WhatisKT wiki: a case study of a platform for knowledge translation terms and definitions — descriptive analysis

BackgroundMore than a hundred terms, often with unclear definitions and varying emphases, are used by health research and practice communities across the world who are interested in getting the best possible evidence applied (e.g., knowledge translation, implementation science, diffusion of innovations, and technology transfer). This makes finding published evidence difficult and can result in reduced, misinterpreted, or challenging interactions among professionals. Open dialogue and interaction among various professionals is needed to achieve consolidation of vocabulary. We use case report methods to describe how we sought to build an online tool to present the range of terms and facilitate the dialogue process across groups and disciplines interested in harnessing research evidence for healthcare.MethodsWe used a wiki platform from Wikispaces to present the problem of terminology and make a case and opportunity for collaboration on usage. Wikis are web sites where communities of users can collaborate online to build content and discuss progress. We gathered terms related to getting research into practice, sought published definitions, and posted these on the wiki (WhatisKT http://whatiskt.wikispaces.com/). We built the wiki in mid-2008 and promoted it through various groups and publications. This report describes the content of the site, our promotion efforts, use of the site, and how the site was used for collaboration up to the end of 2011.ResultsThe WhatisKT wiki site now includes more than 120 pages. Traffic to the site has increased substantially from an average of 200 monthly visits in 2008 to 1700 in 2011. Visitors from 143 countries viewed the wiki in 2011, compared with 12 countries in 2008. However, most use has been limited to short term accesses of about 40 seconds per visit, and discussion of consolidation and solidifying terminology is conspicuously absent.ConclusionsAlthough considerable interest exists in the terms and definitions related to getting research into practice based on increasing numbers of accesses, use of the WhatisKT wiki site for anything beyond quick lookups was minimal. Additional efforts must be directed towards increasing the level of interaction among the members of the site to encourage collaboration on term use.

[1]  Filippo A. Salustri,et al.  A Lightweight Collaborative Tool to Support Design Research , 2005 .

[2]  Markus Glaser,et al.  Wiki: Web Collaboration , 2005 .

[3]  Darlene Fichter,et al.  Web development over the past 10 years , 2005 .

[4]  Steve Wheeler,et al.  Wikis, blogs and podcasts: a new generation of Web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education , 2006, BMC medical education.

[5]  Ann Majchrzak,et al.  Corporate wiki users: results of a survey , 2006, WikiSym '06.

[6]  S. Straus,et al.  Lost in knowledge translation: Time for a map? , 2006, The Journal of continuing education in the health professions.

[7]  Kevin R. Parker,et al.  Wiki as a Teaching Tool , 2007 .

[8]  Kate Watson,et al.  Supporting Knowledge Creation – Using Wikis for Group Collaboration , 2007 .

[9]  K. Hofman,et al.  Implementation Science , 2007, Science.

[10]  Matthias Razum,et al.  A Wiki for Collaboration and Publication in Research , 2008, 2008 IEEE Fourth International Conference on eScience.

[11]  Tania Tudorache,et al.  Collaborative Protege: Enabling Community-based Authoring of Ontologies , 2008, International Semantic Web Conference.

[12]  S. Cunningham,et al.  Creative Industries Mapping: Where have we come from and where are we going? , 2008 .

[13]  Marilyn H Oermann,et al.  Using a Wiki in Nursing Education and Research , 2009, International journal of nursing education scholarship.

[14]  Brian E. Dixon,et al.  Knowledge sharing using codification and collaboration technologies to improve health care: lessons from the public sector , 2009 .

[15]  Gerald C. Kane,et al.  The Shoemaker's Children: Using Wikis for Information Systems Teaching, Research, and Publication , 2009, MIS Q..

[16]  Merle Rosenzweig,et al.  An online and social media training curricula to facilitate bench-to-bedside information transfer , 2009 .

[17]  Ammy Jiranida Phuwanartnurak Did you put it on the wiki?: information sharing through wikis in interdisciplinary design collaboration , 2009, SIGDOC '09.

[18]  Sharon E. Straus,et al.  Finding Knowledge Translation Articles in CINAHL , 2010, MedInfo.

[19]  Peter Dangerfield,et al.  Developing professionalism through the use of wikis: A study with first-year undergraduate medical students , 2010, Medical teacher.

[20]  Jonathan Grudin,et al.  Wikis at work: success factors and challenges for sustainability of enterprise Wikis , 2010, Int. Sym. Wikis.

[21]  France Légaré,et al.  Healthcare professionals' intentions to use wiki-based reminders to promote best practices in trauma care: a survey protocol , 2010, Implementation science : IS.

[22]  R Brian Haynes,et al.  A cross-sectional study of the number and frequency of terms used to refer to knowledge translation in a body of health literature in 2006: a Tower of Babel? , 2010, Implementation science : IS.

[23]  K. A. McKibbon,et al.  Search filters can find some but not all knowledge translation articles in MEDLINE: an analytic survey. , 2012, Journal of clinical epidemiology.