Thinking in a new box needed
Posted by Russell Gonnering on Apr 23, 2011; 1:28am
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/A-question-for-your-Roboteers-out-there-tp5996169p6298633.html
I received a request from a physician in Iran for current texts in my field. His plea was touching:
> I know that , as a junior physician, I have no right to bother a senior surgeon, but asking for your kind help was my last chance. I practice in a remote area of W.Azarbaijan , Iran , close to Iran - Iraq border zone . As the sole medical facility in region , we have to practice all branches of surgery here . A majority of our patients are oculofacial reconstructive and oculoplastics cases . Most of our patients are poor and unable to pay even our negligible visit fee .
>
> Also I am far from medical colleges , libraries and professors in Iran, my sole consultants are my books and journals . On the other hand , my low income and embargo on Iranian Banks as a result of nuclear dispute does not allow me to buy all my needed books.
I can send him some of the books he has asked for, but that does not solve the underlying problem, which is duplicated all around the world. Although the number of "open access" journals and books is increasing, they still are inadequate for specialized needs such as this. All publishing throughout the world is done digitally, and this knowledge is already in digital format. Can anyone think of how we can get that information to people like this, and still preserve the profit motive that is necessary for publishers to continue to operate??
The problem is not one of hardware or internet access. It is not one of lack of digitization of the information. The problem is how to devise a new business plan that looks at information as the means, and not the end. Steven Denning recounts his efforts at the World Bank to give away information as an expendable. Information, at least in medicine, is still looked at as power. In reality, the ability to "situate a network" is where the power is heading. Publishing houses and journals need to turn a profit on some other item of value, but how to make the network something of value when now it is not even appreciated?
Russ Gonnering ("Russ #3)
Russell Gonnering, MD, MMM, FACS, CPHQ
[hidden email]
www.emergenthealth.net
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/A-question-for-your-Roboteers-out-there-tp5996169p6298633.html
I received a request from a physician in Iran for current texts in my field. His plea was touching:
> I know that , as a junior physician, I have no right to bother a senior surgeon, but asking for your kind help was my last chance. I practice in a remote area of W.Azarbaijan , Iran , close to Iran - Iraq border zone . As the sole medical facility in region , we have to practice all branches of surgery here . A majority of our patients are oculofacial reconstructive and oculoplastics cases . Most of our patients are poor and unable to pay even our negligible visit fee .
>
> Also I am far from medical colleges , libraries and professors in Iran, my sole consultants are my books and journals . On the other hand , my low income and embargo on Iranian Banks as a result of nuclear dispute does not allow me to buy all my needed books.
I can send him some of the books he has asked for, but that does not solve the underlying problem, which is duplicated all around the world. Although the number of "open access" journals and books is increasing, they still are inadequate for specialized needs such as this. All publishing throughout the world is done digitally, and this knowledge is already in digital format. Can anyone think of how we can get that information to people like this, and still preserve the profit motive that is necessary for publishers to continue to operate??
The problem is not one of hardware or internet access. It is not one of lack of digitization of the information. The problem is how to devise a new business plan that looks at information as the means, and not the end. Steven Denning recounts his efforts at the World Bank to give away information as an expendable. Information, at least in medicine, is still looked at as power. In reality, the ability to "situate a network" is where the power is heading. Publishing houses and journals need to turn a profit on some other item of value, but how to make the network something of value when now it is not even appreciated?
Russ Gonnering ("Russ #3)
Russell Gonnering, MD, MMM, FACS, CPHQ
[hidden email]
www.emergenthealth.net
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
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