DynaMed is…social?
I have been trying out a trial access to EBSCO’s DynaMed for a few weeks, and have to say that I really like whole a lot about it. The new interface is a huge improvement over the previous design (much easier on the eyes), I’m finding a number of things I couldn’t find in UpToDate, and I really like the way articles are organized for easy browsing, searching, and skimming.
But here’s the thing that interests me most:
At the bottom of the Content panel on the left side of the page while reviewing an article is a link for Topic Comment.
Clicking this link takes one to a page with the following fields:
- Your Name:
- Your Title:
- Name of Institution:
- Date (autofilled)
- Subject
- Add my comment to this topic
…then there’s a comment field.
I really like the “social” nature of this feature. It appears that these comments can have two potential uses: either to provide feedback to DynaMed, or to offer your comments to other users.
From the Help section of DynaMed:
Comments
You can add your comments (questions, suggestions, information) to the database.
General Comments can be added from various DynaMed pages. Topical Comments can be added only from the Summary pages. You can indicate whether you want to make your comments publicly available by clicking on the radio button Add my comment to this topic. Topic Summaries and General Comments will be posted by the DynaMed editors.
I think I really like this. Not only does it show a vendor inviting perpetual conversation with the product’s users, but it leverages the expertise of the user base to enhance the product.
Related Links:
Recent conversation from MEDLIB-L regarding DynaMed
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