Internet in Medicine Course Week 3: RSS and Microblogging

The new semester of the Internet in Medicine university accredited course for medical students just launched and 120 students registered for the course which is a great pleasure. Now here are the core points of my presentations as well as useful videos and links.

The third week is dedicated to RSS and microblogging. In the first slideshow, I described what RSS is, how to use trend trackers and which tools can help you follow the medical literature easily.

• Before, we had to surf on the web. Now we let the content and information come to us automatically.
• Definition and story of RSS.
• Advantages of RSS (easy to use, free, comprehensive).
• Statistics (medical bloggers tend to read RSS).
• RSS icons.

• How to read RSS (browser; Bloglines; desktop-based readers).
• An example, a real tutorial about how to follow the latest articles published on NEJM. Step by step.
• Best friend of docs? Of course, Pubmed. How to follow Pubmed updates easily.
• What to do when a site doesn’t have RSS feed.
• Biowizard.com and other 3rd party Pubmed tools

• Suggestions about how to use Google Alerts efficiently.

I published a step-by-step guide on Webicina.com about how to keep yourself up-to-date easily.

Take-home message:

Let the information come to you and follow your field of interest easily.

Second slideshow focused on microblogging:

• Definition of Twitter, post, reply, direct message, tweeple, twitterview, etc.
• Good examples in medicine
• How to search on Friendfeed
• How to search on Twitter: tweetscan.com

• If you’re new to Twitter
• Twitter And Health 2.0: A Visual Story
• Follow me on Twitter, if…
• 10 Tips: How to filter discussions on Twitter?
• The Youngest Twitterer and the Future of Health Management
• What you have to know about Twitter
• 10 Reasons Why I Use Twitter
• Tips and Tricks: Is Twitter reliable?

Take-home message:

Twitter is the fastest channel of communication these days, but only use it if you have a well designed strategy.