The Socially Enhanced Anaesthetist – Meeting Announcement

Sunday October 5th 2014 I am chair of a discussion panel at the Australian Society of Anaesthetists Annual Scientific Conference titled “The Socially Enhanced Anaesthetist”.

Time 1:30pm Australian Eastern Standard Time which translates to 0330 UTC.
Click here to convert to your local time

Not ‘death by powerpoint’ but a live discussion both at the conference venue (Room 5 for those attending) and also via the internet using the augmented version of Google Hangouts:- +Business Hangouts with my co-conspirators:

Business Hangouts allows even those without a Google ID to attend virtually. Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter users are welcome. You can even join with just an email address.

Click to register in advance to join us online or live on the day – http://www.gasnet.tv/p/asa2014.html

To set the tone for discussions this is the abstract that was published for meeting attendees.
Reproduced with permission of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists.

The Socially Enhanced Anaesthetist – Introduction

This is the abstract that was published for meeting attendees, annotated with web links.
Reproduced with permission of the Australian Society of Anaesthetists.
Wikipedia defines ‘social media‘ as “the social interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks”. Traditional media goes through extensive refinement, editing and publishing before being consumed by a passive audience. ‘Industrial overlords’ control what is published and when. Consumer generated media is published first, then evaluated by the readers, in an active process, the act of which forms the other key feature of social media: Community.
Anaesthesia has a very long tradition in the ‘social media’ space. Long before the term had been invented the ‘gasnet‘ anaesthetic email discussion list was operating. Started in the early 1990s, ‘gasnet‘ operates to this day with a small but thriving community discussing cases, life events and opinions expressed on most topics. Outlandish statements are made, but are shouted down by more moderate views. The silent majority are empowered to be the voice of reason, another key feature of social media.
Email discussion groups have inherent limitations. Sharing of attachments such as images, PDF files of papers and video is difficult and raises issues of bandwidth, ownership and copyright. ‘Bulletin’ boards overcome many of these issues. A post, including an image or other item, is placed at the head of a ‘thread’ and users allowed to comment. All modern social networking web sites are based on this
principle: Facebook, Google+, Linkedin, blogs and even to some extent Twitter.
Whilst email is delivered automatically to the end user, for all other services that user must ‘collect’
updates from the service website. Even if that collection is automated in software, the user must prove their identity via username and password or using one of the major ‘identity service’ providers. When you are invited to ‘login with Google, Facebook, Yahoo or Twitter’ you are using such a service. Identity, and its management is key to the more advanced web services, and privacy controls.
Anaesthetic content created for anaesthetists, by anaesthetists.
Private groups in Facebook with thousands of participants, Google+ communities with audio and video content, discussion boards in Linkedin, journal clubs on Twitter. Some sites belong to large organisations eg the ASA, some are independent such as www.gasexchange.com, some belong to individuals. Interactivity varies from limited email feedback to Web 2.0 style active involvement. A smorgasbord of choice.
One of the most exciting developments of social media over the last decade has been the creation and
sharing of podcasts. Pre-recorded audio or video, available for offline consumption, aimed at small niche audiences and supported by online communities. Podcasts can even convert your daily commute into CPD points! This presentation will feature the recording of such a show, and will be broadcast live on the internet and form the foundation of the gasnet.tv anaesthetic podcast.
Socially enhanced anaesthesia needs you. 
Comment on discussion lists. Take part in Twitter journal clubs. Be a voice of reason. Anaesthetists have a reputation for adding common sense to tea room discussions.
The tea room just went virtual!
See you online.