Although Innovation is about producing value through doing something new or different than before, the concept is far from simple when applied in practice by individuals and institutions. This second in a series of articles on innovation ecology looks at the way we speak of innovation and how what we talk about new ideas and …
Knowledge translation — and its affiliated terms knowledge exchange, knowledge integration and knowledge mobilization — was coined to describe a process of taking what is known into what is done in health across the spectrum of science, practice, policy and  the public’s health. As health issues become more complex due to the intertwining of demographics, …
Is Knowledge Translation In Health Too Important to Leave to Health Professionals? Read More »
Social Media For Researchers I recently sat down and chatted with Armine Yalnizyan, a journalist and board member of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Public and Population Health (IPPH) to chat about social media for the IPPH about how social tools can assist researchers to do their work, share their learnings, …
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.
Social media, like all human activities, involves designed interactions in a complex environment. How we design for this space is as much about the social as it is the media.
Literacy has many forms and art is one of the ways in which these forms come together and present some of the best opportunities for engaging diversity in complex social systems.
Although social media is all around us, there is a tendency to forget that it is still new and, in the case of public health, very new. What would / did our health communications system look like if it was designed for pamphlets instead of apps, door-to-door visits instead of Facebook, and libraries instead of websites? It might look a lot like today.
When resources are tight and the number of people competing for those resources is greater than ever, a communication strategy that is cost-effective over the long-term, robust, adaptive and brings people and ideas closer together is a good bet. Time to restore not only sanity, but relationships in our work.
Can the dream of knowledge translation be achieved by better marketing, or is focusing on message delivery processes missing the larger point?
