Pre-Conference Workshop

Web 2.0 and the Implications for Health Care

Workshop Facilitators:
June Kaminski, RN MSN PhD(c)
and Robin Carriere, RN MSN

This was a unique pre-conference workshop that looked to the future of health information management and the internet. The workshop examined new trends and tools, collectively known as web 2.0, which are changing how people use and interact over the internet. In this workshop we examined current web 2.0 concepts such as wikis, social networking, user-driven content, syndication and folksonomies. Attendees were given the opportunity to use and test many of these tools. To close off the session, participants discussed how these concepts may be applied to their current work and how it could change our methods of creating and sharing knowledge.

This introductory workshop was geared towards people who have no or very little experience with web 2.0 concepts and practices and was intended for a non-technical audience. Some knowledge of using the internet was expected. To maximize participant experience, they were asked to bring a laptop (wireless preferred) to the session. Access to a laptop was also provided for those who were unable to provide their own (but these needed to be shared).

About the Facilitators

June Kaminski is completing her PhD at the University of BC in Technology Education, Curriculum Studies. Her focus is educational technology, informatics, aesthetics and e-learning for nursing. Currently, she is completing her PhD dissertation work on the faculty perceptions of nursing informatics and education culture. June is currently the President-Elect and Director of Communications for the Canadian Nursing Informatics Association (CNIA). She assumed the President role in 2008. She is also the Editor in Charge of Virtual Nursing Practice and Culture for the Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI) and a member of the OJNI Board of Directors. As well, she is the Editor in Charge of the Canadian Nursing Informatics Journal. She has taught Nursing Informatics related theory and practice content to nursing students and nurses since 1990 at Kwantlen University College in Surrey, BC and presents education and other nursing informatics related information through her website Nursing Informatics Learning Center at http://nursing-informatics.com

Robin Carriere is currently a Clinical Informatics Specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. He is also the CNIA Past President (President during the Conference). He completed his Bachelor of Nursing at Laurentian University, in Sudbury, Ontario. Mr. Carriere has had a variety of experiences in nursing informatics and is currently involved in the design and implementation of a computerized provider order entry system (CPOE). His previous experiences include web and multimedia design, IT planning and assessment, database migration, nursing workload, and user training. Mr. Carriere is very involved in the informatics community, currently holding the position of promotions coordinator for the Ontario Nursing Informatics Group and as a member of the Open Nurse group. Mr. Carriere’s clinical nursing experience includes pediatric emergency, neonatal intensive care and adult intensive care.