Web-based Communities Research Articles

Information content of web-based stock ratings: the case of Motley fool CAPS data

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to answer a fundamental question – are individual stock picks by a particular internet investment community informative enough to beat the market? The author observes that the stock picks by the CAPS community are reflective of existing information and portfolios based upon CAPS community stock rankings do not generate abnormal returns. The CAPS community is good at tracking existing performance but, it lacks predictive ability.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a unique data set of stock ratings from Motley Fools CAPS community to determine the information content embedded in these ratings. Observing predictive ability of this web-based stock ratings forum will raise questions about the efficiency of the financial markets. The author forms stock portfolios based on stocks’ star ratings, and star rating changes, and test if the long-short portfolio strategy generates significant α after controlling for single, and multi-factor asset pricing models, such as Fama-French three-factor model and Carhart four-factor model.FindingsThe paper finds no evidence that the CAPS community ratings contain “information content,” which can be exploited to generate abnormal returns. CAPS community ratings are good at tracking existing stock performance, but cannot be used to make superior forecasts to generate abnormal returns. The findings are consistent with the efficient market hypothesis. Furthermore, the author provides evidence that CAPS community ratings are themselves determined by stock performance rather than the other way around.Originality/valueThe study employs a unique data set capturing the stock ratings of a very popular web-based investment community to evaluate its ability to make better than random forecasts. Besides applying well-accepted asset pricing models to generate α, the study conducts causality tests to discern a causal relation between stock ratings and stock performance.

NPS Data Hub: A web-based community driven analytical data repository for new psychoactive substances

In recent years there has been a rapid proliferation of new compounds emerging in the sphere of recreational drug use. These compounds are typically developed in an effort to stay ahead of drug scheduling laws banning their use and distribution. Keeping pace with the identification of these compounds is becoming an increasing challenge for forensic labs. The introduction of new psychoactive substances (NPS) is a global problem and reliable data to aid in the identification of these compounds is not always available and typically lags their distribution and proliferation. To help address these issues, a new web-based database, the NPS Data Hub, has been developed to serve as a community driven repository for analytical data related to new psychoactive substances. The aim is to elicit data from the global forensic community to facilitate identification of unknown substances and eliminate unnecessary duplication of elucidation efforts. The database can be found at https://nps-datahub.com/.

Alcohol Consumption Reduction Among a Web-Based Supportive Community Using the Hello Sunday Morning Blog Platform: Observational Study.

BackgroundAlcohol misuse is a major social and public health issue in Australia, with an estimated cost to the community of Aus $30 billion per annum. Until recently, a major barrier in addressing this significant public health issue is the fact that the majority of individuals with alcohol use disorders and alcohol misuse are not receiving treatment.ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess whether alcohol consumption changes are associated with participation in Hello Sunday Morning’s blog platform, an online forum discussing experiences in abstaining from alcohol.MethodsThe study reports on Hello Sunday Morning participants who signed up for a 3-month period of abstinence from November 2009 to November 2016. The sample comprised 1917 participants (female: 1227/1917, 64.01%; male: 690/1917, 35.99%). Main outcome measures were Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores, mood, program engagement metrics, and slip-ups.ResultsIndividuals who reported hazardous (preprogram AUDIT mean 11.92, SD 2.25) and harmful consumption levels (preprogram AUDIT mean 17.52, SD 1.08) and who engaged in the Hello Sunday Morning program reported a significant decrease in alcohol consumption, moving to lower risk consumption levels (hazardous, mean 7.59, SD 5.70 and harmful, mean 10.38, SD 7.43), 4 months following program commencement (P<.001). Those who reported high-risk or dependent consumption levels experienced the biggest reduction (preprogram mean 25.38, SD 4.20), moving to risky consumption (mean 15.83, SD 11.11), 4 months following program commencement (P<.001). These reductions in risk were maintained by participants in each group, 7 months following program commencement. Furthermore, those who engaged in the program more (as defined by more sign-ins, blogs posted, check-ins completed, and engagement with the community through likes and following) had lower alcohol consumption. Finally, those who experienced more slip-ups had lower alcohol consumption.ConclusionsParticipation in an online forum can support long-term behavior change in individuals wishing to change their drinking behavior. Importantly, reductions in AUDIT scores appeared larger for those drinking at high-risk and hazardous levels before program commencement. This has promising implications for future models of alcohol reduction treatment, as online forums are an anonymous, accessible, and cost-effective alternative or adjunct to treatment-as-usual. Further research is needed into the specific mechanisms of change within a Web-based supportive community, as well as the role of specific mood states in predicting risky drinking behavior.

Risk Assessment for Parents Who Suspect Their Child Has Autism Spectrum Disorder: Machine Learning Approach.

BackgroundParents are likely to seek Web-based communities to verify their suspicions of autism spectrum disorder markers in their child. Automated tools support human decisions in many domains and could therefore potentially support concerned parents.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to test the feasibility of assessing autism spectrum disorder risk in parental concerns from Web-based sources, using automated text analysis tools and minimal standard questioning.MethodsParticipants were 115 parents with concerns regarding their child’s social-communication development. Children were 16- to 30-months old, and 57.4% (66/115) had a family history of autism spectrum disorder. Parents reported their concerns online, and completed an autism spectrum disorder-specific screener, the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers-Revised, with Follow-up (M-CHAT-R/F), and a broad developmental screener, the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). An algorithm predicted autism spectrum disorder risk using a combination of the parent's text and a single screening question, selected by the algorithm to enhance prediction accuracy.ResultsScreening measures identified 58% (67/115) to 88% (101/115) of children at risk for autism spectrum disorder. Children with a family history of autism spectrum disorder were 3 times more likely to show autism spectrum disorder risk on screening measures. The prediction of a child’s risk on the ASQ or M-CHAT-R was significantly more accurate when predicted from text combined with an M-CHAT-R question selected (automatically) than from the text alone. The frequently automatically selected M-CHAT-R questions that predicted risk were: following a point, make-believe play, and concern about deafness.ConclusionsThe internet can be harnessed to prescreen for autism spectrum disorder using parental concerns by administering a few standardized screening questions to augment this process.

Ask an Anatomist: Identifying Global Trends, Topics and Themes of Academic Anatomists Using Twitter

Social media (SoMe) is being increasingly integrated into higher education. Twitter©, a SoMe platform, is readily accessible, easily searchable and globally available. The twitter platform @AskAnatomist is a global tweet‐chat run weekly, where participants are invited to discuss the anatomy discipline (using the searchable hashtag #AnatQ). Due to the global stakeholder access of the twitter handle, the authors undertook a study identifying themes arising during the formative stages of the @AskAnatomist tweet chats in an effort to better understand potential concerns, issues, and ideas within the anatomy discipline.The @AskAnatomist tweet chat incorporated the hashtag #AnatQ into their tweets allowing for retrospective searches. The #AnatQ hashtag was annotated allowing data to be stored and compiled with Symplur©, an online analytical platform; Symplur was data‐mined using #AnatQ for related analytics and transcripts. A thematic analysis using open coding was undertaken where themes were identified.Participants in the Twitter© discussion were primarily academic anatomists, with some contribution from students in select themes. Thematic analysis revealed three core themes arising in the formative stages of the @AskAnatomist Twitter© site: (I) Anatomical Education Modalities, with subthemes including Donor Dissection, Expert Content Delivery, Examinations, Resources, Difficult Areas in Anatomy Education, and Favorite Areas of Anatomy (teach &amp; learn); (II) Specific Anatomy Content, with subthemes including Structure &amp; Function, Histology, Embryology, Evolution &amp; Comparative Anatomy, and Layman Anatomy ; (III) Research Motivations, with subthemes including Textbook Limitations, Controversial Topics, Student Involvement, and Collaborations. These themes reveal controversies within the field, areas for potential education resource improvement and research, and anatomists' humor.Though the original intent of the @AskAnatomist site was to engage the community in anatomy content and knowledge and increase anatomy literacy broadly, tweet analysis suggests that academic anatomists were the primary active “tweeters”. This “failed experiment” did yield a positive outcome, with engaged academics fostering an @AskAnatomist progression into a web‐based Community of Practice (CoP), suggesting an additional benefit of SoMe communities in the field of anatomy. This low‐cost approach to overcoming geographical limitations may have significant impacts in other discplines by fostering global collaborations and gaining neccesary insights to progress a given field.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Introduction of Peanuts in Younger Siblings of Children With Peanut Allergy: A Prospective, Double-blinded Assessment of Risk, of Diagnostic Tests, and an Analysis of Patient Preferences

The purpose of the Finding the Risk of Anaphylaxis and Testing Rational In youngEr Siblings (FRATRIES) study was to determine the risk of anaphylaxis, the predictive values of peanut allergy tests, and parents’ preferences in the context of peanut introduction in the younger siblings of peanut-allergic children.The study cohort included 154 peanut-naïve children (median age of 23 months) who each had an older sibling with a diagnosis of peanut allergy. Participants were recruited in Canada through advertising in allergy clinics and through local food allergy web-based communities. Reference cohorts included parents of (1) peanut-naïve children from nonallergy pediatric clinics and (2) peanut-allergic children.This was a prospective cohort study. Peanut-naïve younger siblings underwent double-blind skin prick testing (SPT) followed by parent-led peanut introduction. At least 2 g of peanut protein was ingested to consider the introduction complete. Subjects were observed in a clinic for 2 hours. A phone call 24 hours later inquired about delayed reactions. Parents were then advised to introduce peanut in the younger child’s diet at least once a week. A phone follow-up occurred 1 year later. Questionnaires were dispensed prior to and up to a year after peanut introduction to investigate parental preferences with regard to peanut introduction in this subgroup.Eight participants (5.2%) had an unequivocal IgE-mediated reaction upon peanut introduction, including 5 with anaphylaxis. Peanut-allergic participants were significantly older than the rest of the cohort (median age of 4.0 vs 1.9 years, P = .04). The negative predictive values of SPT with peanut extract, peanut butter, and peanut-specific IgE were 99%, 100%, and 100%, respectively. The absolute positive predictive values of peanut extract SPT, peanut butter SPT, and specific IgE were 88%, 72%, and 62%, respectively. Peanut introduction at home without supervision was associated with high levels of parental anxiety in parents with a previously peanut-allergic child (median of 8.4 on a 10-point Likert scale), compared with introduction under supervision without testing (median of 3.8, P < .001) and home introduction after negative testing (median of 4.3, P < .001). If a provider recommended home peanut introduction without prior testing, 82% of parents would keep avoiding the food.Siblings of children with peanut allergy have an increased risk of anaphylaxis upon peanut introduction, with a potentially higher risk for older children who delayed introduction. Parents with a previously peanut-allergic child have significant anxiety regarding introducing peanut without prior skin testing or without supervision.This study supports previous studies showing that younger siblings of peanut-allergic children have a higher rate of peanut allergy. Recent NIAID guidelines for the prevention of peanut allergy recommend early introduction of peanut for high-risk children but do not make specific recommendations for siblings without other risk factors. In our practice, we do specifically recommend early and consistent peanut introduction in younger siblings of peanut-allergic patients, usually with prior testing. As highlighted in this study, parental anxiety regarding a possible reaction in the younger sibling, as well as the peanut-allergic child, is likely to impact home peanut introduction unless it is done with some level of medical supervision.

Randomized Trial of Web-Based Stress Management Interventionsfor Community College Students

ABSTRACTCommunity college students may experience more severe psychological concerns than traditional university students and have fewer institutional mental health resources available. This replication study examined the efficacy of three versions of a brief, structured web-based stress management program with community college students. The program focuses on improving perceptions of control over stressors, based on research suggesting that focusing on what you can control in the present (i.e., present control) is associated with less distress and better adjustment. Participants (N = 213 community college students) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: present control intervention (PCI), PCI with enhanced stress logs (E-PCI) or PCI with mindfulness training (PCI + MF). They completed web-based, self-report measures at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 3-week follow-up. Participants in all three intervention conditions demonstrated reductions in perceived stress and distress symptoms from pre-intervention to post-intervention and 3-week follow-up. In the PC+ MF group, the mean-within group effect size was d = −0.46, which was slightly larger than the PCI group (d = −0.36) and E-PCI group (d = −0.41). This study replicated that present control interventions are effective in a community college sample. Community college students may benefit from web-based interventions designed to increase present control.

Ask an anatomist: Identifying global trends, topics and themes of academic anatomists using twitter.

Social media (SoMe) is increasingly used in higher education (HE) to access knowledge and enable global communication. The SoMe platform Twitter® is particularly beneficial in these contexts because it is readily accessible, easily searchable (via hashtags) and global. Given these advantages, the twitter platform @AskAnatomist was created to foster a global weekly tweet chat, where students and academics can ask and address anatomy-related questions. The aim of this study was to identify themes arising in the early stages of the @AskAnatomy Twitter community to gain insights into current needs/key areas for academic anatomists, students, and other followers. A qualitative analysis of tweets including the hashtag #AnatQ, (the associated @AskAnatomist hashtag), was undertaken to achieve this aim. Thematic analysis revealed three core themes arising in the formative stages of the @AskAnatomist Twitter site: (1) anatomical education modalities, (2) specific anatomy content, and (3) research motivations. These themes reveal controversies within the field of anatomical sciences, areas for potential education resource improvement and research, as well as the humor of anatomists. Though the original intent of the @AskAnatomist site was to engage the general public in anatomy content and knowledge, tweet analysis suggests that academic anatomists were the primary active "tweeters". Interestingly, this analysis reveals that the @AskAnatomist site progressed into a web-based community of practice (CoP), suggesting an additional benefit of SoMe communities in the field of anatomy. Anat Sci Educ 11: 270-281. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.

FiDO

Homes located on tribal lands, particularly in rural areas of the United States, continue to lack access to broadband Internet and cellular connectivity [19]. Inspired by previous observations of community content similarity in tribal networks, we propose FiDO, a community-based Web browsing and content delivery system that takes advantage of user mobility, opportunistic connectivity, and collaborative filtering to provide relevant Web content to members of disconnected households via opportunistic contact with cellular base stations during a daily commute. We evaluate FiDO using trace-driven simulations with network usage data collected from a tribal-operated ISP that serves the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation in Western Idaho. By collecting data about household Web preferences and applying a collaborative filtering technique based on the Web usage patterns of the surrounding reservation community, we are able to opportunistically browse the Web on behalf of members of disconnected households, providing an average of 69.4 Web pages (all content from a specific URL, e.g., “http://gis.cdatribe-nsn.gov/LandBuyBack/”) crawled from 73% of their top 10 most visited Web domains (e.g., “cdatribe-nsn.gov” or “cnn.com/”) per day. Moreover, this content is able to be fetched and pushed to users even when the opportunistic data rate is limited to an average of only 0.99 Mbps (σ = 0.24 Mbps) and the daily opportunistic connection time is an average of 45.9 minutes (σ = 2.3 minutes). Additionally, we demonstrate a hybrid “search and browse” approach that allocates a percentage of opportunistic resources to the download of user-specified content. By dedicating only 10% of opportunistic windows of connectivity to the download of social media content, 51% of households were able to receive all of their daily expected social media content in addition to an average of 55.3 Web pages browsed on their behalf from an average of 4 different Web domains. Critically, we demonstrate the feasibility of a collaborative and community-based Web browsing model that extends access to Web content across the last mile(s) using existing infrastructure and rural patterns of mobility.

Social Media for the Dissemination of Cochrane Child Health Evidence: Evaluation Study.

BackgroundHealth care providers value ready access to reliable synthesized information to support point-of-care decision making. Web-based communities, facilitated by the adoption of social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, are increasingly being used for knowledge dissemination, bridging the gap between knowledge generation and synthesis and knowledge implementation.ObjectiveOur objective was to implement and evaluate a structured social media strategy, using multiple platforms, to disseminate Cochrane Child Health evidence to health care providers caring for children.MethodsOur social media strategy had three components: daily “tweets” using the Cochrane Child Health Twitter account, weekly WordPress blog posts, and a monthly journal club on Twitter (“tweet chat”). Each tweet, blog, and journal club shared Cochrane evidence on a child health topic. We evaluated the strategy through (1) Twitter and blog site analytics, (2) traceable link (Bitly) statistics, (3) Altmetric.com scores for promoted evidence, and (4) participant feedback. We also tracked the resources required to write the blog, tweet content, and manage the strategy.ResultsThe 22-week social media strategy ran between November 2014 and April 2015. We created 25 blog posts, sent 585 tweets, and hosted 3 tweet chats. Monthly blog visits and views and Twitter account followers increased over time. During the study period, the blog received 2555 visitors and 3967 page views from a geographically diverse audience of health care providers, academics, and health care organizations. In total, 183 traceable Bitly links received 3463 clicks, and the Twitter account gained 469 new followers. The most visited and viewed blog posts included gastrointestinal topics (lactose avoidance), research on respiratory conditions (honey for cough and treatments for asthma), and maternal newborn care (skin-to-skin contact). On Twitter, popular topics were related to public health (vaccination) and pain management. We collected Altmetric.com scores for 61 studies promoted during the study period and recorded an average increase of 11 points. Research staff (n=3) contributed approximately 433 hours to promotion activities and planning (6.5 hours each per week) to implement the social media strategy, and study investigators reviewed all content (blog posts and tweets).ConclusionsThis study provides empirical evidence on the use of a coordinated social media strategy for the dissemination of evidence to professionals providing health services to children and youth. The results and lessons learned from our study provide guidance for future knowledge dissemination activities using social media tools.

Integrated Knowledge Based Expert System for Disease Diagnosis System

The role and importance of healthcare systems to improve quality of life and social welfare in a society have been well recognized. Attention should be given to raise awareness and implementing appropriate measures to improve health care. Therefore, a computer based system is developed to serve as an alternative for people to self-diagnose their health status based on given symptoms. This strategy should be emphasized so that people can utilize the information correctly as a reference to enjoy healthier life. Hence, a Web-based Community Center for Healthcare Diagnosis system is developed based on expert system technique. Expert system reasoning technique is employed in the system to enable information about treatment and prevention of the diseases based on given symptoms. At present, three diseases are included which are arthritis, thalassemia and pneumococcal. Sets of rule and fact are managed in the knowledge based system. Web based technology is used as a platform to disseminate the information to users in order for them to optimize the information appropriately. This system will benefit people who wish to increase health awareness and seek expert knowledge on the diseases by performing self-diagnosis for early disease detection.

The experience of a nationwide Community of Practice to set up Regional Prevention Plans in Italy

BackgroundIn 2010, the Italian Ministry of Health decided to start the planning process to elaborate the National Plan of Prevention 2010–2012 jointly with the 21 Regions. The National Institute of Health was responsible for supporting regional planners (RPs) by an original participatory approach of a web-based Community of Practice (CoP) to set up their own Regional Plans of Prevention. In this paper, we summarise the theoretical framework adopted, the main phases characterising the lifecycle of the nationwide CoP, the evaluation approach adopted and its findings.MethodsFollowing the CoP theoretical framework from Wenger, an initial group of RPs were trained on Project Cycle Management as a planning method and thereafter they started interacting on a web-based Moodle platform for 8 months. The CoP evaluation mainly took into account aspects of ‘immediate value’, such as members interactions within the website, and several quantitative and qualitative tools were used to monitor changes over time. Data were retrieved from Moodle statistics or directly from the RPs by the means of a Knowledge, Attitude and Practice survey, a reaction survey, SWOT analysis and focus groups.ResultsThe level of individual RPs knowledge increased after the initial course from 55.7% to 75%, attitudes and competence perception about the planning process method also showed an overall favourable change. During the CoP life span, the number of members increased from the original 98 RPs to include up to 600 new members on the basis of spontaneous demand. From April 2010 to January 2011, the ‘vital signs’ of the CoP were monitored, including RP logins (13,450 total logins and 3744 unique logins), views (27,522) and posts (1606) distributed in 326 forum discussion threads. Data and information retrieved from quantitative and qualitative evaluation approaches proved to be useful for the management and follow-up of the CoP.ConclusionsThe CoP experience was successful as 19 out of 20 Regions submitted their Regional Preventive Plan to their Ministry of Health within the due deadline. The CoP has proved to be an approach able to optimise resources and expertise, capitalising and generating new knowledge. However, more efforts should be deployed to define innovative ways to evaluate its values, tangible and intangible, as well as the return of investment.

Implementation of a virtual dispensing simulator to support US pharmacy education

IntroductionA key element for pharmacy practice defined by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) is medication use systems management. A web-based community pharmacy simulation originally created for Australian pharmacy students was adapted for pharmacy students in the United States (US). The objective of this study was to collaboratively adapt an existing international simulation program for utility in the US and measure student perceptions of a web-based community pharmacy simulation program in three US schools of pharmacy. MethodsAn Australian development team in collaboration with US pharmacy school faculty modified the existing MyDispense software to create a virtual environment that accurately represented US community pharmacy practice. Students at three US schools of pharmacy used the newly adapted version of MyDispense and were surveyed on their prior experience in community pharmacy and their perceptions of MyDispense as a learning tool. ResultsOverall 241 (44%) students completed the satisfaction survey. Approximately 40% of these students worked in a community pharmacy before starting pharmacy school. Most students agreed or strongly agreed that MyDispense was straightforward to learn (76%), was more realistic than addressing similar paper cases (73%), and offered a learning opportunity to safely make errors (84%). Qualitative thematic analysis revealed that MyDispense allowed students to practice how to gather patient information and ask appropriate questions, counsel patients, and practice the dispensing process. Discussion and conclusionsResponse to the US version of My Dispense is positive and proves to be a viable option for introducing and reinforcing community pharmacy practice skills to students during in their pharmacy education

A community of practice for peer mental workers: Lessons learned

ABSTRACTThis article reports findings from a study that assessed the usability of a web-based community of practice for peers located in programs that had few opportunities to interact face-to-face with other peers. Peers are individuals with lived experience in mental health recovery who are employed by mental health agencies to work in various capacities because of their experiences. The website was designed to allow participants to exchange information and experiences through blogs and message boards, to access information helpful to their jobs, and to provide mutual support. The article makes a contribution to the literature on severe mental illness in reporting website use issues for people in recovery who are employed rather than people in treatment, and in website interaction rather than information retrieval.

NextGenU.org's Free, Globally Available Online Training in Lifestyle Medicine.

NextGenU.org now uniquely offers a free, accredited, globally-available online training in Lifestyle Medicine. Courses such as Lifestyle Medicine for Primary Care Physicians, Prevention and Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorders/Tobacco Use, Substance Use Disorder Screening, Public Health Nutrition, and more are competency-based and include knowledge transfer, a web-based global peer community of practice, and local, skills-based mentorships. Trainings use existing, expert-created resources from governments, universities, and medical specialty societies thus ensuring their quality and simultaneously making them free of costs, advertisement, and geographic barriers. To offer free credits for these courses, NextGenU.org partners with universities and professional societies. NextGenU.org's comprehensive Lifestyle Medicine Curriculum will launch in early 2017.

Abstract WP377: Stroke Awareness in the Age of Social Media

Background: May is recognized as Stroke Awareness month and many stroke programs design public awareness campaigns to provide education about the signs and symptoms of stroke and modifiable risk factors. An essential element of any stroke program includes the education of the community about stroke prevention, recognition, and early activation. Prior to 2016, community education consisted of blood pressure and risk factor screening by in various community settings. In 2016, the health system incorporated internet and social media components to education and community outreach during Stroke Awareness Month. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to analyze the added impact of incorporating interactive internet education and risk factor identification during Stroke Awareness Month. Methods: In 2016 we conducted a stroke awareness campaign of traditional screening and education events in the community. At these events, persons were offered a blood pressure measurement, asked about risk factors, and educated on the signs of stroke. Persons were also directed to a stroke risk profiler on the health system stroke center page that stratified their risk and possible interventions to reduce risk. Additional outreach and education efforts included an internet campaign directing persons to the risk profiler via internal health system media and social media. Paid social media, search and display ads for stroke signs and stroke risk also directed persons to the stroke risk profiler. Results: Traditional methods of education and screening yielded contact with 193 community members requiring approximately 50 hours of volunteer time. During May the web-based, interactive stroke risk assessment profiler was visited by 6,010 persons, and 1,570 fully completed the profiler. In subsequent months following the web-based community outreach campaign, traffic on the health system stroke center webpage remained at the high level of activity during May, and over 200% higher than traffic the previous year. Conclusions: Stroke awareness education and risk assessment is feasible and efficient via the internet and using social media. Using the internet and social media expands the size and increases the interaction of the community reached during Stroke Awareness Month.

Social network analysis for web-based community

Social Network Analysis (SNA) is now a key technique in recent social analysis. This paper focuses on having a Facebook crawler system to extract data. It has a complete support for non-Latin languages. The proposed application is a platform independent and can be accessible from different devices. It is built using JavaScript, HTML5, PHP, CSS, SVG and MySQL. New crawler designed and implemented from scratch by using JavaScript to provide a powerful and suitable crawler for the project purpose and insert data directly to proposed SNA system database for analysing it later using SNA metrics to obtain the SNA report.

Can web-based community engagement inform equitable planning outcomes? A case study of bikesharing

Web-based engagement is increasingly popular because of its perceived ability to increase access to the planning process with less effort than traditional methods. Currently, the utility of these approaches for meeting the needs of all members of a community is unclear. This research tests whether web-based engagement can forward equitable planning outcomes by examining proposed bikeshare station locations collected via a web-application; operationalizing equity as equal access to bikeshare station locations across all populations. Results indicate that solely relying upon online outreach would lead to an inequitable distribution of station locations. Suggested station locations are negatively-correlated with increased minority populations and positively-correlated with an increased mix of employment and housing. As such, we determine that while online outreach is a convenient and efficient means of collecting vast amounts of information, on its own it is not well-suited to planning applications in which access-equity is a primary concern.

Knowledge Exchange and Discovery in the Age of Social Media: The Journey From Inception to Establishment of a Parent-Led Web-Based Research Advisory Community for Childhood Disability.

BackgroundEfforts to involve parents and families in all aspects of research, from initiating the question through to dissemination and knowledge exchange, are increasing. While social media as a method for health communication has shown numerous benefits, including increasing accessibility, interactions with others, and access to health care information, little work has been published on the use of social media to enhance research partnerships.ObjectiveOur objective was to describe the development and evaluation of a Web-based research advisory community, hosted on Facebook and connecting a diverse group of parents of special needs children with researchers at CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research. The goal of this community is to work together and exchange knowledge in order to improve research and the lives of children and their families.MethodsThe Web-based Parents Participating in Research (PPR) advisory community was a secret Facebook group launched in June 2014 and run by 2 parent moderators who worked in consultation with CanChild. We evaluated its success using Facebook statistics of engagement and activity (eg, number of posts, number of comments) between June 2014 and April 2015, and a Web-based survey of members.ResultsThe PPR community had 96 participants (2 parent moderators, 13 researchers, and 81 family members) as of April 1, 2015. Over 9 months, 432 original posts were made: 155 (35.9%) by moderators, 197 (45.6%) by parents, and 80 (18.5%) by researchers. Posts had a median of 3 likes (range 0-24) and 4 comments (range 0-113). Members, rather than moderators, generated 64% (277/432) of posts. The survey had a 51% response rate (49/96 members), with 40 (82%) being parent members and 9 (18%) being researchers. The initial purpose of the group was to be an advisory to CanChild, and 76% (28/37) of parents and all the researchers (9/9) identified having an impact on childhood disability research as their reason for participating. A total of 58% (23/40) of parents and 56% (5/9) of researchers indicated they felt safe to share sensitive or personal information. While researchers shared evidence-based resources and consulted with families to get guidance on specific issues, there was an unexpected benefit of gaining an understanding of what issues were important to families in their daily lives. Parents felt a sense of belonging to this community where they could share their stories but also wanted more researcher participation and clarity on the purpose of the group.ConclusionsThe PPR community grew from inception to an established community with active engagement and knowledge exchange. Both parents and researchers described valuable experiences. Researchers should consider social media as a means of engaging families in all phases of research to ensure that research and its outcomes are meaningful to those who need it most.

Can a web-based community of practice be established and operated to lead falls prevention activity in residential care?

The aims of this study were to evaluate establishing and operating a web-based community of practice (CoP) to lead falls prevention in a residential aged care (RAC) setting. A mixed methods evaluation was conducted in two phases using a survey and transcripts from interactive electronic sources. Nurses and allied health staff (n = 20) with an interest in falls prevention representing 13 sites of an RAC organization participated. In Phase 1, the CoP was developed, and the establishment of its structure and composition was evaluated using determinants of success reported in the literature. In Phase 2, all participants interacted using the web, but frequency of engagement by any participant was low. Participatory barriers, including competing demands from other tasks and low levels of knowledge about information communication technology (ICT) applications, were identified by CoP members. A web-based CoP can be established and operated across multiple RAC sites if RAC management support dedicated time for web-based participation and staff are given web-based training.