Monday, March 31, 2008

Grey literature




Sounds mysterious, doesn't it, maybe veiled in ghostly whisps of... cobwebs or something, or as if it's a publication done after the ink ran out.

Actually, 'grey lit' is a term used to describe publications that are hard to locate. They are not often available through the 'usual suspects - databases and other searchable sites. Instead, these are the occasional reports, the self-published items. Grey lit covers a lot of ground, when you think about it. Neither fish nor fowl, grey lit is nonetheless worth knowing about, if only because there's a test (ok, no there's not). But I think after you glance through this all too brief list, you'll agree with me that these documents are worth knowing about.

Here's a sampling of resources from the latest Grey Literature Report (itself, a grey lit report! - don't you love it?)

From the AARP: Prescription drugs and Medicare Part D : a report on access, satisfaction, and cost

From Active Living Research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Designing for active living among children - a document on childhood obesity

From the AHQR (Agency for Health Quality Research - National healthcare quality report 2007 - one of the United States' most important annual reports, this is one that's quoted pretty much everywhere.

Here's a really hot topic: Individual health insurance 2006-2007 : a comprehensive survey of premiums, availability, and benefits

Reducing poverty : what has worked, and what should come next This Canadian report finds areas for targeted intervention: "Six dossiers that require attention: education among the poor; Aboriginal poverty; the mentally ill and physically handicapped; the ghetto poor; high effective tax rates on the “near poor”; and in-work benefits such as earnings supplements."

Another very hot area: Whose data is it anyway? : expanding consumer control over personal health information


The school foods report card 2007
from the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)

Friday, March 28, 2008

'Naughty Auties'

Great CNN interview of David Saville (David Sparrow in SL), who began a support group called the Naughty Auties. I must say, I love that name!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Italian Oncological Department

Dipartimento interato di Oncologica ed Ematologia Universita degli studi di Modena e Reggop Emilia
posted by Namro Orman on ISN Virtual Worlds using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Aids and HIV Center


Healthinfo Island, the sim devoted to support of consumer health information and supported by funding from the National Library of Medicine for two consumer-focused projects, is delighted to announce the addition of a new building for AIDS/HIV and Sexual Health information. The building will serve as a center for several AIDS/HIV support groups meeting in Second Life, as well as a display and education site for the general public. Located between the Path of Support and the Karolinska Institutet building, the new Center is a wonderful addition to the island.
posted by Namro Orman on Healthinfo Island using a blogHUD : [permalink]

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Share the Health: Training People with Disabilities and Chronic Medical Conditions on how to Locate Quality Health Information

The Alliance Library System (ALS) is pleased to announce that the Greater Midwest Region/National Library of Medicine has awarded ALS a $35,000 grant to provide consumer health information to people with disabilities and chronic illness, in Second Life.

Partnering with ALS in the project will be Virtual Ability, Inc. (VAI). VAI presence in Second Life has included their ongoing work as The Heron Sanctuary, which provides a community of support for people with disabilities.

The grant, called Share the Health: Training People with Disabilities and Chronic Medical Conditions on how to Locate Quality Health Information, will fund a new island with an orientation and training center for people with disabilities and chronic illness. It is the third grant awarded to ALS for the provision of consumer health information in Second Life, and will also fund a continuation of current efforts.

For more information on this project, please contact Carol Perryman at cp1757@gmail.com, or in Second Life as Carolina Keats.
For more information on the Alliance Library System, please see www.alliancelibrarysystem.com or contact Lori Bell at lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com
309-694-9200 ext. 2128, or in Second Life as Lorelei Junot.

For more information on the Greater Midwest Region/National Library of Medicine, please see http://nnlm.gov/gmr/.

For more information on Virtual Ability, Inc., please see www.VirtualAbility.org or contact Alice Krueger at akrueger@virtualability.org or in Second Life as Gentle Heron.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

CDC Health Information for International Travel 2008

Thanks to Resource Shelf, a great blog I've got feeding into my Google Reader, I learn about so many weird, wonderful things - this one's filed under part 2, as a useful source of information. The kind of thing that when you need it you really need it, and otherwise, you tend to forget it. The CDC Yellow Book for 2008 is an annually updated resource.

Things you'll find (picking almost at random, this resource is comprehensive:
Find health warnings by country, browse the table of contents, search for specific topics, check out the maps (what regions present the greatest risk of diarrhea? What vaccinations are required?) Find it here, bookmark it, use it when you need it - and bon voyage!

Healthinfo Island visited by members of the Metropolitan Detroit Medical Library Group


Namro and I will be giving a 'mixed reality' tour to a number of medical librarians today (mixed reality being in this case a combination of Skype and an inworld tour). We welcome such tours and offer them to other groups who might be interested in visiting us to learn about what we've got going on - and even (we hope) joining us in collaboration.

AIDS/HIV Center now on Healthinfo Island!


Healthinfo Island, the sim devoted to support of consumer health information and supported by funding from the National Library of Medicine for two consumer-focused projects, is delighted to announce the addition of a new building for AIDS/HIV and Sexual Health information. The building will serve as a center for several AIDS/HIV support groups meeting in Second Life, as well as a display and education site for the general public. Located between the Path of Support and the Karolinska Institutet building, the new Center is a wonderful addition to the island.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Use build-in web browser in Release Candidate Software Second Life

Here is a movie about how to use the Release Candidate Software Second Life 1.19.1.1.
Be aware, that it is uncompressed, total length over 100MB, but it shows how to install and start this test version seperate to your normal version, and see what the changes are.
The movie shows how weblinks can open in the new build-in web browser, for example the link to some news of one of our rss-reader concering Consumer Health Information.
The movie is un-edited, more will follow about the new feature html on prim soon.
Read more about that

Sunday, March 09, 2008

HTML on a Prim : the next step!

I just copied a Bloghud post from Fleep to share this important news:

posted by Fleep Tuque
on Chilbo 20 hours, 27 minutes, 5 seconds ago

[26 views]

After downloading the latest Release Candidate, I logged in to see how this HTML on a Prim would work. Kind of convoluted to have it as a media type that you have to "play" and there's no live interactivity with links and whatnot, but hey! My webpage directly on a prim! With no snapshots! And from the clock in the upper right corner, it appears to be updating in real time! Omg! Yay!
Chilbo (171, 10, 94)

[permalink]