Blogging and pathology articles about blogs

Since starting this blog over a year ago I have relied upon "word of blog" from other physician bloggers (see: New Digital Pathology Blog by Keith Kaplan & The Bits and Bytes of Pathology), other digital pathology blogs (see: Medicine 2.0 at the digital pathology blog), online Medicine 2.0 conferences, blogs about blogs and talks at conferences and meetings (see: Medicine 2.0 Congress & Pathology Visions) to tell people about the blog. 

It recently occurred to me through a few calls and e-mails that some frequent readers did not know who was writing these articles so I added an "About" link on the sidebar.  In particular, for physician bloggers, doing so "anonymously" or without professional reference is not good blogging practice as I have written about.

It's perilous to generalize, but the typical academic blog entry comments on – and links to – a news article or an entry on someone else's blog. Most authors of academic blogs allow their readers to post short comments of their own.

A couple of months ago, I came across 2 articles in a pathology journal that commented on blogging and Web 2.0 in pathology, not the other way around. 

So, here is a blog post that comments on articles about blogging and Pathology 2.0.  I think that completes the loop…

Both articles appeared in the September issue of Advances in Anatomic Pathology.  One article entitled "The Blog Phenomenon Hits Pathology" by Dr. Brian Moore of Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, IL who blogs at Neuropathology blog writes:

"Pathology has not been immune to the allure of the blog, and has served as a creative and interactive outlet for pathologists around the world." 

Brian, Bruce Friedman, Jules Berman and a group of pathology residents and myself are among the pathologists and pathologists-to-be who blog.  Brian's comments are right on and I am sure the others in this small group feel the same way.

The strongest case for academic blogging is the freedom of tone. It also offers speed; the opportunity to interact with diverse audiences both inside and outside academe; and the freedom to adopt a persona less rigid than other forms of academic publishing or presentation.

Dr. Darren Wheeler of Quest Diagnostics wrote another article entitled "Online Slide Presentations".  Darren has written several similar articles in the same journal in addition to other publications related to his interests in gynecologic pathology.  Of www.slideworld.org, he writes:

"The freely available slide presentations, maintaining acknowledgement of authorship, also serves as a venue for promoting various institutions and practices." He includes the below screenshot in the article. 

While some of my colleagues here disagree with sites such as these and contributing to them (I have since added several more since Darren's submission), I think his comments again are right on.  What he is really touching on is the simplicity by which these Web 2.0 tools can be used and the impact your contributions to them can have outside one's own institution.  Again, like a blog, viewers can add comments or rate the presentations & share the content you post.

There is also no doubt that academic blogs and content sharing sites will provide a model for academic institutions and societies to externalize and share more of their content and expertise outside of their own centers and organizations and further distribute their own opinions & educational resources. 

I discussed this previously about my own institution's blog and YouTube channel as examples of this.