Discover the Science of Health
It’s been almost a year since we introduced the Highlight HEALTH Network. The network is an aggregation of content from three sites:
There’s also a network webpage, Highlight HEALTH.net (.net as in network, creative isn’t it?), which displays recent content from each site. The Highlight HEALTH Network makes it easy to stay up-to-date with the latest articles and directory links, all from a single source.
As more and more people use cell phones, the Mobile Web — accessing the World Wide Web using a mobile device such as a cell phone, PDA or other portable device — is increasingly being used to access online information. According to AdMob, the world’s largest mobile advertising marketplace, in August 2008 mobile worldwide traffic grew 12.8% to 5.1 billion web page requests [1].
New smartphones like the iPhone are accelerating this use in the mobile web. Indeed, in August 2008 the iPhone saw the largest share increase of any smartphone [1]. With healthcare consumers and professionals increasingly relying on handheld devices to access the web, I’m pleased to announce that a mobile version of Highlight HEALTH is now available.
Standard mobile phones, Blackberries and 3G devices such as the iPhone and iTouch are fully supported. Optimized for the mobile web, http://www.highlighthealth.com enables readers to access all the articles on Highlight HEALTH while on the go.
At the bottom of every article, you can show and post comments. Additionally, there are links to “Email” the full HTML article link, “Bookmark on delicious” or “Share on Twitter”.
Highlight HEALTH now automatically detects mobile devices like iPhones, iPads, Android & Blackberry and more, and serves an optimized theme instead of the regular desktop theme. Visitors can always switch back to the desktop theme if they choose.
According to a study last year, 75% of people who access the mobile web conduct searches [2]. As consumers use the Internet more than any other media source to research health information [3], I anticipate an increasing number of health-related searches to be done using the mobile web. I hope the mobile version of Highlight HEALTH will enhance its appeal to readers who have busy schedules and frequently don’t have time to read on a computer.
Mobile web users, please give the mobile version of Highlight HEALTH a try and let me know what you think.
Don’t want to miss any of the articles, news and links published on Highlight HEALTH (Discover the Science of Health), Highlight HEALTH 2.0 (Following Web 2.0 in Health and Medicine) and the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory (An Online Reference Guide for Reliable Health and Medical Information)?
Maybe you’ve a recent visitor … maybe you’ve been reading much longer. Whichever the case, there’s a number of ways to access content on the Highlight HEALTH Network. From RSS feeds to e-mail alerts to social networks, there’s bound to be a resource that works best for you.
“Media snacking” is a term used to describe the consumption of small bits of information, data or entertainment. Social networks such as StumbleUpon, Facebook and del.icio.us, text and media sites such as Twitter and Pownce, Flickr … the list goes on and on. People that consume bite-sized media chunks, short web videos, RSS feeds and blogs are picking and choosing media that can be viewed quickly and easily. Today, it’s all about the packaging of information.
It’s all about being brief and succinct.
In today’s fast-paced, hectic world, everyone is busy, especially doctors. With patient visits, paperwork and meetings, doctors have little time to learn from each other and the healthcare community. The Doctor’s Channel, an internet TV site for doctors, is a time-saving tool that offers doctors an informative media snack, enabling them to learn about the latest news, ideas and information quickly.
The site offers 1 — 2 minute streaming videos offering rich, concise content delivered by doctors, as well as opinions and editorials. Doctors can film and post short videos pertaining to anything they think would be of interest to their peers, such as therapy approaches, surgical procedures, new drugs, etc. Further, users can register on the site and, like other social networks, join groups related to their interests. The site covers a total of 42 therapeutic specialties.
The Doctor’s Channel President David Best, MD, MBA, said [1]:
We started The Doctor’s Channel because it’s apparent that the traditional system of medical education isn’t working as well as it could. Watching a talking head for 15 minutes on a computer screen is a crushing bore. The world is media snacking, getting their information in short bursts from cell phones, podcasts and RSS feeds. We decided that the physician, who really does have precious few minutes a day, is the perfect audience for short, succinct educational streaming videos. Our goal is to provide an engaging, interesting way for doctors to learn that quickly gets to the point.
The Doctor’s Channel is just one of several websites that offer reputable video content that can be viewed by health consumers. Additional websites include:
These are excellent alternatives to using YouTube as a source of health misinformation.
Do you know of other reputable medical video content websites? Let me know!
Additional health and medical video resources are listed in the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory.
