Medicine 2.0 : Copyright or Creative Commons ?

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AWiki is an useful tool in the Web 2.0 environment. We can use it to collaborate with our colleagues to create knowledge online. Some days ago I read a post about Wiserwiki, a new project launched by Elsevier. This is not the only medical wiki that exists. Actually exists a long list of medical wikis. What is different with this wiki is the fact that the information created here for the medical community belongs to the publisher that owns the wiki. It means that if you want to use the information that exist in this wiki, you have to ask permission to the owner in order to do that. This fact is not new, it is how the industry of information has been working since the invention of copyright. When we write a medical article, we sent our work to a medical journal. They review it, and if they think that the article is good, they publish it. They copyright our work, they become the owners of our work. But do we have to copyright everything that we create? is this the only option that we have? The answer is no. We can make our work under a creative commons license. For long time we have depended on publishers to diffuse, distribute, collect, circulate and propagate the information we create. But nowadays do we need publishers to do these? The answer is no. What we need it is to learn how to use the web 2.0 in medicine.
We have to work really hard to spread this concepts, it is still not widely known for the health care community and sometimes you feel lonely in a digital world. Finally what you are going to do with your work will depend on each one of us. We can do what ever we want with our work. Some people will prefer to reserve the rights of their work, while others will share their work without restrictions. What could be the consequences of this changes in the mentality of the people? Can you understand the possibilities it has? Karina Descartin says : " I understand the possibilities better than ever: broader knowledge, wider accessibility for medical students and professionals, and more exchange of vital information among peers than ever before". What do you think?

Web 2.0: A Read/Write Web

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o learn how to use the web is not an easy job, it takes time. A lot of time and effort maybe, depending on how much you know about computers and how much you want to learn about them. Sometimes I think that if more people would know about the Web 2.0 and their principles, we would be living a cultural revolution, but the economical interests created around the business of knowledge are so powerful that the change will take time to become hundred percent real. It is better to let the people think they are free to do whatever they want when the true is the opposite. Sometimes I think that we live in the era of slavery. They do not domain our bodies with chains, but our mind with their ideas. For all of that it is important to learn that the web is not only to read but to write, to create, to share and to collaborate. Looking back in time I realize that the process of learning how to use the web pass through many steps:

     1.- Read only others work
     2.- Read and copy others work
     3.- Read, copy and paste others work
     4.- Read, copy, paste and remix others work
     5.- Read, copy, paste, remix and write your own work by yourself
     6.- Read, copy, paste, remix and write a work in collaboration with others

So, in which step you are? do not be afraid to use your computer and express your ideas. Take advantage of all the information and all the people you can find on the web.