Hi all,
Some news and a quick update on the Emergency Medicine wikibook:
1. Those of you who recommended that we not have special author registration
processes were right. It's hard enough to get contributors at the start
without extra speed bumps!
2. The book is still at an embryonic stage. The structure has been laid out,
but there is only one chapter (by yours truly).
3. On the plus side, I recently emailed a 1200 member listserv for emergency
physicians and got some interested responses, particularly from one
emergency physician who also is a regular wikimedia participant
4. The listserv posting also got me an invite to make a presentation on May
24th 3:00-4:30 at the Annual National Meeting of the Society for Academic
Emergency Medicine. That is pretty exciting.
5. For the presentation, it would be helpful to have some facts that could
demonstrate the unique benefits of the wiki system to those who've had no
contact.
(a) I would appreciate any metrics on the growth of the wikipedia.
(b) And I would appreciate your thoughts on how best to "sell" the concept.
(c) Some at the meeting will be very sceptical of a textbook that does not
verify authors' credentials and does not have a formal peer-review process.
Those are the two big concerns. Remember, in medicine, when people read a
textbook, they may go directly to use the advice in patient care, so the
audience will have safety concerns, whatever disclaimers we place on the
site. Please give thoughts on how best to respond.
6. Finally, I may get a mention in a national EM residents' magazine.
Hopefully all these things will help get past the embryonic stage, to the
fetal stage, and eventually to critical mass!
Paris Lovett.