This July (16th and 17th) Science Commons has organized a workshop in Barcelona. The goal is to conclude the workshop with a set of shared principles that can effectively guide the development of a collaborative infrastructure for knowledge sharing — one that increases the value of each independent contribution to the global knowledge commons. To reach this goal the organizators have design an excellent programme. Furthermore, I’m sure that participants will enrich the discussion.

On the other hand, the last Eurohealth publication, a joint initiative between the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the London School of Economics and Political Sciences - Health, includes an article entitled Access to research data in Europe written by Philipa Mladovky, Elias Mossialos and Martin Mckee:

Summary: The European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) is much more ambitious than its predecessor and health research has been boosted, taking €6 billion of the overall budget of €50.5 billion. Yet, in contrast to other leading research funders, FP7 is largely silent on the issue of access to research data. Sharing health research data is in many ways more complex than other types of research data because of the ethical and regulatory issues. However, these and other technical, legal, cultural and institutional barriers to increasing access to research data should not discourage policy development in this area, since there are many potential benefits.

Keywords: Data, Data Sharing, Research Funding, European Commission

This article could be another input to encourage and stimulate the workshop discussion and to promote Health Commons.

As I mentioned before, I have been invited to participate in the International Seminar “Aplicación de las nuevas tecnologías a la prevención y asistencia en adicciones (”New technologies applications to prevention and assistance of addictions” (26th and 27th, June). Here goes my presentation:

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Little by little Web 2.0 movement is being approached by theory and empirical data. As an example of empirical data approachs, OECD has launched Participative Web and User-Created Content. Web 2.0, wikis and social networking

The concept of the “participative web” is based on an Internet increasingly influenced by intelligent web services that empower users to contribute to developing, rating, collaborating and distributing Internet content and customising Internet applications. As the Internet is more embedded in people’s lives users draw on new Internet applications to express themselves through “user-created content” (UCC).

This study describes the rapid growth of UCC, its increasing role in worldwide communication and draws out implications for policy. Questions addressed include: What is user-created content? What are its key drivers, its scope and different forms? What are new value chains and business models? What are the extent and form of social, cultural and economic opportunities and impacts? What are associated challenges? Is there a government role and what form could it take?

These kind of initiatives help us to a better understanding of Web 2.0 phenomenon and to analyse in what way and in what measure the ICT’s, especially the Internet, are appropriated by the current social structure, the Network Society.

On 17-18 June 2008 in Seoul holds OECD Ministerial Meeting: The Future of the Internet Economy

The Internet is a key infrastructure for global economic growth and social development. Three major trends – Convergence, Creativity and Confidence – are influencing the policy environment for the Internet Economy. Each of these trends reflects significant shifts in the use and functionality of the Internet. Collectively, they represent a major transition in the evolution of the Internet and the economic system that has developed around it. Therefore, it has become increasingly necessary that policies supporting the Internet Economy be carefully crafted and co-ordinated across policy domains, borders and multiple stakeholder communities.

Ministers and stakeholders meeting on 17-18 June 2008 in Seoul will consider social, economic and technological trends shaping the development of the Internet Economy. They will forge broad principles that can provide an enabling policy environment for the Internet Economy.

As background for the Ministerial meeting analytical reports are being released:

A Policy Brief on the Future of the Internet Economy: Major changes are affecting the scope and scale of the Internet. As a result, the Internet is increasingly high on the policy agenda in many OECD and non-OECD countries. This Policy Brief reviews likely future developments in the Internet economy and how policy-makers can help the Internet to adapt to evolving requirements caused by convergence, continue to drive innovation, and be trustworthy.

Convergence and Next Generation Networks: OECD has just issued a new report on convergence and next generation networks and their potential impact on policies and regulations. The report addresses issues of competition in the new fibre environment, convergence of video, voice and data services, the rapid growth of new technologies, such as HDTV and mobile television, and the related demand for spectrum, as well as new possible “divides” between urban and rural areas created by the uneven development of high-speed fibre networks.

Consumer empowerment in communication services: Improving the ability of consumers to choose between competing suppliers is important for well functioning markets. The report examines how to increase market flexibility for consumers in communication services, and improve access to information.

Development of Policies for Protection of Critical Information Infrastructures: Some information systems are critical because their disruption or destruction would have a serious impact on the economic well-being of citizens or the effective functioning of government or the economy. Based on two studies conducted in 2006 and 2007, this OECD report analyses security policies to protect critical information infrastructures in Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Malicious Software (Malware): A Security Threat to the Internet Economy: Malware has evolved from occasional “exploits” to a multi-million dollar criminal industry. This report informs policy makers about the evolution and impact of malware, as well as the counter-measures being taken. It concludes with suggestions for greater co-operation across the various international communities addressing malware.

Broadband and the Economy: Broadband and networked ICTs are diffusing rapidly, but there are significant differences in use among countries, sectors and firms, and their impacts are only beginning to be felt. Broadband and networked ICTs are important in meeting health, demographic and environmental challenges, and policy plays an important role in expanding their use and enhancing their impact.

I have been invited by Government of La Rioja, through the Regional Ministry of Health, to participate in the International Seminar “Aplicación de las nuevas tecnologías a la prevención y asistencia en adicciones (”New technologies applications to prevention and assistance of addictions” (26th and 27th, June) located at CIBIR, the Biomedical Research Centre of La Rioja. The seminar is organized by Drojnet an European project that evaluates the usefulness of new media in informing teenagers about drugs and their effects on their health. Deadline for registration is June 13, 2008.

I’m going to participate in the track “Health , Communication and New technologies” talking about “Health and the Internet. The transition of health system to Network Society: an empirical analysis of Catalonia” based on E-Health and Society: an empirical study of Catalonia directed by Prof. Castells.

I’m excited about this Seminar for many reasons: I will meet interesting people who are working in eHealth in Spain and Europe; Drojnet project looks like a good initiative to explore eHealth and Digital Natives topics and I will have the opportunity to talk with their authors; and it will be a good opportunity to know Regional Ministry of Health of La Rioja initiatives in eHealth. Finally, I would like to thank to the organization of the seminar for the invitation.

I’m glad to announce that Health and Web 2.0 in the Information Age videos are available at YouTube.

Health in the Information Age by Rita Espanha

Health and Web 2.0 by Michael Hardey

Health and Web 2.0: initiatives from Catalonia Government by Joan Guanyabens

Enjoy them! Thanks again to those who made this conference possible. Of course, Feedbacks are welcome!

Ismael Peña, a colleague at Open University of Catalonia and a friend of mine, has been working on issues relative with Open Access, Open Science, Open Educational Resources, Open Source Software, etc. His post titled Introduction to the open paradigm sum up the main features of Open movement. Talking about “paradigm” is a tricky question so I have suggested him to title his introduction as Openness at the informationalism paradigm. Anyway, a few days ago he sent me a link to The Health Commons

Health Commons is a coalition of parties interested in changing the way basic science is translated into the understanding and improvement of human health. Coalition members agree to share data, knowledge, and services under standardized terms and conditions by committing to a set of common technologies, digital information standards, research materials, contracts, workflows, and software. These commitments ensure that knowledge, data, materials and tools can move seamlessly from partner to partner across the entire drug discovery chain. They enable participants to offer standardized services, ranging from simple molecular assays to complex drug synthesis solutions, that others can discover in directories and integrate into their own processes to expedite development — or assemble like LEGO blocks to create new services.

This is the new project from Science Commons that has “the ambition of achieving for the world of science and data, what Creative Commons had begun to achieve for the world of culture, art and educational material: to ease unnecessary legal and technical barriers to sharing, to promote innovation, to provide easy, high quality tools that let individuals and organizations specify the terms under which they wished to share their material” (see An Introduction to Science Commons).

John Wilbanks and Marty Tenenbaum have written Health Commons: Therapy Development in a Networked World - an introduction and overview and have produced a video titled An Introduction to Health Commons

I’m very interested in these kind of initiatives or project. Please contact me flupianez[at]ictconsequences.net if you have or know any initiative related to Health and Openness at the informationalism paradigm as Health Commons or the examples I’m collecting at my wiki under the category Openness at Health.

First of all I would like to thank Gustavo Cardoso, Miquel Angel Mayer and indeed Rita Espanha and Michael Hardey for the marvellous working days we had in Barcelona. It was a honour to have the opportunity to share during three days thoughts, reflections, past researches and ideas about health and the Internet. I’m sure those are just the beginning of future collaborations. Thank you very much for such a wonderful days.

The conferences matched the audience’s expectations. Michael and Rita have allowed me to upload their presentations to the Internet as long as many people have showed their interest in the conference but they were not able to attend to Barcelona. I ‘m pleasure to announce that both conferences were video recorded and will be available in two week at UOC YouTube Channel.

Rita Espanha and Gustavo Cardoso have been reserching the transition to Network Society in Portugal. Most of the researches are available at OberCom. OberCom (Observatory for the Media) is directed by Gustavo Cardoso. He and Rita Espanha supervise the centre’s scientific research development; manage the centre research networking and institutional relations. OberCom is a non-profit research centre whose main goal is the production of data and diffusion of information about the Media, thus contributing to better knowledge of the field of communications in Portugal.

As I posted before, they have developed a research project titled Health in the Information Age. Their main conclusions were showed in Rita’s presentation

In 1999 Michael Hardey wrote Doctor in the house: the Internet as a source of lay health knowledge and the challenge to expertise. He was one of the first researchers who started to analyse Health and the Internet and the transformation of the relation between health professions and their clients/users/patients. In 2001, “E-Health”: the Internet and the transformation of patients into consumers and producers of health knowledge was published. Is it sound like Web 2.0?. His forthcoming paper will be Hardey, M. (2008) Public health and Web 2.0, Journal of the Royal Institute of Health Promotion 128(4):171-179

Finally, I would like to thank International Graduate Institute (Open University of Catalonia) and TicSalut Foundation for sponsoring the conference.

I’m pleasure to announce “Health and Web 2.0 in the Information Age Conference” on 15th May at Barcelona Biomedical Research Park. The speakers are:

• Prof. Rita Esphana (CIES-ISCTE - OberCom, Portugal) - “Health in the Information Age”
• Prof. Michael Hardey (Hull/York Medical School - SIRU, UK) - “Health and Web 2.0″

The conference is sponsored by International Graduate Institute (Open University of Catalonia) and TicSalut Foundation and is open to the public (the lectures will be in English. A simultaneous interpretation service will be available) :

• Programme
• Free registration

I’m excited with Michael and Rita conferences and even more excited with the two days before the conference. After many emails and a visit to Lisbon we are going to meet face to face to all together to strengthen future collaborations. Network is great!

Yesterday, I was invited by Cristina Iniesta, Hospital del Mar Manager Director and Health Promoting Hospital Network Coordinator, to present the results from Internet, Health and Society in Catalonia in one of the network meetings at Hospital Sant Joan de Deu.

The aims of the presentation were: (1) to analyse in what way and to what extent the Internet is adopted and embedded by Catalan health system; (2) to discuss the implications for health promotion, taking into account Health Promoting Hospital objectives and, (3) to find ways of future collaborations.

The atmosphere of the session was excellent. I’m sure we will find many ways of future collaboration. Finally, I’m grateful to Kathryn O´Connor, my wonderful English teacher at UOC, for introducing me Cristina Iniesta and, last but not least, I would like to thank Cristina Iniesta for her kind invitation and her open thinking.