Can a Computer Replace Your Doctor?
We have all seen it, heard of it, thought about it, and wondered if a computer could actually replace those long and drawn out visits to your physician. When we think of how awful we feel, and how bad we look when we are sick, along with those embarrassing questions, we often hope that we could just remedy the situation ourselves or without going into public.
Have you ever seen articles like this, asking a question about medical and technology, wondering if this is the solution we have been waiting for all our lives? Have you ever stopped to double check those sources that you are reading about, or if the author is credible and has the ability to question a certain topic, and lets not forget to look at their credentials and background to see if what they are covering really is in their domain of topics to be very knowledgeable about?
Lets break down this article from the New York Times written by Elizabeth Rosenthal, a former physician who does have the knowledge to back up her criteria on the topic of whether a computer can in fact replace a doctor (the medical side), the only aspect of it that she is missing is the technological stand point, meaning she has no background in technological architecture. To break down an article and its contents you first have to look into the author for further knowledge and understanding of where they are coming from, their expertise, and their credibility to write on certain topic such as health, medical, and physicians.
Just looking at Rosenthal's background is very impressive and in fact shows that she does have the authority to write about medical views in the media and news, it also shows how wide and varied her research and topics are on the New York Times staff, it shows that she is eligible to write about medical and those who are reading her articles can take her word for it knowing that she is a physician herself along with her journalism awards such as, Asia Society Osborn Elliot Prize, the beat reporting award from the Society for Environmental Journalists, and multiple citations from Newswomens' Club of New York. Rosenthal has also been a Poynter Fellow at Yale and a Ferris Visiting Professor at Princeton, as well as an adjunct professor at Columbia University. It does not stop there, Rosenthal also has schooling behind her craft from Stanford University with a B.S. in Biology, and Cambridge University with an M.A. in English Literature as a Marshall Scholar, along with Harvard Medical School where she got her M.D. and trained at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in international medicine. It is without a doubt that Elizabeth Rosenthal has the credentials to back up her medical articles.
Since Rosenthal has a M.A. in English Literature I am sure that she knows about doing the research to cover a topic along with how to find credible resources and knowing the true need to show those resources to her public readers in the New York Times. On top of this she includes Vivek Wadhwa, an academic, researcher, writer, and entrepreneur in the world of technology as a visionary of what the future can hold when it comes to technology and science in medical.
Also Rosenthal includes a lot of examples of the technology that can attach to your devices such as the iPhone or computers to show you what you or your children could have when sick. "There was certainly plenty of innovation on display at the conference's rooftop reception, called "Health by Numbers": One device attaches to your iPhone and turns it into an otoscope so you can see if your child has an ear infection; another allows it to check your blood alcohol level. Attendees could check out home cholesterol test kits, and a wearable device to track the "quality" of their breathing." Each example is located on the Health Guide in the New York Times with references from Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults, Semenkovich CF. Disorders of Lipid Metabolism, and U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for Screening for Lipid Disorders in Adults, and all of these references are reviewed by David C. Dugdale, III, MD, and David Zieve, MD, MHA.
Rosenthal even includes Steven Van Kuiken, who studies both health care and technology which balances her references and sources when it comes to the technological and medical combined and that makes a huge difference in her article that will absolutely make a difference to the reader of the New York Times who is interested in both health and technology in regards to one day having an in home solution to sickness.
Rosenthal does well of being objective, although in the beginning her comment of "As a former physician, I shivered a bit when I heard Dr. Vivek Wadhwa say he would rather have an artificial-intelligence doctor than a human one. “I would trust an A.I. over a doctor any day,” he proclaimed at a recent health innovation conference in San Francisco, noting that artificial intelligence provided “perfect knowledge.” When asked to vote, probably a third of those in attendance agreed." Does show a bias view on this question, but later on in her article she even addresses the question of how technology that can help us medically become better appreciated so that they do not become discarded Christmas presents and actually work with regards to the attention span of many hen it comes to technology because they are always upgrading and having new technology every three years therefore what will stick around for the long run both medically and technologically.
The list goes on and on, with all the changes and false myths of health where it is now, it can be a challenge in the health world and in the technology world. It all has to still be tested and Rosenthal shows this in the end, that yes it does sounds like the best idea since sliced bread, but there are still mishaps that need to be fixed, tested, and approved. It all has to be a trial and error type of deal, as it is with everything in our science and virtual world.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Is Social Media Credible?
How do you know what you know? (Eileen McLaughlin, Southern New Hampshire University, 2014)
Well, that is a question that would send a paranoid conspiracy theorists into panic attacks.
How do I know what I know?
Is it the time I put into the research on a topic, reading up on everything and checking at least 10 sites or more for a reasonable answer to a question? For example, why is the grass green, or pale green, or even brown? Do you take into account the cause and effect of why the grass is green, or do you just take a simple moment in time when the grass is for certain green and go with that for the meantime. Or do you take into consideration who is looking at the grass and what they are seeing? For example, those who are color blind, or even blind, and maybe even those that always seem to view everything through rose colored glasses, oh and we cannot forget the nay sayers who always view things with dim desperation. You have one who may not even see the grass as green but grey thanks to being color blind, you have another who does not see the color of the grass but is instead told what color the grass is and even then who is telling them what the grass color is? Along with those rose colored glasses who may see the grass as teal or blue green instead of just green, and that nay sayer might see the grass as dead or brown and not growing with plush life.
How do we know what we know? Well one way is to collect all sides and test them all out, you can test them all out by interviewing people who are stating the data or better yet you can write your own point of view and check out the response and see what others think, and if they are right there along with you and your view on things, and then there is personal experience. Maybe you sat there for a whole year 24/7 365 days (if it isn't a leap year) with pen and pad and even a camera taking pictures and recording the seasons and the colors. There really is no clear cut way to know what you know other than trial and error and comparing notes with a diverse landscape of people with all types of backgrounds.
I am aware of all the types of Social Media there is, but I am not social media wacked, meaning I am not living and breathing social media, but I do enjoy it for entertainment and fun. I do not state my facts from social media, but I do however check it all out for myself, if I did not check it all out then that would make me a very lazy professional in the blog, media, and marketing field as well as a person who values opinions and options.
This is how I make social media credible to me and for me, and then if I have found something that needs a different perspective I can state those facts I found as well as some facts that still need to be proven or looked into on a higher scale. I use Facebook the most, this is my source of Social Media, considering there is Tumblr, Twitter, Foursquare, and many that are not as popular as Twitter or Facebook.
Today I used my Facebook to find music and entertainment. I enjoy reggae, rockabilly, and from time to time hip hop, so with Facebook I am able to "like" music pages that are both mainstream and underground and therefore find a band or genre that speaks to me personally.
For example, 22tracks.com, this is a great overseas source of music. I do love artists from the awesome U.S. of A., but I want a variety that I have never even explored or heard of and so I found 22tracks thanks to Facebook. I know this is credible because I have checked it out, it promised to be a great new way of finding underground inspired and renewed music and it was indeed just that, and I challenge you to go and check out 22tracks for yourself to give it your own credible stamp of approval!
I used my source on Facebook, who is a friend, a hip hop lover, music enthusiast, and a break dancer at the Jinx on every Tuesday for Hip Hop Night, known as KT. Therefore, since he is a break dancer and knows great beats when he hears them I knew he was a credible source to rely on when it comes to new music for me to enjoy, not only that, but I have seen KT in action on the dance floor and wow, just wow. This is how I know 22tracks, via KT, on Facebook, is a credible source and worth sharing to others.
Social media is definitely a great source for credible research, I say this with the hopes that others will know that they will also have to double check it, just like anything else whether it is social media or not. Social media has so many different avenues and paths to go down, you can find just about any and all topics on Facebook. Therefore due to its variety and dynamics I would suggest using it because you can find people to interview or ask questions about a topic and source, communication is open and free without charge, and it also depends what you are searching for on social media.
What is your topic? What is your hopes in finding information for this topic and who are you going to share it with? If you give a social media source acknowledgement will people laugh you off your pedestal or will they agree? Not only this, but you can chat about it in real time and this can be valuable along with just about everyone having a social media account. So, perspective plays a role in social media sometimes being credible, and research, tons of research because you should always check things out for yourself and not always take someone's word for it, no matter how famous or well liked the person or organization is in the public eye.
So go forth, and dip your quill into the knowledge pond, known as the Internet, and begin writing your own gigabytes of knowledge for everyone else to read, view, and watch!
Well, that is a question that would send a paranoid conspiracy theorists into panic attacks.
What a question!
How do I know what I know?
Is it the time I put into the research on a topic, reading up on everything and checking at least 10 sites or more for a reasonable answer to a question? For example, why is the grass green, or pale green, or even brown? Do you take into account the cause and effect of why the grass is green, or do you just take a simple moment in time when the grass is for certain green and go with that for the meantime. Or do you take into consideration who is looking at the grass and what they are seeing? For example, those who are color blind, or even blind, and maybe even those that always seem to view everything through rose colored glasses, oh and we cannot forget the nay sayers who always view things with dim desperation. You have one who may not even see the grass as green but grey thanks to being color blind, you have another who does not see the color of the grass but is instead told what color the grass is and even then who is telling them what the grass color is? Along with those rose colored glasses who may see the grass as teal or blue green instead of just green, and that nay sayer might see the grass as dead or brown and not growing with plush life.
How do we know what we know? Well one way is to collect all sides and test them all out, you can test them all out by interviewing people who are stating the data or better yet you can write your own point of view and check out the response and see what others think, and if they are right there along with you and your view on things, and then there is personal experience. Maybe you sat there for a whole year 24/7 365 days (if it isn't a leap year) with pen and pad and even a camera taking pictures and recording the seasons and the colors. There really is no clear cut way to know what you know other than trial and error and comparing notes with a diverse landscape of people with all types of backgrounds.
I am aware of all the types of Social Media there is, but I am not social media wacked, meaning I am not living and breathing social media, but I do enjoy it for entertainment and fun. I do not state my facts from social media, but I do however check it all out for myself, if I did not check it all out then that would make me a very lazy professional in the blog, media, and marketing field as well as a person who values opinions and options.
This is how I make social media credible to me and for me, and then if I have found something that needs a different perspective I can state those facts I found as well as some facts that still need to be proven or looked into on a higher scale. I use Facebook the most, this is my source of Social Media, considering there is Tumblr, Twitter, Foursquare, and many that are not as popular as Twitter or Facebook.
Today I used my Facebook to find music and entertainment. I enjoy reggae, rockabilly, and from time to time hip hop, so with Facebook I am able to "like" music pages that are both mainstream and underground and therefore find a band or genre that speaks to me personally.
For example, 22tracks.com, this is a great overseas source of music. I do love artists from the awesome U.S. of A., but I want a variety that I have never even explored or heard of and so I found 22tracks thanks to Facebook. I know this is credible because I have checked it out, it promised to be a great new way of finding underground inspired and renewed music and it was indeed just that, and I challenge you to go and check out 22tracks for yourself to give it your own credible stamp of approval!
I used my source on Facebook, who is a friend, a hip hop lover, music enthusiast, and a break dancer at the Jinx on every Tuesday for Hip Hop Night, known as KT. Therefore, since he is a break dancer and knows great beats when he hears them I knew he was a credible source to rely on when it comes to new music for me to enjoy, not only that, but I have seen KT in action on the dance floor and wow, just wow. This is how I know 22tracks, via KT, on Facebook, is a credible source and worth sharing to others.
Social media is definitely a great source for credible research, I say this with the hopes that others will know that they will also have to double check it, just like anything else whether it is social media or not. Social media has so many different avenues and paths to go down, you can find just about any and all topics on Facebook. Therefore due to its variety and dynamics I would suggest using it because you can find people to interview or ask questions about a topic and source, communication is open and free without charge, and it also depends what you are searching for on social media.
What is your topic? What is your hopes in finding information for this topic and who are you going to share it with? If you give a social media source acknowledgement will people laugh you off your pedestal or will they agree? Not only this, but you can chat about it in real time and this can be valuable along with just about everyone having a social media account. So, perspective plays a role in social media sometimes being credible, and research, tons of research because you should always check things out for yourself and not always take someone's word for it, no matter how famous or well liked the person or organization is in the public eye.
So go forth, and dip your quill into the knowledge pond, known as the Internet, and begin writing your own gigabytes of knowledge for everyone else to read, view, and watch!
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Media Wacked
I'm Facebook wasted, Twitter crazed, a Pinterest pinhead, Foursquare cubed, Hi-Fructose overloaded, and YouTube funny.
All of these are an everyday ritual in my life. I feel like a machine that must rise up again for another day of posting things that can sometimes be pointless, yet it makes me feel complete in a certain way, all because I have the power to post whatever I want in a social media frenzied virtual world.
Today, I am no longer having face-to-face conversations, they just don't appeal to me anymore, and those dates I used to take in order to find Mr. Right, well those are pretty much done through dating sites like okcupid, Match, and eharmony, and if I ever get that knack for being creative, well I can just post it all on a virtual board online and say "Le Vie."
I am not against technology or the Internet, I love it actually. I am just trying to find my own balance between sloppy drunk Facebook posts and checking in at McDonna's on 51st street for everyone to see and know where I am or what I have done.
Checking Facebook has become a morning ritual for me that fits somewhere in between brushing my teeth and creating a super wonderful breakfast to later post on Facebook and Twitter. Did I create this perfect omelette to eat or post? That is the question I find myself asking once it is all up for everyone in their own New Feeds and I have 15 likes after just 10 minutes.
I can either use my social media as a waste of everyone's time by posting chain posts about if you agree reshare, like, and repost, or I can go all political and harp on Obama and the world over seas, or I can write sappy love notes or say how much I miss my ex Travis. It can all happen on my Facebook wall and the News Feed, but then I have come to think that I want to kind of sound intelligent, and that I want my posts to bring new ideas and concepts to the digital table.
For example, I wanted to express the idea of a Xenophile and what it means, how to be one, and where to start. Most people would skip right on by my posts about how we should get to know other cultures by finding something in common that brings us together and breaks down barriers, like tattoos, that can bring my American culture together with the Indian culture. So, I would catch their attention with a photo that is a tattoo and henna at the same time, like a Henna Tattoo, and then place the word Xenophile, hoping to get comments on what it means or maybe someone will research it, which would show common ground among two different cultures. It is all about perspective and if you want to get that idea out there you have to think the way your viewers think and start from there.
Xenophile
Social media has become something I look at to find out who died, it is like a dynamic obituary that lets you know all the celebrities that have passed on and even old friends or family members. It also shows me who has a new single out in the world of music and entertainment, and how Mimi made out on the TV show Love and Hip-hop. I am not into shows like this, but I have many friends who are and therefore I catch up on the show through their own posts about the show and I find myself laughing out loud and giggling at the goofiness this show brings to me, and I have never even seen one episode. I have only watched it through their eyes and through their comments, the same goes for the show Scandal. I have never even seen one minute of the show, yet I already knew everything I pretty much needed to know thanks to the posts on my Facebook news feed. Another thing I see a lot of is political views. I am all for freedom of speech, but sometimes it is pretty harsh, and I find myself skipping over it, or if it is that bad I hide their posts from my own news feed and let life take effect, because I have that ability and so do my fellow Facebook and Twitter friends.
Social media can be viewed as negative, but I like to see it as positive in my case, because when I see things that I find myself asking, "is that true", I then wind up doing my own research and discovering a new side to the story or perspective. All of these posts make me want to either play the devil's advocate or view it in a new perspective which I think is a good thing because it has got my attention and it has made me do my own research.
Either way, Facebook is both negative and positive and it is shown through the Facebook fights with harsh words slung around, and it is positive through the sweet baby pictures and the ability to stay connected with your Aunt Millie in Chicago or your Uncle Lou in Washington State. All of social media keeps us connected and well i have to say that that is very worth the incoherent Frey that you can sometimes find yourself sucked into through all types of social media.
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