Health Sciences Online

Health Sciences Online (HSO) is a nonprofit online health-information and education resource created to improve access to reliable learning materials for health professionals and students. Conceived by physician and public-health educator Erica Frank in 2001, the initiative developed through a pilot project conducted from 2006 to 2008 and formally launched its website in December 2008. The pilot initially concentrated on HIV/AIDS materials before expanding to a broader health-sciences collection. Testing took place in 11 countries across North America, Africa, and Asia, allowing the project team to evaluate users' needs, the site's interface, search functions, and usefulness for people at different stages of professional training and practice. The service operates as a curated web portal rather than as a conventional publisher or university. Its virtual learning center links users to a large collection of external and hosted educational materials, including courses, textbooks, clinical and public-health guidelines, lectures, presentations, case materials, articles, images, and videos. The collection has been described as containing more than 50,000 resources in fields such as medicine, public health, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, nutrition, kinesiology, and related health sciences. Resources were selected by a volunteer network of health professionals and scientists from multiple countries, using criteria intended to emphasize relevance, educational usefulness, credibility, currency, working links, ease of use, absence of advertising, and free access. HSO's stated purpose is to support health-care providers in both training and practice, with particular attention to developing countries and other communities affected by unequal access to information technology. In this role, the project presents itself as an effort to narrow the digital divide and democratize health-sciences education. Its guiding principles are described as comprehensiveness, authority, freedom from advertising, and free access. The site was also intended to support public-health objectives associated with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and served as an official supporting organization of Healthcare Information For All by 2015. The portal's search infrastructure has included the Velocity Search Platform supplied by Vivisimo, while Google Translate was used to help users access search results in 42 languages. HSO's founding collaborators included the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Bank, the American College of Preventive Medicine, the University of British Columbia, and the World Medical Association. Financial and institutional support was reported from Canadian and British Columbian governments, the World Health Organization, NATO's Science for Peace Program, the Annenberg Physician Training Program, and the Ulrich and Ruth Frank Foundation for International Health, among other contributors. The available reference material does not establish the organization's current operating status, ownership, headquarters, or whether its proposed future credential and distance-degree programs were implemented.

Health Sciences Online originated as a public-interest project intended to make dependable health-sciences education easier to find and access online. Erica Frank conceived the initiative in 2001. Before the public service was launched, HSO conducted a pilot from 2006 through 2008. The pilot began with a narrower focus on HIV/AIDS and was later broadened into a general health-sciences portal. It operated in 11 countries in North America, Africa, and Asia, where the project team studied the needs of health professionals and learners, tested the user interface, and assessed the site's functions and expectations among users at different levels of training and practice. The website launched in December 2008 as a nonprofit online information resource. Rather than attempting to create all of its own instructional content, HSO assembled and organized links to educational materials from governments, universities, professional organizations, and specialty societies. Its virtual learning center was described as containing more than 50,000 courses, references, textbooks, guidelines, lectures, presentations, cases, articles, images, and videos. The subject areas extended across medicine, public health, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, nutrition, kinesiology, and other health disciplines. The project's editorial model relied on a core volunteer group of health providers and scientists from different countries. The selection process emphasized whether a resource was relevant, educationally useful on its own, credible, current, functional, user-friendly, free of advertising, and freely accessible. These standards positioned HSO as a quality-filtering and discovery service rather than simply an unmoderated search engine. Its stated four pillars were comprehensiveness, authority, an ad-free experience, and free access. HSO was designed to address unequal access to information and professional education, especially in developing countries. The project linked this objective to the broader public-health agenda of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and described its long-term ambition as helping to democratize health-sciences education. It was also an official supporting organization of Healthcare Information For All by 2015, an initiative focused on improving access to relevant health information for health workers and communities. The initiative developed through collaborations with organizations including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Bank, the American College of Preventive Medicine, the University of British Columbia, and the World Medical Association. Reported funding and support came from Canadian and British Columbian governments, the World Health Organization, NATO's Science for Peace Program, the Annenberg Physician Training Program, the Ulrich and Ruth Frank Foundation for International Health, and other contributors. Volunteers also played a substantial role in building and maintaining the service. Technically, HSO used the Velocity Search Platform from Vivisimo to search its collected resources. Google Translate was used to broaden language access, with the service described as supporting results in 42 languages. The project's stated next stage was to become a more complete online learning center capable of offering credentials and distance-education degrees in response to the global shortage of well-prepared health professionals. The available reference does not confirm whether those later ambitions were realized, nor does it provide reliable information about HSO's current activity, legal structure, headquarters, or ownership.

• 2008

  Pilot expands and public website launches

  [1]Health Sciences Onlineen.wikipedia.org

  The pilot broadened from HIV/AIDS to the wider health sciences, and the HSO website launched in December 2008.

• 2006

  International pilot begins

  [1]Health Sciences Onlineen.wikipedia.org

  A pilot program began in 11 countries across North America, Africa, and Asia, initially concentrating on HIV/AIDS resources.

• 2001

  HSO is conceived

  [1]Health Sciences Onlineen.wikipedia.org

  Erica Frank conceived Health Sciences Online as a project to improve access to health-sciences education and information.

A free, ad-free, authoritative, and globally oriented discovery platform for health-sciences education, with a particular emphasis on expanding access for learners and providers in developing countries.

• Online health education portal · 2008

  HSO Virtual Learning Center

  The central HSO service was a virtual learning center designed to help users discover educational resources across medicine and related health disciplines. It linked to courses, textbooks, guidelines, lectures, presentations, cases, articles, images, and videos. The collection was curated with an emphasis on credible, current, useful, accessible, and noncommercial materials.

• Search and discovery service · 2008

  Multilingual health-resource search

  HSO provided search access to its curated collection through the Velocity Search Platform supplied by Vivisimo. Google Translate was used to support access to search results in 42 languages, reflecting the project's international audience and its goal of reducing language and information-access barriers.

• Healthcare Information For All by 2015

  International

  Health Sciences Online participated as an official supporting organization of Healthcare Information For All by 2015, a global effort associated with improving access to useful health information for health workers and communities.

  Source

• 2008

  Adopt a free and curated access modelStrategy

  Background

  HSO sought to bridge unequal access to health information, particularly for providers and learners in developing countries.

  Action taken

  The service was organized around free access, an ad-free environment, authoritative sources, and editorial selection by health professionals and scientists.

  Aftermath

  HSO positioned itself as a nonprofit discovery and learning resource rather than a commercial health-information publisher.

  Source

• 2006

  Expand from an HIV/AIDS pilot to a general health-sciences portalStrategy

  Background

  The initial pilot focused on HIV/AIDS information while the project evaluated users, technology, and educational needs in 11 countries.

  Action taken

  HSO broadened its scope to include medicine, public health, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, nutrition, kinesiology, and other health-sciences resources.

  Aftermath

  The expanded scope led to the wider HSO website launch in December 2008 and the development of a large cross-disciplinary resource collection.

  Source

1. 1Health Sciences Onlineen.wikipedia.org