Dear All,
There is a 'radical' approach that is worth considering which follows the wiki web model (for more details see http://www.sitepoint.com/article/what-is-a-wiki and the wikipedia website http://www.wikipedia.org/).
The advantage of this approach is the potential to create a truly open and living website at very low cost. Everyone who uses a HIA wiki website would in an important sense 'own' it as they would be able to make changes and amendments to it (there are moderators but no administrator/gatekeeper) and the costs of hosting such a site are small(£200-300 per year). Everyone who uses the site then becomes a volunteer administrator/guardian because they have a stake in maintaining and updating links and material. All users need to do is to create an account using their email address and a personal password and they can change things at will* (as well as create their own wiki websites).
An example of this is a meta-website I'm developing (one that links to all the key HIA websites and their resources but does not itself store resources) that will enable anyone interested in HIA to see the current state of the art on HIA theory and practice internationally (at least in the English language) see www.healthimpactassessment.info which will forward you onto the site which is hosted by www.seedwiki.com at http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/health_impact_assessment_hia_wiki/health_impact_assessment_hia_wiki.cfm
The reasons for creating this site are:
A) most of the current HIA website don't provide a comprehensive view of HIA activity across the world;
B) the way the information is presented isn't in a handy format for HIA practitioners to consult on a day to day basis (too many clicks to get to what you want)
C) the way the information is presented isn't in an easy format for beginners to understand how aspects relate to each other;
D) to provide something novel and useful to the HIA community; and
E) to potentially enhance the sense of an international HIA community through a website that people can actively use and change to meet their needs e.g. add links, change the layout, upload material etc without needing to get someone's permission and in a few minutes as opposed to weeks and months.
The major disadvantage of a wiki website is that it can be disrupted by malicious users, as has happened with wikipedia, but given that this is a much smaller project and there are regular back-ups so anyone can revert the website back to the correct version, the chances of significant malicious disruption are minimal. This disruption as well as accidental changes are reduced by users needing to log in before they can make changes. *The site can be setup to require no logging in to change the site (Wikipedia have found this a difficult approach to uphold but no reason why a specialist wiki website on HIA couldn't be made to work this way).
Regards,
Salim
NB: The above mentioned website is a personal 'mostly in my own time' project. Peter Brett Associates know about it, support my efforts, and allow me to use some work time to further develop the website as part of their staff development and corporate social responsibility programme.
Dr Salim Vohra
Principal Health Impact Assessor
For and on behalf of Peter Brett Associates
Peter Brett Associates, Caversham Bridge House
Waterman Place, Reading, Berkshire. RG1 8DN
DD: +44 (0)118 952 0299 - Tel: +44 (0) 118 950 761 - Fax: +44 (0)118 959 7498
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Website: www.pba.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: Health Impact Assessment for the United Kingdom and Ireland [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of harry rutter
Sent: 24 March 2006 12:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: HIA Gateway
Many thanks for this Alex
Firstly I think we need to establish whether they are merely ending support for the HIA Gateway but leaving the existing site up and running for the time being, or are they pulling the plug on it completely. If the former we have a bit of time to sort this out, but if the latter we clearly have an urgent job on our hands making sure that the existing resources don't get lost. It certainly looks from the announcement on the HIA Gateway website that it will be the latter.
I have set up a site at www.hianet.org.uk for HIA resources in the South East, but haven't yet had a chance to get it fully up and running. It can provide both unrestricted and password-protected access to resources, so could pretty easily duplicate most if not all of the functions of the HIA Gateway. It is also interoperable with a number of other public health network websites and public health observatories so one can include them in any searches on the site.
If people feel it would make sense to shift the HIA Gateway over to this site I'd be very happy to support this. I'm afraid I don't have the capacity to provide the admin support for it but if others are prepared to do this I'm sure we can arrange training for people who would be adding things to it.
If people feel that this is an appropriate solution we'll have to work out how to cover the costs in the long term, especially if these go up because of greater demands on the server etc, but they are covered for at least the next 6 months. It currently costs of the order of £1500/year for hosting and backups; changes and development would of course add to this.
I'm afraid I won't be at the Cardiff conference but hope you'll be able to discuss this, and any other possible solutions.
bw
harry
_____________________________________________
Dr Harry Rutter
Head of Health Impact Assessment, South East Public Health Group Deputy Director, South East Public Health Observatory
t: +44 (0)1483 882 543
f: +44 (0)1483 882 546
e: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Health Impact Assessment for the United Kingdom and Ireland [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alex Scott-Samuel
Sent: 20 March 2006 16:32
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: HIA Gateway
it would seem that from April Fools' Day NICE will cease to support the HIA Gateway website. Urgent consideration needs to be given - most obviously at the Cardiff HIA conference the following week - as to how this can be remedied
--
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Alex Scott-Samuel
EQUAL (Equity in Health Research and Development Unit) Division of Public Health University of Liverpool Whelan Building Quadrangle Liverpool
L69 3GB
Tel (+44)151-794-5569
Fax (+44)151-794-5588
http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~alexss
e-mail [log in to unmask]
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