I also talk about my first computer a lot: my Amiga bought in 1993.  One of the things the Amiga OS and apps were aware of was the migration of users.

Eh? What’ya on about?

When people adopt new skills they go through four stages: unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence and finally unconscious competence.  I think good examples highlighting this are learning to walk, speak a new language and learning to drive.

Software use is similar and the Amiga managed this migration really well by understanding there were actually three levels of user: absolute beginner, intermediate user and expert users.  Every time you loaded new applications you got asked where you rated yourself and then guided you through at the right level.  This enabled you to move on to the next level too.  It was a really great way to manage the relationship between app producer and the end customer.

OK, but I still don’t get where you’re heading to…

Patience, dear friend.  I like Web 2, it allows experts like me to throw things together quickly and easily.  I get the choice to dip in and out really easily and I get what can and can’t be discussed.

I belong to a couple of forum’s too, based around my pump.  Forum’s have two types of contributor, the experts providing answers to the questions asked by the rest of the community.  I also felt this didn’t support the intermediate users but the good forums provide a wealth of answers and a view to a user base.

Forums have not been so successful in terms of telemedicine. I know a couple of good ones focusing on type 1 diabetes, but they are often hampered by the very thing that enables forums to work: they are asymmetric not real time.  People dip in and out of them.  They can also be a little scary: there are a lot of unhappy people out there.

So…

Many healthcare professionals are hoping to use Web 2 tools (blogs, wikis, mini-blogs as well as UGC sharing sites) to bridge this gap.  They hope that the sites will enable healthcare workers and patients to share experiences and hopefully some serendipity.

Sounds great 🙂

OK, but just like I don’t necessarily want me mum to see me drinking in the local disco, I don’t necessarily want my healthcare person, who let’s face it signs my ability to drive, to know Friday night is Indian night, Saturday I like to watch footbal with my mates and have a couple of pints and Monday that I’ve had a big falling out with my boss.

The great thing about FB and twitter is that I know what I put up there will be around forever for people I care about to see how things are going.

Am I really going to allow my doctor to crawl all over this?

There must be some advantages…

Well yes, what would be great is a sympathetic ear when things are not going well.  Sometimes things are not as easy as they should be and having someone who understands would be good.  But once I’ve got back on track, I wouldn’t want this any more than I want a beginners pump any more, I’ve got to the unconcious competance on the pump and now just want to go with it.

Help for me and my family at 3am in the morning when it’s not working out the way it should be would be really useful.