I’ve been really excited to learn more about how the Web and it’s growing focus on community has been impacting the realm of health education. Improving the quality of our lives through peer discussion AND the dissemination of professional information is something we need more of in the health landscape - we need to focus on the people.

And that’s what Healia Communities aims to accomplish.

You’re probably already aware of the health information search engine, Healia - this tool has been around for a while and from what I can tell, has been successful in helping individuals find what they need on topics ranging from mental health to weight management.

The Health 2.0 movement is definitely taking notice that individuals aren’t solely seeking doctors for their medical advice. There are plenty of health professionals who are better trained to actually interact with people on deeper community basis and you can find some of them on Healia Communities. This has always been a concern of mine when it comes to health information being twisted and changed - causing people to leave thinking about the wrong concepts. Experts are important, but experts that actually respond is essential, good job Healia.

The personalization aspect of being able to join certain groups that are tailored to your health interests make the site even more effective in that you don’t have to look all over the community to find what you want. Interested in finding out how to get your family to lose weight (similar to a question I put up there)? If you are part of the weight management group, you will most likely see this query and be able to quickly respond. You feel better by offering your own sage advice and the person asking the question now walks away with a smile, feeling encouraged. Win-win situation right?

Healia Communities is about what concerns you.

If you want to connect with me, I’m mindofandre in the community. Oh yeah they also blog regularly about diseases and conditions that you probably want to know about.

ReadWriteWeb also recently did a profile of other communities that deal with community members lending an ear and expertise to one another. The Web is really starting to bring people together for a common good.

So go ahead and join the conversation and meet people who are concerned about the same things you are. What better issue to be concerned about than your health and the well being of others?

Attention Health Educators and Health Communicators! This is for you (us)!

Who’s happy that the weather is warming up? I know I am! Something about sunshine and getting fresh air does wonders for the mind and body.

Before you run outside to enjoy that fresh air, I wanted to talk about a passion of mine and I believe it will revolutionize the way we deal with health. That passion is something many of us engage with on a daily basis – the Internet; more specifically, the emerging social aspects of the Internet. For those of you not familiar with the term social media – let me give a brief description. Social media or new media, has to do with the relatively recent advances in the ways we are able to communicate with each other online. It consists of elements such as blogs, social networks (Myspace, Facebook) and user-generated videos (YouTube, Viddler).

Speaking of video, check this YouTube video that shows actress Jennifer Connelly helping to spread the word about the need of clean water in Africa. Now, if the video gets sent around my friends and family, how far do you think this message will go?

Those new online social tools have completely changed how we interact with each other. Now, with social online communities that are geared toward individuals battling cancer, mental illness or diabetes (www.diabetesmine.com) – the online world has effectively become a well respected and genuine place to connect with like-minded individuals and share information. It is now possible to collaborate with other public health professionals who share your same interests, even if you all are in different parts of the world! Think about the ideas that can be generated, the networking opportunities and the friends that can be made!

Let me ask you a question – the public health/health education industry is about who? Answer: the people. Messages that help reduce the risk of diabetes, prevent the transmission of HIV and even educate the next generation of superstar health professionals, can all be created and disseminated in the online spaces. I believe if more people in the health world took a serious look at harnessing the resources (and increasingly user focused) aspects of the Web and social media, we would see prolific benefits and long lasting results. So go ahead and start exploring – the opportunities are out there!

Hey folks! Welcome to my new home on the web….introducing Pulse & Signal!

Just to give a little background on the move, one of the biggest motivating factors was to have more control over what the blog looked like and to get a little more technical with how it operated. I moved from Wordpress.com to Wordpress.org and so far I’m loving it. There were a few challenges in the beginning but hopefully this is looking good for a first iteration.

All the same great material will be covered - still focusing on health and technology, so I hope you continue coming back for it! If you have any suggestions, questions or comments about the new design, feel free to let me know.

Lastly, I’d like to give a shout out to some very cool people that helped me put it together from offering name suggestions to helping me set up the site. And for anyone that I missed, thank you!

Cag.Incognito, Shey & Kenya who helped big time with the WP back end, Nedra, Bill, Neecy, Natasha, Leslie and Jen.

I think I hear the “please wrap it up” music starting…

Thanks again people for your thoughts and eyes during this transition. And without further ado, I give you…

Pulse & Signal!

Since next week looks a little empty, I decided to do a 2 week radar posting:

NetSquared DC March Meetup [link]
When: Tuesday, March 18th 7pm - 9pm (they usually have a large crowd so get there promptly at 7pm)

Where: Affinity Lab
2451 18th Street NW 2nd Floor(above The Diner in Adams Morgan) [map]

Details: Learn about APIs (application programming interface) with Greg Elin and Josh Ruihley from Sunlight Labs.

Washington Blogger February Meetup [link]

When: Wednesday, March 19th 7pm - 9pm

Where: Regional Food and Drink
810 7th St. NW
Washington , DC 20001
202-289-2030 [map]

Details: Local Washington area bloggers meetup for good times and good conversation.

Digital Democracy Panel Discussion:Politics, Privacy & Creativity in the Age of the Internet

When: Wednesday, March 26th 6:30pm - 9:30pm

Where: National Press Club
529 14th Street NW, 13th Floor
Washington, DC 20045
(Metro Center Metro Stop)

Details: A cocktail reception and panel discussion where expert alumni and professors from the Boston University community will examine the implications of digital media on political communication, news reporting and expression of opinion during the 2008 campaign season. (This last one might not be open to the general public, a former colleague of mine is a BU graduate and invited me to come.)

Most likely I will only attend the last event since this week is getting kind of busy for me. But I highly encourage those of you in the Washington DC area to attend these events! It is a great way to meet folks who are passionate about social media and plus you never know what ideas/connections can spark!

One of the most pressing public health issues of our times, has been the scourge of HIV/AIDS. The disease - which began to gain notoriety and attention throughout the 1980’s - has crippled the lives of many Americans, most often bringing unwelcome stigmas and lifelong medication treatments.

A particular class I took in college (as a matter of fact, it was the class that brought me from engineering to the public health world), was focused on disease prevention. Among diseases like diabetes and tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS was usually at the top of the list of diseases that needed focused attention to cure/eradicate. Now that we are in the 2000s and in an age of advanced communication, many of the details related to the disease itself - as well as cutting edge research working toward a cure - can be effectively disseminated to the lay audience. For far too long, the darker side of word of mouth communication allowed for incorrect insight into the world of those living with the disease. Now we can change that…

A good example of technology (more specifically the social web) being used to inform the public is the recently launched AIDS.gov blog. AIDS. gov is the official website of the Department of Health and Human Services‘ communication on the HIV/AIDS issue. Their willingness to delve into the social media aspect of communication should be applauded in itself. This is what I’m talking about when I mention thoughts on how social technology can help the health world. Health is about people. How people live, eat and interact…and also learn. The site does a great job of introducing people to the disease and the blog seems to facilitate a way for people to interact with how the government is handling the issue.

This is of course a vulnerable position as there is always the tendency for the public to not always trust government leadership. This is a great step in the right direction. The HIV/AIDS dilemma is a big one - a global one. And from my point of view, problems can be solved faster by having more people truly understand what is at stake.

Bottom line is, as we continue to become more connected, more vocal about what is going on in our lives, it’s important to not only become knowledgeable about these issues but also to provide feedback regarding solutions. Especially in the realm of health - it’s not about what the government can provide, it’s not about a “professional” tackling the problem for us. Our better health future relies on you - it relies on me - to make forward progress. Get educated about health issues that matter to you…and then give back.

After finally getting out to the great social media events in the Washington DC area, I have become increasingly more “connected” with the people and ideas that are surely blooming in the city. I caught myself jotting down upcoming events and came across one that I am definitely looking forward to attending.

Although the official website is still under construction, registration for the BlogPotomac event is open to the general public! Chairman of the event, Geoff Livingston lets us know that “BlogPotomac is this year’s premiere social media marketing event for greater Washington DC. Attendees can expect a one-day event with nationally renown speakers and advanced discussion of best social media marketing practices.” The event is to be held on June 13 at the State Theater, in Falls Church, VA.

Speakers lined up for the event include:

• KD Paine, who writes a great blog on measuring social media
• Lionel Menchaca, digital media manager and head blogger at Direct2Dell
• Frank Gruber, community manager, AOL and author of Somewhat Frank
• Social Media Group’s Maggie Fox
• …among a few others!

If you’re in the DC area and want to get some great information on what’s going on in the digital marketplace, consider attending!

Updates to come as more details roll in.

I’m sure many of you have already come across this video but I thought I would put it up here just in case.

Common Craft has become well known for their videos that easily explain technological concepts. Twitter has just been added to their list. Hope you all can enjoy and now fully understand why I love this awesome application.

Check the video out here

Yeah…I know, I know. If you’re like me you are moping around because you are where you are instead of being in Austin, TX hanging out with other bloggers and social media mavens at SXSW, the big event for film, music and social media. Well hopefully I can deliver a piece of happiness!

It seems like Mashable.com (shout out to Adam Hirsch from last week’s MashMeet DC!) is trying to include us outsiders by giving us the opportunity to grab some SXSW goodies!

And you can join the legion of Rock Band game fans if you win the grand prize. Awesome.

Check here for the link to the Mashable Rocks contest. Hat tip to Jess3 for the knowledge!

Last night I had the distinct pleasure to attend my second DC Tweet Up meeting (with more people than the first DC Tweet Up/Social Media Club event I went to). This was also my first DC Media Makers meetup, hosted by the wonderful Jill Foster.

We had a great agenda of events which included a plug for PodcampDC (I’m going!) and the Women Who Tech telesummit (I’m obviously not going!). Andy Carvin spoke about NPR’s upcoming user-generated video project that focuses on voting and Tac Tacelosky of SmokeFreeDC (yay public health initiative!) talked briefly about his own video project based on family.

Finally our keynote speaker was the well-respected Stowe Boyd who writes at StoweBoyd.com. He gave some great insight into the relationship of how social tools being used today can be compared to innovations of yesteryear - phones on office desks and more recently corporate email and instant messaging. These technologies were once frowned upon and even deemed useless when they first came on the scene. However, all three developments have become effective tools of business and are mainstays in our daily lives.

Stowe went onto mention that tools such as Twitter, will continue to evolve into new, productive tools for our lives. Those of us who have been early adopters will not only be ahead of the curve when that happens, we will also be able to set the standard and help propel others into a new age of beneficial digital living!

I’m telling you, this kind of thinking really gets me going! I have finally found a way to engage myself into 2 of my passions - technology and people interaction. It was awesome to finally meet the lovely @koa (Kenya) and @Suki_MHC05 (Suki)! Good times had by all - can’t wait until next time!

Pictures coming soon

So last night I ventured out to Falls Church, VA to the infamous Viget Labs to attend the February Social Media Club DC meetup.

I had an absolute blast! It was fun to finally meet people I’ve connected before through social media like Jill Foster, Shashi and the video-tastic Jonny Goldstein!

The speaker for the night was Aaron Brazell of TechnoSailor fame - he spoke about how to take your blog to the next level, the big leagues. Some of the things I learned as a new blogger is that despite the great designs and visual effects that pull you in as a reader, content must be KING (thanks Qui). Without quality writing, people will most likely flip through, shrug and keep moving onto another one of the thousands of blogs in the ’sphere.

I’ve made it a personal promise to make sure I blog regularly and with relevant content. Just like everything else, it takes hard work and dedication, but I’m so passionate about this stuff - it’s not even funny.

We had guest cameos via video from Problogger’s Darren and Chris Brogan. It was awesome.

If you’re in the DC area and are interested in this thing we call social media, come on out next month!

For more coverage of the event, The Buzz Bin and Shashi also wrote some reviews. And here is last night’s event recorded with YouTube slideshow of the presentation deck.