Education and learning
If we are to mindfully design our social media ecology and do it in a manner that promotes empathy and connection, rather than overwhelms us; engenders learning and insight over simple content absorption; and promotes creativity and innovation rather than just talks about it, we need to answer the question more intently and act accordingly.
Mindful Navigation of Complexity and Social Media Read More »
Systems thinking, design thinking, developmental evaluation, creativity, networks and innovation: these are the keywords for health in the coming years. They are as author Eric Topol calls the dawning of the creative destruction of medicine. The public is already using social media for health and now the time has come for health (care, promotion and protection) systems to get on board and make the changes necessary to join them.
Social Media and Health: Leaders(hip) and Followers(hip) Read More »
What will our health landscape look like without the ability to take what we know and translate it into action? Worse yet, what if we simply are unable to even know what to do because the research and evidence isn’t there in the first place to translate into anything? Without another turn towards something more positive, we are about to find out.
Have We Turned the Page on Social Science Research for Health? Read More »
We got the moon and back three times in the span of ten years from the call to action from President Kennedy. An entire country rallied around a very simple and challenging task of putting humans on the moon.
Could the time be now for us to do the same with social innovation for health?
Turning Thinking Talk to Action Walk (and a Trip to the Moon) Read More »
If we are to expect that the fields most connected to social action and the promotion of wellbeing are to contribute to our betterment in the future, they need to change. Disruptive design for programs, services and the ways we fund such things is what is necessary if these fields are to have benefit beyond themselves. Long past are the days when doing good was something that belonged to those with a title (e.g., doctor, health promoter, social worker) or that what we called ourselves (e.g., teacher) meant we did something else unequivocally (e.g., educate). Now we are all teachers, all health promoters, all designers, and all entrepreneurs if we want to be. Some will be better than others and some will be more effective than others, but by disrupting these ideas we can design a better future.
Disruption by Design Read More »
The gap between what academics do and what those outside of the academy think they do is enormous. The mysteriousness and elite status that universities enjoy may actually serve to undermine the very values of inquiry and education that it seeks to promote. In this second in series of posts on academic life, I take
(Un)Building a Mystery: Peeking Behind the Curtain in the Academic Land of Oz Read More »
Aside from the church, the university remains among the oldest continuous institutions in our society. Â Like the church, universities are facing challenges from massive changes in the way society views knowledge, authority and the role of the credentialed leader. This post begins a series of personal reflections looking back on a career in academia and
The Alien Shores of Academia: Requiem for A Dream Read More »
For many, but certainly not all, of the studies we do in public and population health, the audience for this is almost the same. Not all studies or research projects will yield the kind of data that are video-worthy or inspire photosharing, but some are. And if we want the public engaged in science, if we want to reach practitioners and inspire policy makers and researchers alike to pay attention to the evidence being generated, this video might offer some suggestions for a way forward.
Knowledge Translation Lip (Sync) Service Read More »
18 days abroad and a bad set of Internet connections gave me a rare opportunity to take a break from social media. What happens when the lives we live online disappear, even momentarily? This week I came back from a wonderful trip to the United Kingdom and Germany to a social media world that had
Social Media Staycation Read More »
