Information overload is not a new problem

, but technological and cultural change have created new challenges even while resolving others. 

This paper draws on a survey of early-career researchers to examine their approach to academic literature, such as how and why they read it, how much time they dedicate to it, what informs their reading choices, and how they assess quality.

Some results: 

• 81% of early-career scholars and researchers say that “they feel they should read more of the literature than they have time to do”
• 25% suggest “they would need to read for more than 24 working hours a week to keep up”
•  technology-oriented solutions such as social bookmarking and search engines were less influential in selecting reading material than recommendations from colleagues and peers, reference lists in other material, and the journal brand.
•  Scientists feel strongly that factors and rankings relating to impact and quality should be established at the level of the article, or attached to the author, rather than the journal.

Rapple, Charlie. The Role of the Critical Review Article in Alleviating INFORMATION OVERLOAD. Annual Reviews, White paper, March 2011. 16 p.
http://www.annualreviews.org/page/infooverload

Please contribute to the LIS Research Coalition Review

by completing the short survey at http://bit.ly/review_survey by Friday 8th April.

“It is now two years since the LIS Research Coalition http://lisresearch.org/ was established and the Coalition has initiated a review of its value and impact.  To encourage a wide contribution to this review, an online questionnaire has just been launched http://bit.ly/review_survey

 The questionnaire is will remain open until 17.00 on Friday April 8th 2011.  It will take no more than 15 minutes to complete and provide you with the opportunity to comment on your familiarity with the Coalition’s work, your assessment of its activities and achievements so far, its value to your work, and your comments on plans for the next 12 months”.

Evaluation is conducted by Sandra Ward (Beaworthy Consulting, Knowledge and Information Management)

Social Media: expectations, speeches and results

In this article, Brian Carroll, from B2B Lead group, was dealing with “the disconnection between the expectations of marketers who are out on the frontlines every day and marketing gurus proclaiming the wonders of social media“.

Why, (…), are so many marketers dissatisfied with the results they’re getting from it?

Some explanations:

• today, the web is considered traditional media and social media is now that new ‘fad.’ The same thing is happening all over again, except at a much faster pace
• marketers are expecting way too much too soon
• We can’t yet calculate with the most exacting precision how many leads are generated from social media, but considering how quickly technology is evolving, the ability to do so will be here in no time

Carroll, Brian. Is Social Media Really Living Up to Expectations? B2BLead blog, posted on January 11th, 2011.
http://b2bleadblog.com/2011/01/socialmediaexpectations.html#more-6

 

Pharma goes online: 50 apps from top Big Pharmas

The popularity of smartphones like the iPhone has created an entirely new marketplace for mobile applications.

Pharmaceutical companies are starting to see the value these apps can provide. A properly designed app-be it a medication tracker, a disease calculator, an educational catalogue, or a patient diary-can improve the lives of patients and physicians and thus increase customer collaboration.

At the same time, a well-designed app in the hands of sales reps and marketers can maximize organizational efficiency and create competitive advantage when it comes to selling drugs.

In the past year, pharma investments in smartphone apps, social media platforms, and wireless devices have grown 78 percent…

If you go to the Apple App Store today, you’ll find thousands of medical applications; about 50 of these belong to the pharmaceutical industry. Abbott, AstraZeneca, Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, and Sanofi-aventis all have apps on the market.

Many of these apps target physicians and nurses:

• Novartis’ GIST Calculator (Risk of recurrence for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors)
• Roche’s Nursing ACE (educational information for nurses)
• Johnson & Johnson’s Psoriasis App (calculation of PASI)

or to make the lives of patients better:

• Merck’s iChemoDiary (record of treatments and medications)
• Bayer’s Kid-K (gaming for kids with hemophilia)
• Sanofi-aventis’ GoMeals (nutrition for diabetic population)

When done right, these apps can build a positive association between a brand and a lifestyle and can be integrated into every part of patients’ lives.

Pharma Goes Mobile: Making The Most Of The App Opportunity. Medical News Today, Online, on 24th of March 2011.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/220143.php

Study case: wiki implementation at Pfizer

Pfizer has been described as an early adopter of Enterprise 2.0 technologies for improving collaboration and new ideas. (…) 

The introduction of social media at Pfizer was a grassroots initiative beginning with the establishment of a blog by an individual employee. The blog was open to all employees.

(…) the deployment of wikis at Pfizer began in 2006 when a team leader in the Research Technology Centre (RTC) installed Mediawiki on a computer under his desk. His goal was to launch a scientific encyclopedia with articles being developed collaboratively by Pfizer’s internal research and development team.

The wiki (referred to as Pfizerpedia) proved very popular receiving 12,000 hits from 13,000 Pfizer employees worldwide in the first year.

(…)  Pfizerpedia has become an integral part of Pfizer’s I.T. landscape. The potential of Pfizerpedia is not limited to enhancing collaboration and information sharing among the global workforce. (…)

Pfizerpedia has made it easier to connect researchers and this can help spark innovation and speed pharmaceutical development process which in turn can maximize Pfizer’s return on R&D.

 Craig Standing and Sarah Kiniti. How can organizations use wikis for innovation? Technovation, article in press
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2011.02.005

Thomson: the new WOK is launched

The new Web of Knowledge offers:

• a new design with a more intuitive interface
• more search options
• more analytical functions
• etc.

See the video: http://thenewwok.com/preview

PS: it is strange to see that Thomson used pictures which are close to those that Elsevier took some years ago with its “Never underestimate the importance of a librarian” campaign, means some scientists working on the field: ocean, ice, archeology, etc.

US pharmacy-centric blogs: negative impression and opportunities

Objectives of the study: To determine types of pharmacy blogs in existence, themes of discourse on pharmacy blogs, and impressions of the profession generated by pharmacy blogs.

136 american pharmacy-centric blogs were studied.

Distribution by categories:

The majority of blogs were assigned to the news (n = 44) and personal views (n= 38) categories. Issues with patients (n = 30), personal lives (n = 29), working conditions/ issues (n = 20), and issues with other professionals (n = 19) were the top blog post themes.

Conclusion:

Most of these blogs studied were useful information resources for those in or considering the profession. However, a considerable number of pharmacy blogs contained derogatory posts regarding patients, other health care professionals, and/or the author’s occupation as a pharmacist. Blogs such as these tend to generate a negative impression of pharmacy to the reader.

The opportunity exists for pharmacists and pharmacy educators to use social media applications such as blogs to educate new pharmacists and advance the profession.

Cain, Jeff and Dillon, Gerald. analysis of pharmacy-centric blogs: Types, discourse themes, and issues. J Am Pharm Assoc. 2010;50:714–719.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1331/JAPhA.2010.10025

Twitter is not a social network…

.. it is a (wonderful) communication tool for the elite to the mass.

A Yahoo Research study has shown that 50% of the content is provided by less than 1% of users (50% of the 260 millions twwets sent from july 2009 to march 2010 by approx. 20,000 “elite” users).

Other findings:

• individuals on Twitter follow back far less than they’re followed
• Twitter is a mixture of one-way mass communications and reciprocated interpersonal communications
• There’s significant fragmentation on Twitter: users are organized by group of interest

Robles, Patricio. Twitter isn’t very social: study. Econsultancy, Posted on 28th of March, 2011.
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/7335-twitter-isn-t-very-social-study

Original study of Yahoo Research:

SciFinder goes mobile!

CAS announces that SciFinder Mobile is the industry’s first mobile interface to provide anytime access to information on chemical substances, reactions, research and patent literature, and research alerts.

SciFinder provides chemists and other researchers with access to millions of peer-reviewed research articles, patents, dissertations, and other research literature, as well as the most comprehensive, timely information on chemical substances, reactions, properties, and experimental procedures.

SciFinder Mobile and SciPlanner will advance SciFinder’s position as the industry’s premier tool for scientific research and will help SciFinder users work faster, efficiently, and more effectively from anywhere in the world, saving time and money during the R&D process.

Announcement

Clinical trials: the European register is launched

At last!

The EU Clinical Trials Register (https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/) was launched today by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The online register gives for the first time public access to information on interventional clinical trials for medicines authorised in the 27 EU Member States and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The database also allows the public to search for information on clinical trials authorised to be carried out outside the EU if these trials are part of a paediatric investigation plan.