Examining the Medical Blogosphere: An Online Survey of Medical Bloggers
Examining the Medical Blogosphere: An Online Survey of Medical Bloggers
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DOI：
10.2196/jmir.1118
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发表时间：
2008-01-01
影响因子：
7.4
通讯作者：
Brumini, Gordana
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kovic, Ivor;Lulic, Ileana;Brumini, Gordana
背景：博客是每年新网站大量增加的主要贡献者。大多数博客都允许读者留下评论，这样既能引发对话，又能鼓励合作。目的：通过调查医学博客及其博客的特点，包括博客的互联网和博客的使用习惯、博客的写作动机以及博客是否遵循新闻报道的相关惯例，为更好地了解医学博客圈做出贡献。方法：我们接触了197名英语医学博客的医学博主，他们提供了直接联系信息，并在过去一个月内发表了帖子。该调查包括37个项目，旨在评估有关互联网和博客的习惯，博客的特点，博客的动机，最后，博客的人口统计数据的数据。Pearson卡方检验用于评估2个分类变量之间关联的显著性。斯皮尔曼的等级相关系数被用来揭示参与者的年龄之间的关系，以及维护博客的数量，和他们的博客的动机。Mann-Whitney U检验揭示了与新闻业相关的实践与参与者的特征（如性别和假名使用）之间的关系。结果：197名合格参与者中共有80名（42%）做出了回应。大多数回应博客作者是白色（75%），受过高等教育（71%拥有硕士学位或博士学位），男性（59%），美国居民（72%），年龄在30至49岁之间（58%），在医疗保健行业工作（67%）。其中23%（18/80）的人有4年以上的博客经验，38%（30/80）的人有23年的博客经验，32%（26/80）的人有1年左右的博客经验，7%（6/80）的人有6个月以下的博客经验，66%（53/80）的人受到新闻媒体的关注。当涉及到与新闻相关的最佳实践时，参与者最常报告的内容包括链接到原始材料来源，并花费额外的什一税来验证事实，而很少寻求发布受版权保护的材料的许可。发表过科学论文的博客作者比从未发表过此类论文的博客作者更有可能引用其他人或媒体（U=506.5，n（1）=41，n（2）=35，P= 0.016）。那些用真实的名字写博客的人比那些用假名写博客的人更经常地包含原始来源的链接（U=446.5，n（1）=58，n（2）=19，P= 0.01）。博客的主要动机是与他人分享实用的知识或技能，影响他人的思维方式，并表达自己creatively.Conclusions：医学博客是受过高等教育和专门的博客作家，忠实于他们的来源和读者。分享实用知识和技能，以及影响其他人的思维方式，是我们的医学博客作者写博客的主要动机。医学博客经常被主流媒体所采用，因此，博客是影响医疗和卫生政策的重要工具。
Background: Blogs are the major contributors to the large increase of new websites created each year. Most blogs allow readers to leave comments and, in this way, generate both conversation and encourage collaboration. Despite their popularity, however, little is known about blogs or their creators.Objectives: To contribute to a better understanding of the medical blogosphere by investigating the characteristics of medical bloggers and their blogs, including bloggers' Internet and blogging habits, their motivations for blogging, and whether or not they follow practices associated with journalism.Methods: We approached 197 medical bloggers of English-language medical blogs which provided direct contact information, with posts published within the past month. The survey included 37 items designed to evaluate data about Internet and blogging habits, blog characteristics, blogging motivations, and, finally, the demographic data of bloggers. Pearson's Chi-Square test was used to assess the significance of an association between 2 categorical variables. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was utilized to reveal the relationship between participants' ages, as well as the number of maintained blogs, and their motivation for blogging. The Mann-Whitney U test was employed to reveal relationships between practices associated with journalism and participants' characteristics like gender and pseudonym use.Results: A total of 80 (42%) of 197 eligible participants responded. The majority of responding bloggers were white (75%), highly educated (71% with a Masters degree or doctorate), male (59%), residents of the United States (72%), between the ages of 30 and 49 (58%), and working in the healthcare industry (67%). Most of them were experienced bloggers, with 23% (18/80) blogging for 4 or more years, 38% (30/80) for 2 or 3 years, 32% (26/80) for about a year, and only 7% (6/80) for 6 months or less. Those who received attention from the news media numbered 66% (53/80). When it comes to best practices associated with journalism, the participants most frequently reported including links to original source of material and spending extra tithe verifying facts, while rarely seeking permission to post copyrighted material. Bloggers who have published a scientific paper were more likely to quote other people or media than those who have never published such a paper (U=506.5, n(1)=41, n(2)=35, P=.016). Those blogging under their real name more often included links to original sources than those writing under a pseudonym (U=446.5, n(1)=58, n(2)=19, P=.01). Major motivations for blogging were sharing practical knowledge or skills with others, influencing the way others think, and expressing oneself creatively.Conclusions: Medical bloggers are highly educated and devoted blog writers, faithful to their sources and readers. Sharing practical knowledge and skills, as well as influencing the way other people think, were major motivations for blogging among our medical bloggers. Medical blogs are frequently picked up by mainstream media; thus, blogs are an important vehicle to influence medical and health policy.