPP Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Program a-cappp.msu.edu . 23 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp cosponsor #UMich Office of Public Health Practice practice.sph.umich.edu/practice/ #public.health . 23 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp cosponsor #Society for #Risk #Analysis sra.org #organization #risksci . 23 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp cosponsor #UMich #Science #Technology and Public Policy Program stpp.fordschool.umich.edu . 23 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp cosponsor NISE Network (Nanoscale Informal #Science #Education ) nisenet.org/about #nano What is Nano? WhatisNano.org . 23 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp cosponsor Matter for All (Making New Technologies Work for Us All) matterforall.org #Nano & Me http://www.nanoandme.org #etech . 23 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Matter has some really awesome projects & info. Debategraph debategraph.org/walkingwithsta… #interactive PDF matterforall.org/pdf/MATTER-Wha…. 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Nanotechnology: Learning communications lessons from techno-disasters ethicalcorp.com/communications…. 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Interesting conversation around the table here about Good Guide goodguide.com and the Ecology Center ecologycenter.org . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: Mobile site for #risksymp 2011symp.umriskcenter.org. 22 hours ago

pfanderson: More #risksymp sponsors Coca-Cola coca-cola.com ACS americanchemistry.com Dow dow.com UMTRI umtri.umich.edu/news.php . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp sponsor Johnson & Johnson jnj.com/connect/ Youth Mentoring investor.jnj.com/2010contributi… Infection Control investor.jnj.com/2010annualrepo… . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: Getting started at #risksymp Andrew cracking jokes & introducing folk. Symposium honors Isadora Bernstein, funded by the Gellmans. . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science: “Rate of emerging technology innovation accelerating beyond what we’d imagined.” “An increasingly globalized world” . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science Do we completely need to rethink the balance between risk, sustainability, and innovation? . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: Center for Nanotechnology in Society cns.asu.edu #risksymp . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Video & photos will be made available on the web in about 2 weeks. Journalists wandering about. OPEN meeting, live tweeting, etc. . 22 hours ago

texas_inventor Richard Skorpenske sium in Ann Arbor #risksymp . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: @texas_inventor Welcome, and happy to meet you! #risksymp . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Martin Philbert, SPH Dean. Creating novel evidence-based approaches to assessment of risk, thorny issues. . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: @LISInstruct Nanotech & nanosci are a big part of the focus here today at #risksymp. So cool! . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp John Viera, Director of Sustainability at Ford. How can we take back to impact our own organizations? “Innovate or Perish” . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Viera: If we don’t innovate, we won’t be around. If academia isn’t innovating, we won’t fund yr projects. . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: We’ll perish as a species / culture if we don’t innovate rapidly. Challenges: Health/human rights. Food. Water. Environment . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: Challenges: Energy (renewable), Mobility & Transportation. Space (congestion). Solutions: Tech, business models, POLICIES!! . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: Blueprint for sustainability, what Ford does. Report: corporate.ford.com/microsites/sus… . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV quotes Bill Ford “Improved sustainabile performance is not just a requirement, but a tremendous business opportunity” . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: Sustainability as a 3-legged stool: Environment, Social, Economic. (CO2, urban mobility, work conditions, profit, cash flow) . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: What is the responsibility involved with putting large numbers of more vehicles on the roads? Fuel economy = lower CO2 . 22 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Interesting. CO2 coming mostly from Agriculture, then utilities, vehicles ranked abt 20% contribution. . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: #Ford CO2 footprint – manufacturing only 2%. Most comes from vehicles already on the road. Public transit helps reduce that. . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: #Ford working hard on human rights in developing countries, collaborating with Hilary Clinton iccr.org/publications/e… . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: #Ford working on changing practices related to conflict minerals, encourage govts to change practice in mines . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Getting it Right? Voluntary Human Rights Initiatives OR Of Human Bondage: Globalization’s Darkest Secret iccr.org/publications/i… . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: Big part of water use is ethanol, fuel uses. “Desire for development is infinite, but … ” Ma Jun in amazon.com/Chinas-Water-C… . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: @navi Interesting! This is an enlightening presentation on the #Ford corporate & social sustainability vision #risksymp . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: #Ford New models of mobility corporate.ford.com/microsites/sus… Car sharing, Alternative tech vehicles, Clean green, smart city . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: providing healthcare to rural areas in India via Apollo Hospital Partnership, esp women care, a vehicle as mobile info unit!! . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: Ford Endeavor as a Mobile health unit, mobile information units in Chennai (part them by the post office!) . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: PDF: Globalization’s Darkest Secret acrath.org.au/wp-content/upl… #risksymp . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: Building #Sustainable Communities through Multi-Party #Collaboration iccr.org/publications/2… #risksymp . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Gil Omenn asks about importance of rare earths in new tech and impact on sustainable use & innovation. . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV talking about how Ford works to provide worker safety in violent areas near factories . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp What keeps us awake at night? Panel: John Viera (Ford), Alta Charo, Greg Bond (Dow), Hilary Sutcliffe, Andrew Maynard @2020science . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Panel: JV: Come up w/ a great tech solution, & it turns out to be worse than the original problem. Someone dictating solutions . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: “Certain solution sets are eliminated because some1 has decided they won’t work.” Keep doors/ideas OPEN. Evidence, performance . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Panel: AC: “I worry abt what I don’t know, what I don’t know I don’t know…” Inability of gov 2react quickly enuf 2 keep up w/sci . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AC: We don’t have a good surveillance system for new tech, unlike FDA. Worry about growing anti-intellectualism & anti-science . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AC: Worried abt Rt & Lft convergence & agreement on anti-science. Spiritual attachment 2 what is nonscientific, secular religion . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AC is using “crunchy community” as a phrase, seems to have something to do with leftism? . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AC: Inability of the general public to tinker with the tech requires TRUST, delegation of authority. This creates suspicion. . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AC: Easier 2 imagine harm fr innovation than the benefits. Eg: invention of fire “raw food tastes fine, let’s not burn the world” . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GB: “Paralysis is not an option.” . 21 hours ago

openinnovation3: Building #Sustainable Communities through Multi-Party #Collaboration iccr.org/publications/2… #risksymp: Building #S… bit.ly/ptMR0n . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GB: We practice a Stage Gate process for emerging technologies. stage-gate.com/knowledge_pipw… . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GB: How do we regain public confidence in innovation, corporations, govts? Talent availability is big worry. Knowledge transition . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GB: “Are we getting enough diverse perspectives looking at new technologies at an early enough stage?” . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GB: “Geo-political risk is where we’ve seen the most significant upheaval.” “We see small competitors taking risks we won’t take.” . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS: “No known knowns.” Known known? “We will cock it up.” “seeds of our own undoing” from amazon.com/Bad-Ideas-Arre… . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS: Not enough learning from our past, not enough re-assessment of old standards, ripping up rulebooks . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS: We’re locked into heritage concepts & systems, not enough flexibility. . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS: “The public will be confident when they know the real stories.” #storytelling . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS We have to honor different perspectives, but makes decisionmaking extremely difficult . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS: OH on Twitter: “I don’t want to be more informed, I want people to be more responsible” or something like that . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: That was @HilarySutcliffe at #risksymp . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp MT @HilarySutcliffe RT @richardwi1son: …I don’t want to be empowered I want other people to take responsibility” Claire Fox . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AC: Assume you’ll have a breach, then analyse how to make it minimally disruptive. . 21 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AC proposes the Rick Rescorla approach to planning for security charlietuna.com/2011/09/09/the…. 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS “When I say dumb things that IS my job” Importance of intermediary organizations 2 bridge communication gaps btwn policy/public . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS “U can’t expect poor Greenpeace 2 have a sensible contribution if they’ve insufficient $$ 2 achieve thr goals, U get kneejerk” . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GB “The challenge we face (as a large international company) … is there’s no global harmonization” This creates artificial risk . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Martin Philbert: “I’m hearing the conversation needs to change to ‘nothing is safe’ fr ‘tell me it’s safe’” . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AC” It is a question of language. How is ‘risk’ defined? We need to say “safe ENOUGH” AM: A question of trust becomes safety convo . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS “We only have to look at a package of Advil to realize there are always safety tradeoffs” . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS: The benefit assumption is communicated in a narrow way. Need to provide a big picture view. . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS Problem: These conversations happen only at science events. They need to happen in public, in their language. < BINGO!!! . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Trusted authority: "What brand do YOU use?" And can you responsibly answer that question? "Safe enough" is important phrase to use . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JV: Unknown unknowns vs unintended consequences. AC: Role 4 academe, broad unconstrained creativity w/o expectation. . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Risks require diff strategies for diff scenarios, ie. "events that cannot be contained once they have started to unfurl" vs sm pop . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS: People on the fringes, outsiders, there is a moment when perceived "nutters" become the early warning system. . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science observes we need to fund the "Nutter Warning System" only partly tongue-in-cheek . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Panel 2: Techno-hype or techno-reality? Mark Banaszak Holl, Thomas Zurbuchen, Paula Olsiewski, James Bagian, @2020science . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science mentions @kurzweilai visions of rapid change in the future. Is it true? . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp MBH: Riskless innovation is NOT POSSIBLE. Therefore we are in a new era of risk. . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp TZ: I spend my day encouraging people to take more risks, not less. We don't know enuf abt Market risk, indiv abilities, tech risk . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp "Are we on the cusp of a new era in the history of human innovation?" Panel consensus seems to be we're smack dab in the middle . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp TZ: How to use data? picking data from fringe vs holistic comprehensive analysis. New computational resources. . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp TZ: Change is part of the mindset. Part of identifying threats. This needs to be part of EDUCATION. . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp TZ "These type of innovation thrusts happen. Technology thrusts." Much more global than it was. . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PO: Microbiology of the built environment. "What's in the room with us?" "We're studying an invisible world." . 20 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PO: Biologists now say, "Wow, the building is an ecosystem." Lots of things we don't know. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PO: Synthetic biology. "What synthetic biology allows us to do is go from reading DNA to writing DNA." . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PO: MIT's IGEM – Intl Registry of Standard Biological Parts igem.org/Main_Page . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PO and @2020science talking about garage DIY science, #citizenscience & community laboratories. Very interesting . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB I thought the answer to techno-reality or techno-hype was "Yes." . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB: "In areas where there is good evidence in healthcare … even 17 yrs later only 85% docs use the preferred Tx." . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB We worry abt meaningful use, privacy, … how do we understand the value of the technologies? How do we keep the goal in mind? . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB: "How safe is 'safe'?" What does the consumer think of this? Do they know what 1 in a million means? #hcsm . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB discusses excellent poster here on dioxin risk and what people understand that to be. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB We have to communicate what is NOT a risk, people will imagine risks. We're not good at this. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science IDs information as core to both innovation & risk., common thread among the panel . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp HS mentions hype-hope curve as tool in responsible innovation blogs.gartner.com/hypecyclebook/ . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PO: People have to have already done the work to get the grant, makes it hard to be innovative. Fund people to EXPLORE! . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp TZ It's not a problem if not all our innovations see the light of day. That's OK. Can you sell it or not? Are U the right person? . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PO: There's not a good business model to promote adoption of the electronic health record, we need business innovation #ehr #hcsm . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q: There is a difference between innovation & progress. Does innovation include a change of mindset or … ? . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp TZ "Where exactly is the use case in the future for X" "The boundary conditions that it's safe, that people will pay" . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp MBH Progress measured by how it touches the most marginal vulnerable populations in our communities. Most innovation doesn't touch . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q: We lose trust in the research community where there is so much unfulfilled hype. Hype comes fr push to get funding . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q: You have to know what you are doing & what it is for BEFORE you can actually get funding or do it . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: @GlobalMed_USA She's saying we need some brilliant business strategist to come up with new business model #risksymp . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science Enthusiasm of the scientist in communicating their concepts vs journalists trying to one-up each other . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PO: Important for the future of science: Scientists need to not be boring, and to have elevator pitch for their ideas . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q: "What difference does it make to the toolbox we have?" Tools looked at out of context. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q: "I call it the 'so what' test." Skilled communicators tell stories that allow many POVs to engage. #storytelling . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Audience member said we need a sustainability toolkit. Wondering if she's seen this #book thesustainableenterprisefieldbook.net . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q/Maxine: "What exactly have we really achieved in the human health space?" Do we have tests 2 predict outcomes of newtech? No. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PO "If we can get the scientists to share raw data, that becomes VERY valuable!" #open #science "we call that the macroscope" . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp TZ the real problem is the needle in the haystack problem. One you know what data U need & get it, the rest is easy. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp TZ How do we get data that is actionable? This is a breakthrough research area. In essence, this is the robotics problem. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp TZ on needle in a haystack. How do we figure out what is the needle and what is the hay? . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB: "Lives saved per dollar. That's how they were assessed. They had to produce results." . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp The most important outcomes from creating new tech are usually the ones we can't predict. If you invented AC, wd U think of CFCs? . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: @GlobalMed_USA I'm livetweeting an event as a volunteer. Video will be posted later. Paula Olsiewski is w/ Sloan Foundation #risksymp . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Panel 3: What are key emerging tech opportunities & challenges? Gil Omenn, James Baker, Ann Marie Sastry, Jrg Lahann @2020science . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Ann Marie Sastry is CEO of Sakti3 sakti3.com Very interesting. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GO: Things that mobilize thousands of people: Information technology, mobile tech, cellphones. #hcsm . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GO: We know a lot of things ppl can do themselves. Social decisionmaking, social cooperation. Supercourse pitt.edu/~super1/ . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Supercourse is an early example of MOOCs massive online open course . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GO Innocentive innocentive.com. 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GO Frame the problem so that it gets attention by those who can solve it. Crowdsourcing, boundaryspanning . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB I started a company. Not for faint of heart. Great way to screw up a good career. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB “Pharmaceutical industry is collapsing in on itself. There is very little room for innovation right now.” . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Developing world pharma, where innovations may not be commercially viable, but can have huge impact on developing countries . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB Creating vaccines that are stable at 40C – in a car trunk in Africa for 6-12 weeks. Awesome! . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB transformative impact on human life & suffering. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science Innovation in *systems*, how the system impacts on what you’re ‘allowed’ to do . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AMS Ppl need personal transportation & communication. Venn diagram of energy & information, the joint is smartphone . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AMS Increase energy density (See her work here: tedxtalks.ted.com/video/TEDxUofM… ) #microfinance #microloans . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science You can’t do anything unless you both have energy and a way of distributing it. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AMS First order kinetics is a great way to transfer energy, but you have to deal with parasitic mass. Battery is @ right cost pt. . 19 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AMS “How many people have an iPhone? How’s that battery working for you?” Me: “That’s why I have a solar charger.” . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JL: Interdisciplinary research is very exciting, collaborations, working at the fringes, the interfaces of disciplines. . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JL: As you mix disciplines, communication becomes much more challenging, but also more exciting. Diff assumptions. . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JL NCRC (North Campus Research Ctr) interdisciplinary research, boundary spanning, moving out of your secure space. . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JL: Innovation leads to impact leads to attention leads to conversation leads to opportunity leads to application . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB & GO nodding abt importance of “problem formation”. GO “If U don’t know where you’re going, U don’t know when you’ve arrived” . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GO: “We have too much description, and not enough action” . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science expected what excited panel to be tech, but it was systems & information instead. . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GO: New technologies make new questions possible. JB: There is no 1 nanotech. Labels cre8 barriers to conversation . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JL: As we double up some of those tools, we’ll be able to ask questions we didn’t know we cd ask. Innovation is abt communication . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp A view of risk: Looking at a toolbox. How shd we form our questions? AMS How do we assess risks against ea other, cumulative risk . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JB: Risk has to be put in proportion with reward. Great value means you have to accept risk. Rational risk, actionable risk . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GO: We have made a big mistake trying to quantify risk. It leads to estimates with inflated precision. . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp GO ALARA as low as reasonably achievable. Reduce the risk, not exclude the risk . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JL: Regenerative medicine. Qs raised, why does it take so long? Get FDA into the process early. Regulatory process changes? . 18 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Folks checking out posters, also online, eg 2011symp.umriskcenter.org/symposium-post… #etech . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp convo: R we going to have our toolboxes drive our innovation, or R we going to have innovation drive tool development? LRudenko . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Panel 4: New tech, new risks. Peter Preuss, Mark Banaszak Holl, David Goldston, James Wetmore, Shobita Parthasarathy moderator . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PP: A system of governance that allows decisionmakers 2 make decisions in a timely fashion based on best understanding of #science . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PP: governance should include all major stakeholders . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp MBH Is innovation in healthcare the right approach to obesity, or was it earlier innovation in transportation & infotech? . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DG: We’re looking at novel technologies. Governance comes down to how many ways can you generate a committee? . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DG: Get at these tech EARLIER, regulatory process comes too late, after polarization. . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DG: “You can tell when a topic is mature because the language becomes juvenile” “All I need for politics is 2 ppl making a choice” . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JW: Glad we’re talking about governance rather than governments. Problems/solutions both too complex. . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JW: Example: Clean cooking stove for Ghana. But didn’t talk to the cooks. Cleanburning fuel actually created opportunity 4 vermin . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JW: Example: Tech to assist the blind. Met w/ ppl, told don’t build finding tools. Need tool to understand nonverbal communication . 17 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp SP: Governance early in the process leads to better communication, or stifles creativity? PS, is this feasible, sustainable? . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PP Sustainability & innovation will both come from How We Design That Future. . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DG: There comes a point when ppl agree the risk of NOT having the conversation is worse than having it. That’s when ppl will talk. . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JW: Goal Find Alzheimers early. Convo: but if it doesn’t change treatment/prognosis, what’s the point? (was true at that point) . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q: Imprimature of the state makes her nervous about how Presidential commissions are constructed/utilized. . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp I really want a transcript of what the questioner just said. Extremely balanced & insightful view of politics & a moral society . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp That was Alta Charo talking at 2:47 pm, for those who will check the videos when they come out. . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Dinnertime speakers will be Rodrigo Martinez & Mark Jones fr IDEO ideo.com . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PP: We used to have a model that worked. We used to have an Office of Technology Assessment. . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DG: “They wanted Congress doing more with less, they didn’t want Congress doing more knowing less” . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Lots of discussion here about the losses associated with demise of OTA (Office of Tech Assessment). I know I was so upset then . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp MBH: Industry funding in academia has been flat or decreased, thus they have less influence on innovation here . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp OpenIDEO openideo.com Open Planet Ideas openplanetideas.com . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JW: If I was going to change ONE institution it would be academia. Actual change happens when problems are solved in the world . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JW: Changing forms of undergrad education to promote the skills needed for discovery, change, leadership in the world. . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PP: Army’s NetZero project army.mil/article/55280/… | army.mil/article/47573/… . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q: “I get a little nervous when people say ‘In 20 years there will be no more toxic chemicals.’ Rather better management?” . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q: Belgium view: “If you want innovation, it’s very simple. You regulate.” . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DG is so quick with great replies I can’t catch them all. Very funny & apt commentator. . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp MHB: “Regulation is a fine word. But I don’t think we understand how to regulate our way out of the obesity crisis, for example” . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp PP: A lot of the discussion needs to be about sustainable communities, that don’t require a car. Design for a vision. . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JW: The way funding is allocated has a major impact on how problems are solved. . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Panel5: Risk Toolbox Adam Finkel, Bernard Godlstein, Jo Anne Shatkin, Carlos Pena, Martin Philbert moderator . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp TCDD (dioxin) blood levels & cancer risk. How do the numbers work? JAS: The jury is still out on if that number is right . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AF: Disparity between analysis and action. We need more of both. “Studying problems for their own sake” “Paralysis by analysis” . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AF Analysis informs action. BG: If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it. Risk assessmnt works pretty well 4 most chemicals most of times . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp CP: “Can you get me a drug with no side effects?” [Audience laughs] Explanation. Then “Can you get me a drug w/ no side effects?” . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AF: When we know in our heart of hearts that precision is false, we need to be more humble & open about the limitations of science . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp BG Clarify what is the data quality objective! Ask the decisionmakers, they’re the ones using the info. Analyses have uncertainty . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JAS: Risk assessment is really good at deep analysis and modeling. AF: Uncertainty analysis needs economists & cost/benefit . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AF Word used is “flimsy” related to economic decisions in policy . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp BG: “We know how to do uncertainty analysis, let’s get on and do it” . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp MP: If you have the perfect numbers for risk & uncertainty, what do you do with that info? AF: We’d have forgotten the individuals . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AF: Where can we find the people most at risk? Get the rest of the answers. Perfection is … not a rational requirement . 16 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp CP: Brain machine interfaces & other amazing emerging tech include both benefits & risks, design studies to ID these . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp CP: You need to start somewhere. The data may not be perfect. . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JAS Tech risk assessment is inherently more dangerous than chemical risk assessment. We’re a little rusty since demise of OTA . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JAS Scenario building is a good place to start. We need to make governance changes to revisit our decisions. . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JAS: How does FDA do preregulation? CP: ID market through trial design, maximise knowledge, shift moves from product to lifecycle . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp CP Surveillance activities to refine out thinking, address uncertainties, modify product for different indications . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AF: We have to look @ alternative. What else would we do? “The precautionary impulse” “Noun adjective equations, ie. “dioxin=bad” . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp CP Surveillance activities to refine OUR thinking, address uncertainties, modify product for different indications (sorry, typo) . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q: Where is the balance point between too much information, too little, or just enough? AF: Public is not as stupid as many think . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp BG: In medicine, if the patient asks, it’s usually relative, not an absolute percentage. CP: There’s a transparency issue . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp CP: The FDA cannot do this alone, there is a shared responsibility & dialog with the agency . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AF Amniocentesis example, U have 2 consider 2 outcomes as equally dire in some circumstances (risk of Down’s, risk of miscarriage) . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DG: Originally conservatives asked for cost/benefit analysis, now conservatives say they don’t trust them. Sigh. . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DG: You’re still stuck making a political decision. . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp BG: People tend to match the tool to their expertise, (to a hammer, all problems look like a nail) . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AF: Anybody can be an amateur scientist, but no one can be an amateur economist. “I’m trying to blow up that helium filled hoax” . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp CP: It can no longer be just one discipline in a room (for decisionmaking) . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: @beffuh Mine, too. I was paraphrasing. He said something else, but this fit tweet better. #risksymp . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp BG: We’re looking at how to look at low level risks. Low levels are not necessarily verifiable, or clinically measurable . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JAS: “I’m not in favor of introducing politics into risk assessment” . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JAS: “We’ll never do a risk assessment of something for which we can do a safety assessment” . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Interesting that conservative as politics and conservative as risk assumptions are both used in same conversation . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AF: “Of course we want certain types of politics out of risk assmnt, but … I’d like to see more politics based on the science” . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp BG It could be that the smaller dose has the greater effect. #nano . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp What is risk analysis for: 1) What is the level of risk?, 2) is it a risk worth taking? Q: Where does the public fit into this? . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp JAS: Participatory risk assessment is absolutely essential, but I’m a bit jaded abt those who limit ability 2 frame risk w/science . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp CP: Three public meetings at FDA on nanotech fda.gov/ScienceResearc…. 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp BG praising the Omenn Commission report on risk assessment riskworld.com/riskcommission… . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp AF Hard to choose between a tool that would really individualize risk vs economics of how to get there . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Oops I missed the question – how to choose a tool for a desert island . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp A few bits by Carlos Pena ema.europa.eu/docs/en_GB/doc… | fda.gov/downloads/Medi…. 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Integration of Risk Assessment slides from Bernard Goldstein (PDF) sra.org/docs_reg_risk_… . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Panel 6: David Bidwell, Diana Bowman, Erica Blom, Ahleah Rohr Daniel, @2020science moderator . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Panel6 is a group of young scientists early in career giving their perspectives on the conversations so far . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp David Bidwell working on climate change adaptation with GLISA graham.umich.edu/about/bio.php?…. 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Diana Bowman Governments R in a conflict of interest position, we need to decouple their role as investors & regulators of #etech . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Erica Blom Focus on policy tension / regulate, but “don’t tell me what to do” . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp EB Is it anti-intellectualism or is it a different form of knowledge? How do we include other forms of knowledge at table? . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Ahleah (ARD) how students actually act in a laboratory? They can be pretty …um, unquestioning. And unsafe. . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp ARD: They don’t really understand what the risks are. What is chemical hygiene, etc. . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science People don’t think in the way we’ve been trained to think DB: Not just diff cultures, but different values . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp EB: Whose risks? Whose benefits? Religious values may be just as impt to some as health values. . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @2020science The science should be common across cultures/worldviews/systems. Or is it? . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp ARD There are perhaps different assumptions about how chemicals CAN be used, the context can be different . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DB: It’s not just about the risk, but the ability of diff communities to adapt to repercussions of risk, resilience . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DB “the same # may mean different things based on the individual’s willingness to assume that risk” . 15 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp ARD: “if they’re not actually enforcing their own rules … ” It’s a free-for-all . 14 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp @HilarySutcliffe On the myth-busting of ‘the wise public’ “noble savage’ kind of idea. . 14 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp “regulate after the problem happens” is a mistake. The public are NOT going to think like you, no matter how long you engage them . 14 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp Q: Are we failing to educate the general public? Does the media generate techno-hype, vs what is real or fact? Public has choice . 14 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp The way we deliver scientific & technical education is BORING. How do we fix this? How do we connect with the public? . 14 hours ago

pfanderson: #risksymp DB: Asking people to play scientist is wrong, asking them to help set priorities is the right thing. . 14 hours ago

Digital Storytelling Workshop: Part 2, Storytelling — “Not Just for Kindergarten”

I’ve been collecting so many resources on digital storytelling I don’t even know where to start. Then I realized I never finished telling the beginning of my own journey into this space, not even in outline form, really. So, back to the beginning.

Storytelling: Not Just For Kindergarten: Brief introduction to digital storytelling in academia
http://prezi.com/-calc1djm6wk/storytelling-not-just-for-kindergarten/

Part of my job as the Emerging Technologies Librarian is to not just prowl the forest paths and gullies or scan the distant horizons (think “Native Guide” or “Indian Scout”) but also to interpret, distill what’s most important and relevant, and bring back the information to the leaders and teams I’m working with and for (imagine the scout gliding into camp in the dark of the night and slipping into the tent of the Colonel or platoon leader). Sometimes, they hear what I say and immediately grasp the importance and act on it. Sometimes they don’t. In the latter case, that doesn’t mean I should just shut up and let it drop, but that perhaps I haven’t communicated the importance of it as well as I might have done. Digital storytelling is one of those topics that is falling in the latter camp. Of course, the reverse is also true — sometimes they send me off to scout something and I don’t, at first, understand why they want me to do it. It all tends to work out, and that’s part of teamwork and collaboration.

While storytelling is embedded in virtually every academic discipline (research papers are themselves a kind of storytelling), there are certain disciplines in which you cannot imagine how the discipline would survive if one removed the stories. Can you imagine History without stories? Can you imagine teaching Psychiatry without case studies? And then, of course, there are disciplines where the stories are the field of study, like theater, drama, literature and many other humanities. So it really makes sense that when you start to look at the presence of storytelling activities around campus, well, there is a LOT of it going on.

Then you think of how central Youtube has become to many types of communication these days, including education and personal learning. Even professional communicators have had to learn to modify the way they tell stories to give more of that sense of intimacy and authenticity that has evolved from real people’s real stories put out for the world. Even more broadly, the range and variety of online communication is intertwining with offline communications. Storytelling hasn’t just been in books since the first of the “movies” and “talkies.” It again makes sense, at least to me, that people are formally and purposefully trying to teach and learn the digital literacies necessary to communicate effectively in the online environments. Digital storytelling and digital media assignments are all part of the new literacies.

For a presentation to other library staff, I made the Prezi linked at the beginning of this post in order to try to give a little of the background of these concepts and what I’ve been seeing around campus here. Take a look at it. This won’t be the end of my talking about these concepts here.

My thanks to Cheryl Diemeyer and Daniel Weinshenker for their guidance, oversight, thoughts, quotes, inspiration which largely inspired the above.

Making It Happen: Social Media & Social Learning for Healthcare

Today, I was one of the speakers for the first Making it Happen: Achieving Measurable Results Through Education. I’ve been preparing like crazy for days, fleshing out my thoughts and notes, grabbing screenshots I didn’t use for a slide deck I probably should have made but didn’t. Halfway through I came up with this crazy idea of trying to show people concepts about social media and online collaborative technologies by using them for the presentation. I am not at ALL sure this was a wise idea, but it was a creative effort and a good learning experience (at least for me). Lesson One: Find out what sort of tech will be available for presenting before designing the presentation. I should have remembered that.

Part one was the mindmap. I made a mindmap that had a lot of content in it, knowing full well that I would not be using most of it for the actual event, but that it would be a resource for the audience to come back to on their own if they wish to explore further. Of course, I hope they will want to explore some of the resources. I studded the mindmap with actual links, for for those who go browser through, look for the little round dots at the end of the lines. The dark dots are external links, the light dots mean click for more details. This is a small snapshot of the mindmap, too small to read. If you click on the image, it will take you to Flickr for the full unpacked mindmap (at least the version there was when I made the image, but I keep updating it), but the image doesn’t have interactive links. For those, click on the link under the picture, but I learned today during the presentation you don’t want to use Internet Explorer, and should probably use either Firefox or Google Chrome as the web browser.

This map is available here: http://www.mindmeister.com/96682328/social-networking-in-learning-techniques-tools

One of the things I wanted to do was to show people some of the other social media or collaboration tools that are available. I couldn’t possibly show very many, but I could show some very different examples to give a sense of the range. Mindmeister was what I used for the mindmap, and I emphasized that you can use this collaboratively, with multiple people editing and revising. I also like the range of filetypes for output and export, as well as the interactivity.

As I skimmed through a high level overview of the content in the mindmap, I had plugged in a few links to other types of tools that would support key concepts. For example, I used Prezi to highlight some of the concepts in the discussion about the recent meme on the “higher education bubble.” Again, what I show here is a screenshot in Flickr, with the link to the interactive Prezi immediately below.

Prezi: The Bubble: http://prezi.com/usxsqmpip_ro/the-bubble/

There were other things I wanted to show folks there, but there wasn’t time. I wanted to show them this video by John King about the context that shaped higher education, how it has changed, and some of the shaped higher ed might begin to take based on current contexts.

John L. King: Librarianship, Now and in the Future

I wanted to whip out to this older slideshow of mine that is mostly screenshots of examples of how folks were using social media for education.

Social Media in Education, A Family Photo Album

Instead, we talked a bit about last week’s new Pew Report, the Social Life of Health Information, 2010, and then I whipped over to the section on Personal Learning Networks, where I spent a chunk of time talking about #HCSM, which is absolutely one of my top personal learning network spaces, with incredible content and people. Again, I wanted to show them this the overview from last year.

Lessons Learned in Health Care Social Media, 2010

But I really wanted to show Storify, and there is so much excellent #HCSM content in Storify, mostly thanks to @DocForeman. I wanted to show them this from last week:
Engaging patients with #hcsm: Let’s do more of what we’re already doing right.

but I was having a little trouble with the presentation computer and clicked on something else from last March, which is also pretty good:
Tracking Patient Satisfaction and Clinical Outcomes.

I wish I’d had more time to show them some of the amazing range of tools available for collaboration, but I showed them a partial list in the mindmap, and spent some time talking about best practices, pros and cons, and made a little clever (I thought) parody of Ramon Santiago y Cajal’s first chapter in his book for young investigators.

Beginner’s Traps:

Trap.1:
RSC: “Undue admiration of authority”
Me: Undue admiration of the self-proclaimed expert.

Trap 2:
RSC: “The most important problems are already solved.”
Me: The most interesting new tech to try are too hard.

Trap 3:
RSC: “Preoccupation with applied science.”
Me: Preoccupation with being serious.

Trap 4:
RSC: “Perceived lack of ability”.
Me: Ditto.

An Introduction to Open Science and Science 2.0

Last week I was privileged to have been invited to present to the University of Pittsburgh Dental Informatics program. I presented via Second Life in part because they wanted to test it out, in part because I hadn’t used their usual remote presentation software before (and had never heard of it), and in part to offer the presentation at the same time to a small but engaged audience beyond UPitt. The SL audience included people from as close as Michigan and as far away as Spain. They contributed some excellent questions.

The requested topic was to give an introduction and overview of the open science movement (also known as Science 2.0 and many other terms) focusing on case studies rather than tools or specific open science communities. So that explains where there is so much incredibly good and important stuff left out!

I’d been waiting to post this until I got most of the pages from the slides included in the Delicious collection of links. I’m not quite there yet, but I’m closer, and didn’t want to wait any longer. It’s been a week, after all. Unfortunately, I’ve been sick all week, and in meetings, so I can’t promise that I will get the complete collection of links posted. I will keep trying, though. I was able to add to the end of the original slide presentation some slides supporting the question and answer session after the formal presentation. What I had done in SL was to have the presentation slides, and then through in a small selection of screenshots and images I had wished I could include. This allowed me during the Q&A to pull out images I hadn’t used yet to support the ongoing conversation. The questions were wonderful, so I was glad to preserve them here.

Relationships between Open Science, Science 2.0, and Social Media: http://www.slideshare.net/umhealthscienceslibraries/relationships-between-open-science-science-20-and-social-media

Delicious Links
Presentation Only: http://www.delicious.com/rosefirerising/110218
Open Science Collection:
1) Open Science: http://www.delicious.com/rosefirerising/open+science
2) Science 2.0: http://www.delicious.com/rosefirerising/science2.0

Livetweets: Nanotechnology – Unplugged

This afternoon I watched the webinar for the Nanotechnology Unplugged discussion from the University of Michigan Risk Science Center. Yes, it is here on campus; yes, I could have walked over, but the room was small and the walk was cold, so watching the webinar was a perfectly delightful solution.

Live tweets are below. The most interesting take home points for me were:
– There is a danger in clustering new technologies in a basket when they aren’t actually closely related in application or development, since this means that when it inevitably happens that something goes wrong with one, we lose out on the entire basket due to misunderstandings of the technology and public reaction.
– The questions of developing policy and guidelines for emerging technologies consistently fail because of our inability to imagine or predict how they will be used and what they might do.

At least that was my understanding. Skim the tweets, and if they intrigue you enough, watch the webinar when it is posted online (probably tomorrow).

#rscnano
wthashtag.com/rscnano
Transcript from February 7, 2011 to February 8, 2011

February 8, 2011
4:06 pm UMRSC: Follow Nanotechnology – Unplugged this afternoon on Twitter – or pose questions – using the #rscnano hashtag: http://tinyurl.com/4ser3sx
6:40 pm pfanderson: Will be livetweeting #rscnano in about 20 minutes, commenting on the #Nanotechnology #Risk #Science webinar. http://is.gd/Zaxbys
6:45 pm pfanderson: Nanotech governance by Parasarathy http://is.gd/7heXlG #rscnano
6:45 pm pfanderson: Nanomaterials safety by Martin Philbert http://is.gd/WPXrw9 #rscnano
6:46 pm pfanderson: A personal perspective on nanotechnology ? Mark Banaszak Holl http://is.gd/7D14C3 #rscnano
7:06 pm UM_SPH: Nanotechnology Unplugged starting at 10 past 2 Meechigan time. #rscnano Anyone tuning in via web?
7:09 pm pfanderson: @UM_SPH I am! Was too cold to walk over. Nano Unplugged, starting now! #rscnano
7:11 pm UM_SPH: Panelists: UM SPH Dean Martin Philbert, Mark Banaszak Holl, and Shobita Parthasarathy. Andrew Maynard. http://www.sph.umich.edu #rscnano
7:11 pm pfanderson: Anyone interested in nanotech or its benefits/dangers check out http://is.gd/Zaxbys #rscnano
7:12 pm pfanderson: Nano possibly the next industrial revolution, tech of the future, risks of the future. #rscnano What are the downsides? Balance?
7:14 pm UM_SPH: Flip side to “the tech of future”: will it be too dangerous to invest in? Need to cut through hype. #rscnano
7:14 pm pfanderson: What is nano really about? Where does hype drop, tech start? BH: Nano=10,000x smaller than a human hair (scale) #rscnano
7:15 pm pfanderson: Banaszak Holl (BH): The impact of the microscope, electron microscopes, nanoscopes, each changed perceptions of the world #rscnano
7:16 pm pfanderson: BH: Soap works off of a nanotech scale. Rose Window in Cathedral uses nanoscale particles fr ~1200AD #rscnano The revolution’s here!
7:16 pm UMRSC: RT @UM_SPH: Flip side to “the tech of future”: will it be too dangerous to invest in? Need to cut through hype. #rscnano
7:17 pm pfanderson: BH: EM scope, new nanoscale tools cheaper than a car, more people have access, faster progress #rscnano “We can make a better soap” (AM)
7:17 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Soap, cell phones, etc show us revolution is already happening at nano level, but we can make/understand more with new nano tools.
7:18 pm pfanderson: BH: Our ability to understand ourselves and our bodies/biology. #rscnano Study the body expliciting at nano scales.
7:19 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Still time to tune in for free online #SPH #nano discussion at http://www.sph.umich.edu/scr/riskcenter/unplugged/nano/
7:19 pm UMRSC: Nanotechnology has already changed our lives #rscnano
7:19 pm pfanderson: AM: If you do something new and different, it brings in new and different risks. #rscnano
7:20 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Philbert: Material-centric modification or creation of new materials has been how we look at nano for a while.
7:20 pm pfanderson: Martin Philbert (MP): can look at risk from the materials side of the question or the biology side of things. #rscnano
7:21 pm pfanderson: MP: We simply don’t fully understand how the body reacts at the nano scale. Same is true for chemicals. How to anticipate damage? #rscnano
7:21 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano: New is biological level for nano, moving into area we don’t fully understand. But same true with chemicals, new molecules we make.
7:22 pm pfanderson: MP: Can you ever prove that something is safe? “It’s the dose that makes the poison.” #rscnano
7:23 pm pfanderson: MP: Regulatory agencies struggle with this all the time. How to define safety and possible harm, risk/benefit balance #rscnano
7:24 pm pfanderson: MP: We understand for many chemicals the acute challenges, but struggle with chronic/environmental exposure #rscnano
7:24 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Can we ever prove something safe? Toxicologists belief it’s all about the dose. We still use platinum to treat cancer.
7:25 pm pfanderson: AM: “what we don’t know, and what to do about it?” #rscnano < CORE question
7:25 pm pfanderson: AM: Does nano give us to tools to solve longstanding problems in a responsible way? #rscnano
7:26 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano We may understand/correct acute toxicity issues w/ nano but what about chronic impact? How to push nanotech forward responsibly?
7:26 pm pfanderson: Shobita Parthasarathy (SP): The challenge of governance is not restricted to nano, but broader, includes all EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES #rscnano
7:28 pm pfanderson: SP: Old paradigms don't deal with new knowledge, inflexibility becomes political. #rscnano What lessons we learned from earlier bio probs?
7:28 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Challenge of governance not unique to nano – emerging technologies all work w/ regulatory framework. Lessons learned from biotech.
7:29 pm pfanderson: SP: Acute vs chronic as important perspective, depends on the folks you bring into the room narrows the question in certain ways #rscnano
7:29 pm UMRSC: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano Challenge of governance not unique to nano – emerging technologies all work w/ regulatory framework. Lessons learned from biotech.
7:30 pm pfanderson: SP: Science based problems versus VALUE-based problems. Who is an expert becomes a different question. #rscnano
7:30 pm pfanderson: SP: In the production of knowledge values are embedded. The whole process of policy making includes both. #rscnano
7:31 pm pfanderson: BH: Scientists and engineers are NOT in a position to dictate policy, few policymakers highly educated in science #rscnano
7:32 pm pfanderson: SP: Pushing importance of scientific advisory committees, MP/AM disagree #rscnano
7:32 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano "Rare thing is ability to define science-based vs value-based issues." Process of policy-making is mix – 8% scientists in Congress!
7:32 pm pfanderson: MP: NO connection between the science and the decisions, which are made despite the science to further re-election #rscnano
7:33 pm pfanderson: MP: example of pain medicines that have been banned for political reasons, not medical. #rscnano
7:34 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano "Scientists aren't working to get reelected." Take off-label drugs – how does society deal w/ risk in general?
7:35 pm pfanderson: SP: Personal values come into play, thinking broadly nds experts who think deeply abt intersection of values/tech/science/policy #rscnano
7:35 pm pfanderson: SP: "we do a very poor job of dealing in a SOBER way of emerging technologies" #rscnano
7:36 pm pfanderson: I like this question from Forsyth Tech: Will multi-disciplinary education be a topic? #rscnano
7:37 pm pfanderson: Q: FDA/EPA regulatory agencies, are they ready for this topic? A: MP-We have dealt with this by de-funding the agencies #rscnano
7:37 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Question from HMP's Lantz: Can FDA, EPA, regulatory deal with values vs. science? Are they ready for nano?
7:37 pm pfanderson: I suspect I misunderstood what was happening there #rscnano
7:38 pm pfanderson: MP: "We are always engineering toward the perfect, and there is no perfect." #rscnano
7:39 pm pfanderson: MP: "In the RL, it is about taking the imperfect info available and making the best decision possible." #rscnano
7:39 pm pfanderson: BH: Using Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring as example of how we STILL struggle with regulatory issue brought up 20 year ago. #rscnano
7:40 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Philbert says scientists believe their answers will become policy. B-Hall says cancer questions of Silent Spring still out there.
7:40 pm pfanderson: A: SP: The world is a complex place. One suite of regs may or may not make a diff. (Stem cell) #rscnano
7:41 pm pfanderson: AM: Can knee-jerk reaction create barrier to developing new tech such that it block the benefits of that tech (cost of not having) #rscnano
7:42 pm UMRSC: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano Question from HMP's Lantz: Can FDA, EPA, regulatory deal with values vs. science? Are they ready for nano?
7:42 pm pfanderson: MP: Safe comes first, effective next. Therapeutic balance is diff for OTC vs cancer Tx. #rscnano
7:43 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Maynard: Knee-jerk reactions creating policy-stifling science? Or does regulation help scientists get good products developed?
7:43 pm pfanderson: BH: What's critical is that we are careful about the exposure, especially uncontrolled exposure. #rscnano MP: Then you get to Deployment
7:44 pm pfanderson: MP: Intended life cycle must continue analysis with disposal, what happens after planned lifespan of the tech. Source apportionment #rscnano
7:44 pm pfanderson: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano "Rare thing is ability to define science-based vs value-based issues." Process of policy-making is mix – 8% scientists in Congress!
7:45 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Is this lovefest for federal regulators? But wait: nano materials in cars go past intended lifecycle – need complex safe analysis.
7:45 pm pfanderson: AM: What about agents that create harm in ways that we have not anticipated? #rscnano
7:46 pm pfanderson: "You're not exposed to the nano materials in the Rose Window unless you suck on the glass for a millenium" #rscnano
7:47 pm pfanderson: BH: We R making things work in a more sophisticated way w/our own biologics. We want that, they'll be more effective, but new risks #rscnano
7:48 pm pfanderson: "The body only has a certain number of ways of responding to harm." #rscnano Imflammatory, necrotic, interrupt heart, etc
7:48 pm pfanderson: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano Is this lovefest for federal regulators? But wait: nano materials in cars go past intended lifecycle – need complex safe analysis.
7:48 pm SameConspiracy: RT @pfanderson: "The body only has a certain number of ways of responding to harm." #rscnano Imflammatory, necrotic, interrupt heart, etc
7:49 pm pfanderson: MP: There is no connection yet btwn quantum analysis and toxicity of a material #rscnano
7:49 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano People get excited w/ serum oxide, #quantum – Docs will see acute side, know when something goes wrong. But chronic, environmental?
7:50 pm pfanderson: Q: Erosion of the precautionary principle. "First do no harm" Does this constrain innovation? Should it? #rscnano
7:50 pm pfanderson: A: Did we really ever HAVE a solid engagement in the "precautionary principle"? (SP) #rscnano
7:50 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Ques from HMP: Jacobson: Is precautionary principle eroding?
7:51 pm pfanderson: SP: The current regulatory cautions we have are based on historic assumptions. #rscnano
7:51 pm pfanderson: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano People get excited w/ serum oxide, #quantum – Docs will see acute side, know when something goes wrong. But chronic, environmental?
7:52 pm pfanderson: AM: What about a civil society that is based more on individual responses? How does this feed into the decisionmaking process? #rscnano
7:53 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Is the problem that traditional way of thinking about risks and benefits not working w/ nano? Patience needed for society's will?
7:53 pm pfanderson: BH: In 1900 only about 10% graduated from high school, peaked at 70% in 60s. #rscnano Small #s have educated understanding of tech risks
7:54 pm pfanderson: SP: But they have instincts about what is worth it, what is too risky, they still contribute value to dialog. #rscnano
7:55 pm pfanderson: SP: Public has other kinds of knowledge BH: Our instincts fail us here because of the scale of the problems. #rscnano
7:56 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Public knowledge & engagement enough to offer value to innovators & policymakers? Are public instincts wrong? Or future market key?
7:56 pm pfanderson: BH: Our instincts fail us mightly. We don't have instincts about cell phones. Instincts were put in place long before. #rscnano
7:56 pm pfanderson: They need an R-master Super synthesist of information. (Gordon Dickson's book) #rscnano
7:57 pm pfanderson: MP: By talking about it, we've disturbed the system. Heisenberg Principle. Niece: Cellphones not relevant as risk, shampoos are. #rscnano
7:58 pm pfanderson: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano Is the problem that traditional way of thinking about risks and benefits not working w/ nano? Patience needed for society's will?
7:58 pm pfanderson: AM: Questions shape our thoughts, focus on issues that may or may not be most important #rscnano
7:58 pm pfanderson: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano Public knowledge & engagement enough to offer value to innovators & policymakers? Are public instincts wrong? Or future market key?
7:59 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Closing: what's most exciting about #nanoscale science & public health possibilities?
7:59 pm UMRSC: RT @pfanderson: AM: Questions shape our thoughts, focus on issues that may or may not be most important #rscnano
7:59 pm pfanderson: MP: Biggest cause for hope is that nanotech is PLURAL, and all very different. Fear is that lumping them together will tarnish all. #rscnano
8:00 pm pfanderson: BH: *WE* are a wonderful nano machine, I hope we don't ban ourselves. <<I've been thinking that, too. #rscnano
8:00 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Philbert: Need to stop pluralizing all nanotechnologies as entity – when something bad happens, we'll lose out on potential good.
8:00 pm UMRSC: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano Closing: what's most exciting about #nanoscale science & public health possibilities?
8:01 pm UMRSC: RT @pfanderson: MP: Biggest cause for hope is that nanotech is PLURAL, and all very different. Fear is that lumping them together will tarnish all. #rscnano
8:01 pm pfanderson: SP: Concern: How should we engage with e-tech broadly? Will we thinking about that, or simplify by butting of heads/power? #rscnano
8:02 pm UM_SPH: #rscnano Policy shouldn't be war between hype for & fear of emerging technologies. Need less adversarial head-butting on #nanotechnology
8:02 pm UMRSC: #rscnano Comments and questions will remain open until 2/15.
8:03 pm pfanderson: Q: Antje Grobe 2: What kind of participation exercises R running, how toensure results R well perceived in policy making process? #rscnano
8:04 pm UM_SPH: If you missed Nanotechnology Unplugged event, search #rscnano summary on Twitter.
8:04 pm UMRSC: #rscnano Webcast will be available in 24 hours.
8:05 pm pfanderson: Q: Forsyth Tech 2: Use of instinct 4 effect of future impact of disruptive tech, wd B like BBS in 1991 compared 2 our 2011 internet #rscnano
8:06 pm pfanderson: "Webcast will be available on our website 24 hours from webcast. The link is umriskcenter.org under events.” #rscnano
8:06 pm pfanderson: RT @UM_SPH: If you missed Nanotechnology Unplugged event, search #rscnano summary on Twitter.
8:06 pm pfanderson: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano Policy shouldn’t be war between hype for & fear of emerging technologies. Need less adversarial head-butting on #nanotechnology
8:06 pm pfanderson: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano Philbert: Need to stop pluralizing all nanotechnologies as entity – when something bad happens, we’ll lose out on potential good.
8:09 pm pfanderson: RT @UM_SPH: #rscnano Question from HMP’s Lantz: Can FDA, EPA, regulatory deal with values vs. science? Are they ready for nano?
Powered by WTHashtag, A Microblink Property | Contact

Pondering Prezi

At today’s meeting at Google, many of the presenters were using Prezi instead of Powerpoint or Google Docs or other online presentation options. Please note that not all of the presenters were from Google and this is not implying any endorsement on their part. I am simply observing a trend, and commenting on it.

I commented on the Prezi presence in Twitter, and this sparked quite a lively conversation. The conversation began like this:

“While Prezi is pretty and engaging, the more I am subjected to it from the audience view, the less I like it.”

… and ended like this:

“I’m glad I’m not the only one who find Prezi dizzying.”

… and …

“Prezi makes me so nauseous!”

In between, people asked questions, discussed reactions, compared to other products, and pondered best practices. I thought this might be worth sharing, not as any kind of authoritative view or recommendation, but more to open the conversation with others.

Actually, the conversation kind of started in the real life event, when the first presenter to use Prezi (who shall remain nameless) commented as he was setting up that, “People usually only feel queasy when they are within ten feet of the screen, so I think our first row will be safe. If you feel uncomfortable, please do leave the room.” As someone with a long history of being concerned with web accessibility, this raised all kinds of red flags for me. If you are aware of significant immediate health drawbacks to your presentation technology, why would a presenter still choose to use it?

OK, well, Prezi can be very engaging, interactive, catchy, flashy, attractive all that whizbang stuff. So that is why you would want to use it, because you want to have the whizbang bits. But, as usual, all those whizbang bits are the same things causing accessibility problems. In part, Prezi is Flash-based, which means it isn’t yet accessible on mobile devices, although they have taken the idea under consideration. That is just the basic part. The queasiness is an entirely different matter. That seems to come from the apparent movement of the material on the screen, that as you focus on something and get oriented to it directionally, it will then move and tilt as part of the transition to the next piece of information.

Here is the gist of the conversation.

pfanderson: While Prezi is pretty and engaging, the more I am subjected to it from the audience view, the less I like it.
laurasolomon: @pfanderson Can you tell me why? Been looking at Prezi as potential tool.
greaterumbrage: @pfanderson You have to have a real creative/design spark to do prezi right. It’s not good for presenting the way most people present.
biochembelle: I’ve yet to see Prezi used. mT @pfanderson: Prezi is pretty, engaging… more I am subjected to it from audience view, the less I like it.
pfanderson: @laurasolomon @greaterumbrage Exactly. Can be very good, can be beyond horrible. My big prob w/ @prezi is “queasy” in the front row phenom
doctorzen: @pfanderson But how do you feel about vanilla PowerPoint / KeyNote in comparison to Prezi? @biochembelle
laurasolomon: @pfanderson @pumpedlibrarian So I should skip Prezi if I’m a presenter?
pfanderson: @laurasolomon @pumpedlibrarian I would say explore, test it out, use with caution, be careful of transitions. #prezi
pfanderson: @laurasolomon @pumpedlibrarian Be especially sensitive to people with perceptual / cognitive disabilities/sensitivities #prezi
pfanderson: @pumpedlibrarian @laurasolomon Agreed! My fave example of good #prezi was done in form of a board game. Worked really well. Rare, tho.
pfanderson: I’m in presentations at #Google today, and most are using #prezi to present. I can’t look at screen. Missing content trying to avoid swoop
pumpedlibrarian: @pfanderson @laurasolomon that sounds really interesting, definitely a prezi i would have liked to see
pfanderson: @pumpedlibrarian @laurasolomon Here it is: Playing to Learn prezi.com/rj_b-gw3u8xl/playing-to-learn/
alisha764: @pfanderson is it prezi or overkill with animation? Or just poor presentations?
pumpedlibrarian: @pfanderson how serendipitous, btw, this prezi will be useful to my emerging leaders group! our topic is video games/libraries
pfanderson: @alisha764 A bad PPT only bores you, it doesn’t make you feel physically sick. A bad #Prezi does. Yes, overkill w/ animation, poor use.
laurasolomon: @pfanderson @pumpedlibrarian Good example! I will have to think on this before I make the jump to Prezi.
pfanderson: @mlrethlefsen I was a big fan of Prezi for a short time. There are some truly wonderful presentations built in it. Unfortunately, it’s hard.
juliewbee: @pfanderson Prezi makes me so nauseous!
pfanderson: @juliewbee YES!!! I literally FLINCH away during transitions, and throw my hands over my eyes. #prezi

DoctorZen brought up an excellent point – is Prezi done badly any worse than Powerpoint or Keynote or any other presentation tools done badly?

doctorzen: But how do you feel about vanilla Powerpoint / Keynote in comparison to Prezi?
pfanderson: Vanilla PPT is certainly less distressing to my vision and stomach. Both can be done badly, both can be done well.

Then a group of us detoured off into examples of good Prezis and what made them different from the distressing ones.

pfanderson: @pumpedlibrarian @laurasolomon Agreed! My fave example of good #prezi was done in form of a board game. Worked really well. Rare, tho.
pumpedlibrarian: @pfanderson @laurasolomon that sounds really interesting, definitely a prezi i would have liked to see
pfanderson: @pumpedlibrarian @laurasolomon Here it is: Playing to Learn http://prezi.com/rj_b-gw3u8xl/playing-to-learn/
pfanderson: @pumpedlibrarian @laurasolomon Notice how they move very little distance with each jump. Not as disturbing.
pumpedlibrarian: @pfanderson @laurasolomon I like seeing the map of the presentation first instead of a “surprise” of the route taken made into image @ end
pumpedlibrarian: @pfanderson how serendipitous, btw, this prezi will be useful to my emerging leaders group! our topic is video games/libraries
pfanderson: @pumpedlibrarian @laurasolomon Agree again! From old ed lit, provide concept map of topic w/ overview before presentation, review at end
pfanderson: @pumpedlibrarian Same author has another good one on playing to learn math. Check out her other prezis. Amazing woman.

Here is the good Prezi we all loved so much.

Playing to Learn (Maria Andersen): http://prezi.com/rj_b-gw3u8xl/playing-to-learn/

Ultimately for me, it came down to what I told @alisha764, (“A bad PPT only bores you, it doesn’t make you feel physically sick. A bad #Prezi does.”)

Good Powerpoint = nice
Good Prezi = especially special
Middling Powerpoint = OK
Middling Prezi = makes me physically ill
Bad Powerpoint = boring, puts me to sleep
Bad Prezi = makes me physically ill

It’s a risk/benefit proposition. If you are going to use Prezi, are you one of the folks who can use it in an exceptional fashion? Or are you going to make people sick? Well, if you aren’t a Prezi wizard, maybe you should stick to Powerpoint and similar tools.

Google Warms on a Chilly Day

It was a cold an wintry day. The windchill was -10F. The snow was up to the top of my boots, and many places hadn’t shoveled yet. The meeting was early, and it was barely light when I arrived, thoroughly bundled up. Outside the local Ann Arbor Google Headquarters, it looked like this.

Inside, it was much more warm and welcoming, and looked like this.

The topic of the day’s meeting was using Web 2.0 for higher education and marketing. I signed a nondisclosure agreement, so can’t say a great deal, but there are a few things I can share that are not terribly specific and don’t recreate any portion of a presentation.

1. They used Prezi for most of the presentations. I disliked it for reasons of cognitive and sensory accessibility, which provoked an interesting and engaged conversation in Twitter. More on that in the next post.

2. They shared lots of metrics and quotations that basically said, “You need to be online and in social media NOW, and you need to do it right.” This included case studies and examples of academic institutions doing it right.

3. Mobile, mobile, mobile. And location-aware.

4. They talked briefly about metrics (nothing really new), listening tools (ditto), and Q&A tools. This last is a category I am aware of, but had not thought of in the way they were, and this is where I see the potential greatest relevance for librarians. Basically, we need to be thinking about positioning ourselves in online Q&A spaces as accessible experts in information, much as many libraries have down with instant messaging, but moving it more into community public spaces & forums.

5. The NEW UM Gateway goes live tomorrow morning. Watch for it. We talked about ways to use social media to engage our audience in ways that will allow their content to be considered for the gateway space.