Laboratory Medicine on the

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Laboratory Medicine on the World Wide Web
Desmond Kenny, Dublin, Ireland Satellite
Meeting no. 8 Focus on Information Technology for
Laboratory Medicine Bologna, 4 6 June 1999
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• Why use the world wide web?
• Plenty of information
• Instant world-wide communication
• Information can be downloaded in
• electronic form (reusable)
• Searching is possible
• across the whole web
• within web pages ...

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Sources Professional societies (international
and national), Hospital and university
departments, EQA organizers, Governmental
organizations, Scientific publishers,
Diagnostics companies, Standards organizations,
On-line journals, Literature search facilities,
Databases of medical and scientific
information, Conference web sites, ... ...
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• Why use the world wide web?
• Plenty of information
• Instant world-wide communication
• Information can be downloaded in
• electronic form (reusable)
• Searching is possible
• across the whole web
• within web pages
• But
• Did I say instant ?
• Anarchy / lack of control
• quality varies / authority not clear
• Full of distractions ? waste of time ...

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• Objective
• To get the maximum benefit with the least
• amount of frustration
• How?
• Assemble a toolkit which will enable you to
  find
• what you want with the least waste of time
• Tools
• Browser
• Starting page
• Your personal list of links
• Your favourite web search tool
• Literature search tool

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• Tools
• Browser
• Starting page
• Your personal list of links
• Your favourite web search tool
• Literature search tool

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• The Browser
• is the key piece of software for viewing Web
  pages
• (but dont forget that you may need add-ins to
  view
• some files e.g. Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• 3 main options (for PC)
• MS Internet Explorer (free, you may already have
  it)
• Netscape (free download)
• Opera (inexpensive)

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• The Browser
• is the key piece of software for viewing Web
  pages
• (but dont forget that you may need add-ins to
  view
• some files e.g. Adobe Acrobat Reader)
• 3 main options (for PC)
• MS Internet Explorer (free, you may already have
  it)
• Netscape (free download)
• Opera (inexpensive US35)
• Which to use is a matter of personal taste. If
  you already
• have a browser which doesnt irritate you, stay
  with it.

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• My own favourite is Opera
• lightweight
• fast
• fully compliant with standards
• not free
• a trial copy may be downloaded from
• lthttp//www.operasoftware.comgt

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• Tools
• Browser
• Starting page
• Your personal list of links
• Your favourite web search tool
• Literature search tool

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• Your starting page
• by default, your browser probably starts by
  linking
• to the Home Page of Microsoft or Netscape
• (this was the original meaning of home page
• the page where you start your browser)
• However, your starting page can be
• a blank page
• a file on your own hard disk
• a file on your internal network
• a file anywhere on the world wide web
• (e.g. your national society for Clinical
  Chemistry)
• So why not make a page with your most commonly
• used links?

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• Tools
• Browser
• Starting page
• Your personal list of links
• Your favourite web search tool
• Literature search tool

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Your personal list of links in Netscape
bookmarks in Microsoft IE favorites in Opera
(and some others) the Hot List No single
existing site on the Web can be an ideal portal
for every clinical laboratory professional you
have your own special interests and requirements,
and you need to build up your own list
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Your personal list of links in Netscape
bookmarks in Microsoft IE favorites in Opera
(and some others) the Hot List No single
existing site on the Web can be an ideal portal
for every clinical laboratory professional you
have your own special interests and requirements,
and you need to build up your own list. For a
quick start you can use the short list of
links which I have made for this meeting, and
add to it by copying from the links pages of
societies, hospitals, academic departments etc.

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Your personal list of links You can add to the
list by saving interesting links as you find them
in day-to-day use. This will produce an untidy
tail to your list, containing links of variable
interest, so it is essential to spend some time
organizing the list at regular intervals
(especially deleting the ones you dont need!)
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• Tools
• Browser
• Starting page
• Your personal list of links
• Your favourite web search tool
• Literature search tool

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• Your favourite web search tool
• this is also to some extent a matter of taste.
• Different search tools work in different ways
• Alta Vista is a free text searcher which
• does not assume any particular structure
• of information on the Web
• Yahoo works through a hierarchy of
• categories of information through which
• you progressively narrow down the
• scope of your search
• Deja News has quite a different purpose
• it searches UseNet archives (messages)
• in discussion groups. It may find items of
• interest which are not on the Web itself.

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Your favourite web search tool My personal
favourite is Alta Vista, which I find faster than
the hierarchical Yahoo approach However, it takes
a little experience to use it well. It is worth
while to spend a little time studying the help
screens at both simple and advanced levels. I
recommend highly the tutorial Finding
information on the internet, available at the
web site of the University of California at
Berkeley
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• Tools
• Browser
• Starting page
• Your personal list of links
• Your favourite web search tool
• Literature search tool

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Literature search tool? I use PubMed, but there
are others
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Two further internet resources of special
interest OMIM
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And also on the internet but not part of the
world wided web the e-mail discussion group
acb.clin.chem.gen For information see the web
site of the Association of Clinical Biochemists
(UK)
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The list of links search tools Alta
Vista lthttp//www.altavista.comgt Deja
News lthttp//dejanews.comgt Yahoo lthttp//www.yaho
o.comgt tutorial lthttp//www.lib.berkeley.edu/
TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.htm
lgt software sources Sun lthttp//java.sun.comgt Vq
Soft lthttp//vqsoft.comgt Opera lthttp//www.operas
oftware.comgt a special site Omim lthttp//www3.nc
bi.nlm.nih.gov/Omim/gt
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The list of links (2) links to more
links IFCC lthttp//www.ifcc.org/gt no
explanation needed! EC4 lthttp//www.uni-oldenburg.
de/ec4/gt for quick access to clin.chem.
societies of the EU AACC lthttp//www.aacc.org/gt m
any useful resources and links ACB lthttp//www.acb
.org.uk/main.htmgt many useful resources and
links, pointer to acb.clin.chem.gen ACBI lthttp//
www.iol.ie/deskenny/acbi-www.htmlgt links page
of the Irish society includes some other links
which you may find useful