FOAMed : Hey, what’s that sound? Everybody look – what’s going down

In early 2014 Prof Margaret S. Chisolm, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Johns Hopkins, was appointed guest editor of a special edition of the International Review of Psychiatry. Her mission was to put together a special edition of the Journal devoted to Social Media. This edition was published recently. Meg Chisolm is a […]

A personal reflection on social media in medicine: I stand, no wiser than before

If you would like a PDF copy, as published, for your personal academic use, please request a copy from me privately on johndotweineratmedotcom or by DM via Twitter This is an Author’s Accepted Manuscript of an article published in International Review of Psychiatry posted online on 7 Apr 2015 [copyright Taylor & Francis] available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi:10.3109/09540261.2015.1015503 […]

The First Steps In Using Twitter For Health, Education And Research

  Long read – 15min Twitter is an ideal platform for health, education and research. But it’s clear that Twitter is under-utilised for these purposes. Why? Well, there are many perceived barriers to the effective use of Twitter. These include: concerns about professional behaviour on social media in general lack of training and low confidence […]

The National Library of Australia Selects AllergyNet Australia for Archival Storage

I am delighted and proud that the National Library of Australia has selected AllergyNet Australia for archival storage and retrieval. This means that the library will retain the website in the Archive and will provide public access to it in perpetuity. The Library will catalogue the website and add the records to the National Bibliographic […]

To MOOC Or Not To MOOC

Yep, that’s the question de jour, folks. To MOOC or not to MOOC. The Massive Open Online Course is a relatively brief teaching module on a specific subject. With videos, assorted materials, quizzes, homework and final exam. So, big deal? Yes it is. Because the best universities in the world can offer these courses, currently […]

Teaching An Old Blog New Tricks

FIRSTLY,  is AllergyNet Australia the oldest medical blog in the world? Possibly. Until proved otherwise. My case rests on the Wayback Machine. The earliest recorded “crawl” for AllergyNet Australia is December 1998. My records go back to January 1998. So I looked again at Wayback Machine and I was astounded that it took an actual […]

You CAN enjoy Twitter without tweeting

This tweet recently crossed my timeline: “If you don’t engage, there is no point having followers. Agree?” No. I don’t agree Why? Because a comment like that immediately disenfranchises the 40% of those on Twitter who never tweet. These are the same people that go to public meetings and never ask questions. This is acceptable […]