ITScooperative Journal

A web site is known by the connections it keeps. In life, the number and quality of connections we have can determine everything from personal longevity to organizational success. Similar phenomenon apply to web sites. The number of links to web site effects the placement of that web site in search listings. Links show who is thinking of you and also willing to refer to you. Links should generate desired attention.

The value of a network increases with the number of connections among its members. Carefully selecting links to quality resources useful to the readers on your web site is sound online strategy. Similarly, knowing who is referring to your site rounds out the online network picture.

Google is best for finding out who is linking to a specific page. For example, using the Google home page, entering 

link:www.ohpe.ca/ebulletin/matrix.cfm

displays links to the comprehensive matrix search on OHPE. 

This was a surprise. If you don't have the matrix search on your web site, bookmark it as a personal favourite to tap into years of collective wisdom and information about health promotion. ITScooperative includes it with other search links on the home page of this blog.

Yahoo is best for finding out who is linking to any part of a site. On Yahoo, enter:

linkdomain:ohpe.ca

to see all the links to the entire OHPE Bulletin web site!

As expected, many links will be from the same collaborators. Many others from spam blogs -- sites set up to attract you and serve ads for revenue. What is interesting, in the OHPE example, is the large number of links to specific feature articles and other items in OHPE. Such information helps validate the orginal intent for establishing an online presence to make e-bulletin content widely available.

Take a moment and get a network view of the web site that represents your online contribution to health promotion. Replace the examples above with your web address of interest. Note that neither Google nor Yahoo special link commands include the familiar http://.

Web site tracking software can provide additional details for evaluating a web site. The above will provide a picture of your web connections.

"You Must Enable Cookies...

In order to take this survey, you must enable cookies on your browser.  It’s easy to do - just follow these simple instructions.
(Please note: We use cookies in a responsible manner.  Please review our privacy policy for further details...)"

 

Organizations often use 'free' survey tools. The demand message above often show ups when an invitee has tightened down security only permits cookies on very selective sites.

------- From the Survey Site Policy--------

...

"Cookies" are small text files a website can use to recognize repeat users.  SurveyMonkey.com uses cookies to recognize visitors and more quickly provide personalized content or grant you unimpeded access to the website.  With cookies enabled, you will not need to fill in password or contact information.  

Information gathered through cookies also helps us measure use of our website.  Cookie data allow us to track usage behavior and compile data that we can use to improve the site.   This data will be used in aggregate form; no specific users will be tracked.  

Generally, cookies work by assigning a unique number to the user that has no meaning outside of the Web site that he or she is visiting.   You can easily turn off cookies.  Most browsers have a feature that allows the user to refuse cookies or issues a warning when cookies are being sent.   However, our site will not function properly without cookies.  Enabling cookies ensures a smooth, efficient visit to our website. "

...

-----end-----

In summary, companies often provide free or low cost online services because they can collect information about individuals, then aggregate and use/sell that information. Google has made a fortune on our collective clicks. For many, that is not a concern. We recommend providing that information in very limited situations. And, professionally, encourage others to do the same.

Take, for example, an opinion survey from a charitiable organization, the survey provider most likely classifies both the organization and the survey. It then receives a valuable picture of both the network of respondent donors and their characteristics. Over time, the cookies permit them to summarize behaviour of individuals participating in multiple networks and surveys. Think of the value of one survey, then multiply it by many, many donor surveys. Cross-referencing and comparative analysis is both a breeze and quite lucrative for survey provider.

The bottom line, there is likely to be a growing minority of online donors who may not respond. An organization gets some value from the free survey but misses some participants and may not get full value from some donors. These would happily provide personal information directly to the charitable organization, but not to a third party.

Many may not mind providing personal profiles which do not carry personal names. The precise name is immaterial; its the behaviour patterns and socio-economic status that matter.

We always encourage clients to be very specific about information collected and its use. And to collect as little as possiblem or none at all.

Where can you find out that Vermont seniors rank number 1 in eating more than 5 fruits and veggies a day while Mississippi ranks last? Or that Hawaii seniors rank best with the lowest number of 'frequent mental distress' days -- go figure!

The recently released 2007 State of Aging and Health in America Report pulls together health status and health behaviour information for those over 65. Programs addressing fitness, fatness, falling and other worries together with policy strategies are available for each state.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web site offers an internactive map for quickly locating state profiles. An especially interesting feature is the ability to quickly compare two states or a state to a region or to the whole country.

Downloadable guides for program coordinators provide advice on best practices and approaches for effective local action.

We developed the Community Corner Package to meet the needs of networks, memberships and inter-organizatonal intiatives. Many times the participants in these efforts have their own web sites and collections that serve them quite well. They are willing to share resources, however, duplication is unwise. Their stakeholder want them to retain control and accountability for content and get credit for their distribution.

Collections of links are one solution. In the Community Corner we take it a step further. The downloads area neatly organizes content in folders. These folders can contain files stored at the site and they can link to remote resources.

To illustrate, we developed a limited collection of 'Digital Recommendations'. These are actually located at remote web sites. By organizing this distributed collection, we can add our own description, control access, enable rating and commenting. Each download from the Community Corner is automatically reported. Best of all the file actually comes from its original location. The remote 'member site' retains control and continues to report access.

Of course the legendary ease of use of Community Corner means that anyone can setup the folders, upload, annotate and maintain the digital collection.

Our digital recommendations are set visible to all, but downloadable only to members (for now). Consider joining our Community Corner.

We regularly monitor information and knowledge dissemination services. This one comes from the Quality Tools website of the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This recent notification of updates provides an excellent example of packaging, summarizing, and disseminating specialized, best practice information.

The notice below, delivered automatically by email, provides links to several packages each addressing unique, but related issues for the target population. Selecting a link, such as the Supported Employment Implementation Resource Kit, leads to an overview page describing the goals, needs addressed, target populations, categories, source and other bibliographic information.

Next, the overview page links to the components of the specified toolkit organized in a table of contents format. Individual items address general information, implementation, workbook and supplementary materials. Each item is available in both HTML and PDF format. Some offer items in the ‘unofficial’ second language of the USA, Spanish.

The built in resource sharing module in Community Corner  (Downloads) is designed to provide similar capabilities. There are resources availble to the public; others for members only; and some restricted to special groups of members.

......original message follows.......

From: newsletter@qualitytools.ahrq.gov [mailto:newsletter@qualitytools.ahrq.gov]
Sent: March-26-07 4:06 PM
To: simon@itscooperative.com
Subject: QualityTools Update Service: Monday, March 26, 2007

What's New This Week

The QualityTools Web site, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is updated regularly. The new tools are listed alphabetically by developer. To view a new Tool Summary, click on the tool title. To view a complete list of tools available at QualityTools, use the Tool Index.

March 26, 2007

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS)

Assertive Community Treatment Implementation Resource Kit

Co-Occurring Disorders: Integrated Dual Disorders Treatment Resource Kit

Family Psychoeducation Implementation Resource Kit

Illness Management and Recovery Implementation Resource Kit

Supported Employment Implementation Resource Kit

QualityTools Spotlight

This week QualityTools spotlights five Evidence-Based Practice Implementation Resource Kits from
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for
Mental Health Services (CMHS).

These Resource Kits encourage the use of evidence-based practices in mental health and were developed as one of several SAMHSA/CMHS activities critical to its science-to-services strategy.

...

Maybe the site is still too new. Don't know why the no-name URL http://72.32.200.206/flash/. But it's worth a look. Both the site and the project it promotes are great examples of applying new media to get the health message out in any language. It is also another example of what may become more popular. In place of an organizationally focused site that changes it's content over time, we see more single issue sites tied into a specific campaign. A bit like the old paper brochures but with more flash and engagement. Not every health department can compete with the communications budget of NYC. The rest may just have to be more creative.

There are many different ways to use the Community Corner platform for improving group participation. The challenge is to gather the group in the most comfortable and productive environment. Generally each of us prefers what is easiest. As I write this many people are becoming familiar with a new Office interface. And likely as many or more are avoiding the change because the existing is more familiar.

In addition to personal preference, there are differences in capabilities between blogs and forums, two of the most popular participation tools.

We recently added a comparison of blogs and forums to our thread, "Blog or Forum or ?" in the Community Corner discussion forum. We like to use our forums for keeping track of 'reference' materials and blogs for current news.

The Community Corner platform is designed for collaboration. This study we read recently offers additional insight into best practices for online teams. After examining 13 different teams that work with members distributed in various locations, researchers found:

• Members working in different locations do not fully appreciate or share the situations each is facing.
• Electronic messages often contain multiple items. The importance of each item is considered differently by members of distributed teams.
• Most disturbing to the researchers was the finding that team members had different access to information. Private emails and only partial distributions distorted the overall picture of what was going on.
• Multiple interpretations of silence - consent, dislike of confrontation, lack of ability to express disagreement, etc.
• Cumulative impact of above was to judge remote members 'quickly and harshly'.

RESEACHERS RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS:

• Create a shared electronic place. Include pictures, deadlines, times away, equipment and software used, travel times, lead times required,  hours most accessible, alternative ways to reach each other.
• Draw direct attention to items needing immediate response from everyone vs. ones in which response is needed from specific person(s).
• Create a common shorthand that makes it easy to understand the status of an item.
• Copy all members of the team on communications.
• Make it clear who is getting this only on an FYI basis.
• Make no assumptions on silence. Use the phone to find out what it really means.
• Meet face to face regularly if possible to get a personal understanding of each other

Our own experience shows that online team leadership and relationship development takes practice and encouragement. There are several team-work tools within the Community Corner which overcome communication difficulties when used well. Team members may need introduction to the mechanics of their use as well as best practices before becoming comfortable. Unlike the email problem identified in the study, these tools provide a safe, shared space, and avoid lost messages and partial notifications. Showing people how to quickly respond and edit the response, if necesary, reduces anxiety.

To all who've touched our lives during the past year, thank you. We look forward to sharing the new year with you, here and in other communities.

 

e-card: http://www.itscooperative.com/seasons_greetings2006.htm
Image: Canadian Space Agency

ITS is a worker-owned co-operative. We run a business with each member taking full share of responsibilty, risk and reward. We keep co-operative values in mind and in our work. For example, ITScooperative provides free use of Community Corner to groups and individuals building community.

Yesterday Ontario’s co-operative sector received support in the form of a legislative resolution for  creating a Co-operative Secretariat. While there are many small co-operatives such as ours, in total, the combined co-operative, credit union and caisse populaire sector is $19Billion!

Full details on the attached news release from the Ontario Co-operative Association.