Seal of transparency heritage in the CISMeF quality-controlled health gateway

BACKGROUND: It is an absolute necessity to continually assess the quality of health information on the Internet. Quality-controlled subject gateways are Internet services which apply a selected set of targeted measures to support systematic resource discovery. METHODS: The CISMeF health gateway became a contributor to the MedCIRCLE project to evaluate 270 health information providers. The transparency heritage consists of using the evaluation performed on providers that are referenced in the CISMeF catalogue for evaluating the documents they publish, thus passing on the transparency label from the publishers to their documents. RESULTS: Each site rated in CISMeF has a record in the CISMeF database that generates an RDF into HTML file. The search tool Doc'CISMeF displays information originating from every publisher evaluated with a specific MedCIRCLE button, which is linked to the MedCIRCLE central repository. Starting with 270 websites, this trust heritage has led to 6,480 evaluated resources in CISMeF (49.8% of the 13,012 resources included in CISMeF). CONCLUSION: With the MedCIRCLE project and transparency heritage, CISMeF became an explicit third party

The Social Model of Translation and Its Application to Internet Search Engines Specialized in Health: The ASEM Search Engine for Neuromuscular Diseases

The use of the Internet as a source of health information is greatly increasing. However, identifying relevant and valid information can be problematic. This paper firstly analyses the efficiency of Internet search engines specialized in health in order to then determine the quality of the online information related to a specific medical subdomain like that of neuromuscular diseases. Our aim is to present a model for the development and use of a bilingual electronic corpus (MYOCOR), related to the said neuromuscular diseases in order to: a) on one hand, provide a quality health information tool for health professionals, patients and relatives, as well as for translators and writers of specialized texts, and software developers, and b) on the other hand, use the same as a base for the implementation of a search engine (using keywords and semantics), like the ASEM (Federación Española Contra las Enfermedades Neuromusculares) search engine for neuromuscular diseases

Metadata quality issues in learning repositories

Metadata lies at the heart of every digital repository project in the sense that it defines and drives the description of digital content stored in the repositories. Metadata allows content to be successfully stored, managed and retrieved but also preserved in the long-term. Despite the enormous importance of metadata in digital repositories, one that is widely recognized, studies indicate that what is defined as metadata quality, is relatively low in most cases of digital repositories. Metadata quality is loosely defined as "fitness for purpose" meaning that low quality of metadata means that metadata cannot fulfill its purpose which is to allow for the successful storage, management and retrieval of resources. In practice, low metadata quality leads to ineffective searches for content, ones that recall the wrong resources or even worse, no resources which makes them invisible to the intended user, that is the "client" of each digital repository. The present dissertation approaches this problem by proposing a comprehensive metadata quality assurance method, namely the Metadata Quality Assurance Certification Process (MQACP). The basic idea of this dissertation is to propose a set of methods that can be deployed throughout the lifecycle of a repository to ensure that metadata generated from content providers are of high quality. These methods have to be straightforward, simple to apply with measurable results. They also have to be adaptable with minimum effort so that they can be used in different contexts easily. This set of methods was described analytically, taking into account the actors needed to apply them, describing the tools needed and defining the anticipated outcomes. In order to test our proposal, we applied it on a Learning Federation of repositories, from day 1 of its existence until it reached its maturity and regular operation. We supported the metadata creation process throughout the different phases of the repositories involved by setting up specific experiments using the methods and tools of the MQACP. Throughout each phase, we measured the resulting metadata quality to certify that the anticipated improvement in metadata quality actually took place. Lastly, through these different phases, the cost of the MQACP application was measured to provide a comparison basis for future applications. Based on the success of this first application, we decided to validate the MQACP approach by applying it on another two cases of a Cultural and a Research Federation of repositories. This would allow us to prove the transferability of the approach to other cases the present some similarities with the initial one but mainly significant differences. The results showed that the MQACP was successfully adapted to the new contexts, with minimum adaptations needed, with similar results produced and also with comparable costs. In addition, looking closer at the common experiments carried out in each phase of each use case, we were able to identify interesting patterns in the behavior of content providers that can be further researched. The dissertation is completed with a set of future research directions that came out of the cases examined. These research directions can be explored in order to support the next version of the MQACP in terms of the methods deployed, the tools used to assess metadata quality as well as the cost analysis of the MQACP methods

Metadata quality issues in learning repositories

Metadata lies at the heart of every digital repository project in the sense that it defines and drives the description of digital content stored in the repositories. Metadata allows content to be successfully stored, managed and retrieved but also preserved in the long-term. Despite the enormous importance of metadata in digital repositories, one that is widely recognized, studies indicate that what is defined as metadata quality, is relatively low in most cases of digital repositories. Metadata quality is loosely defined as "fitness for purpose" meaning that low quality of metadata means that metadata cannot fulfill its purpose which is to allow for the successful storage, management and retrieval of resources. In practice, low metadata quality leads to ineffective searches for content, ones that recall the wrong resources or even worse, no resources which makes them invisible to the intended user, that is the "client" of each digital repository. The present dissertation approaches this problem by proposing a comprehensive metadata quality assurance method, namely the Metadata Quality Assurance Certification Process (MQACP). The basic idea of this dissertation is to propose a set of methods that can be deployed throughout the lifecycle of a repository to ensure that metadata generated from content providers are of high quality. These methods have to be straightforward, simple to apply with measurable results. They also have to be adaptable with minimum effort so that they can be used in different contexts easily. This set of methods was described analytically, taking into account the actors needed to apply them, describing the tools needed and defining the anticipated outcomes. In order to test our proposal, we applied it on a Learning Federation of repositories, from day 1 of its existence until it reached its maturity and regular operation. We supported the metadata creation process throughout the different phases of the repositories involved by setting up specific experiments using the methods and tools of the MQACP. Throughout each phase, we measured the resulting metadata quality to certify that the anticipated improvement in metadata quality actually took place. Lastly, through these different phases, the cost of the MQACP application was measured to provide a comparison basis for future applications. Based on the success of this first application, we decided to validate the MQACP approach by applying it on another two cases of a Cultural and a Research Federation of repositories. This would allow us to prove the transferability of the approach to other cases the present some similarities with the initial one but mainly significant differences. The results showed that the MQACP was successfully adapted to the new contexts, with minimum adaptations needed, with similar results produced and also with comparable costs. In addition, looking closer at the common experiments carried out in each phase of each use case, we were able to identify interesting patterns in the behavior of content providers that can be further researched. The dissertation is completed with a set of future research directions that came out of the cases examined. These research directions can be explored in order to support the next version of the MQACP in terms of the methods deployed, the tools used to assess metadata quality as well as the cost analysis of the MQACP methods

Αξιολόγηση της ποιότητας και επίδρασης των πληροφοριών υγείας στο διαδίκτυο.

Η σημασία των κοινωνικών δικτύων για θέματα υγείας έχει αναδειχτεί σε μια σειρά από μελέτες [1–3], καθώς επίσης και η αυξανόμενη χρήση του διαδικτύου και των μέσων κοινωνικής δικτύωσης για αναζήτηση πληροφοριών υγείας από όλο και περισσότερους ασθενείς ή μη και των οικείων τους [4–7]. Κύριος σκοπός της διατριβής είναι να διερευνηθεί η ποιότητα των προσφερόμενων, μέσω των εφαρμογών του διαδικτύου, πληροφοριών υγείας στον ελλαδικό χώρο και να διερευνηθεί ο ρόλος τους στην διαμόρφωση του νοσολογικού προφίλ στον πληθυσμό. Επιλέχθηκε να αναπτυχθεί η ηλεκτρονική μορφή του ερωτηματολογίου, χρησιμοποιώντας ανοιχτό λογισμικό βασισμένο στην γλώσσα PHP [8,9]. Η διαχείριση και στατιστική ανάλυση των δεδομένων έγινε με τη γλώσσα προγραμματισμού Python και των σύγχρονων βιβλιοθηκών της [10–16]. Έτσι, το τελικό υπό εξέταση δείγμα περιλαμβάνει 104 στήλες μεταβλητών και συνολικά 328 παρατηρήσεις με τιμές. Λόγω του μεγάλου αριθμού μεταβλητών, οι μεταβλητές των απαντήσεων εξετάστηκαν ξεχωριστά με βάση τη διάκριση τους σε ερμηνευτικές και εξαρτημένες [17–19]. Κατά την στατιστική ανάλυση, πρώτα εξετάστηκαν οι συχνότητες τόσο των εξαρτημένων όσο και των ερμηνευτικών μεταβλητών του δείγματος, παράλληλα με τη διαδικασία διαχείρισης των δεδομένων, ώστε να ολοκληρωθεί το δείγμα και οι μεταβλητές που θα χρησιμοποιηθούν. Στη συνέχεια εξετάστηκε αν υπάρχει συσχέτιση και ο βαθμός συσχέτισης μεταξύ των μεταβλητών, εφαρμόζοντας έλεγχο ανεξαρτησίας χ² ανά ζεύγη και όπου ο πίνακας των απόλυτων αναμενόμενων τιμών ήταν μικρός χρησιμοποιήθηκε και η διόρθωση κατά Yates προκειμένου να εξεταστεί η απόρριψη της ανεξαρτησίας. Επικουρικά, για επιπλέον αξιοπιστία της ύπαρξης συσχέτισης μεταξύ μεταβλητών, όπου ο έλεγχος χ² ήταν στατιστικά σημαντικός χρησιμοποιήθηκε και το Fisher Exact τεστ για τον υπολογισμό του Σχετικού Λόγου Συμπληρωματικών Πιθανοτήτων και του αντίστοιχου p-value. Εξετάζοντας τις διάφορες μεταβλητές μπορούμε να συμπεράνουμε ότι το δείγμα αφορά ως επί το πλείστον άτομα στη σχετικά νεότερη ηλικιακή κατηγορία «17-38» (ποσοστό 78,1%) με σχετικά υψηλό μορφωτικό επίπεδο (πτυχίο ανώτατης σχολής ή παραπάνω 82%) και γνώσεις Η/Υ (91% του δείγματος, έχει γνώσεις Η/Υ). Επίσης, χρειάζεται να υπογραμμιστεί ότι το 59% του δείγματος εργάζεται σε επάγγελμα σχετικό με την υγεία και ακόμα περισσότερο, το 48% έχει σχετικές σπουδές. Τα στοιχεία αυτά θα πρέπει να τα έχουμε υπόψη πριν κάνουμε γενικότερες γενικεύσεις για τον πληθυσμό στην Ελλάδα (πχ τα συμπεράσματα δεν αφορούν τους συνταξιούχους και άτομα ηλικίας κάτω των 18, ή όσους δεν έχουν πρόσβαση στο Internet στην οικία τους). Εντούτοις, οι συχνότητες των διάφορων μεταβλητών, όπως κατηγοριοποιήθηκαν στο δείγμα και ομαδοποιήθηκαν στη συνέχεια, παρέχουν, εκτός εξαιρέσεων, αρκετές παρατηρήσεις (> 5 ή > 10) ώστε να προχωρήσουμε στην εξέταση για κάθε κατηγορία του κατά πόσο «επηρεάζεται και διαμορφώνεται το νοσολογικό προφίλ του χρήστη του διαδικτύου και των κοινωνικών δικτύων με τις διαθέσιμες πληροφορίες υγείας»The importance of social networks on health issues has emerged in a number of studies [1–3], as well as the increasing use of the Internet and social media to search for health information by a growing number of patients or non-patients and their intimates [4–7]. The main aim of the dissertation is to investigate the quality of the health information provided by the internet applications (health portals and Social Media pages) in Greece and to delve into their role in shaping the population's nosologic profile. It was chosen to develop the electronic form of the questionnaire using open source PHP-based software [8,9]. Data management and statistical analysis was performed using the Python programming language and its modern libraries [10–16]. Thus, the final test sample includes 104 columns of variables and a total of 328 observations with 34,112 values. Due to the large number of variables, response variables were examined separately based on their distinction in interpretive and dependent [17–19]. During the statistical analysis initially examined the frequencies of both the dependent and the interpretive variables of the sample were analyzed alongside the data management process, so as to complete the sample and the variables that are to be. We then examined whether there was a correlation and the degree of correlation between the variables by applying a Pearson chi-square Independence Test in pairs and where the absolute expected matrix was used and the Yates correction to examine the rejection of independence. Additionally, for extra reliability of the correlation between variables, where the control χ² was statistically significant, the Fisher Exact test was used to calculate the Odds Ratio and the corresponding p-value. In examining the various variables we can conclude that the sample is mostly for people in the relatively younger age group "17-38" (78.1%) with a relatively high educational level (82% or higher) and knowledge H (91% of the sample, has PC knowledge). It also needs to be emphasized that 59% of the sample is working in a health-related profession and even more, 48% has relevant studies. These factors should be taken into account before making general generalizations for the population in Greece (for example, the conclusions do not apply to pensioners and people under the age of 18 or those who do not have access to the internet in their home). However, the frequencies of the various variables, as categorized in the sample and grouped below, provide, with exceptions, a number of observations (> 5 or> 10) to examine for each class whether "the nosologic profile of the internet and social networks user is influenced and shaped by the available health information "

Biblioteca Digital de Alimentação e Nutrição Humana

Tese de mestrado integrado. Ciência da Informação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200