The document discusses using blogs to promote collaborative learning and discussion among health impact assessment (HIA) practitioners. It describes how the authors created a blog called HIA Connect Blog for this purpose. The blog allows multiple authors to share their perspectives and expertise. However, the authors found it challenging to encourage users to actively comment on posts rather than just reading information. Blogs also risk excluding some people due to digital access divides and require ongoing contributions to remain updated. While not a perfect tool, blogs can be a useful addition to other methods for building interaction in practitioner networks.

1. Facilitating Practioner Networks
Do weblogs have a role in promoting collaborative learnining in HIA?
Ben Harris-Roxas, Patrick Harris, Lynn Kemp, Elizabeth Harris
Sample Post 1
Reporting Research,
Promoting Discussion
Sample Post 2
Canvassing Practical Concerns
CENTRE FOR HEALTH EQUITY
TRAINING, RESEARCH & EVALUTION
HIA Connect Blog
http://chetre.med.unsw.edu.au/hia
Glossary
blogs
Blogs, or weblogs, are regularly updated websites,
displaying the newest information at the top. A blog
usually combines text, images and links to other
websites related to its topic.
posts
Posts are the articles that make up blogs. They typ-
ically use a conversational style.
commenting
Blogs allow users to comment on posts, meaning
that visitors can share their opinions and debate
issues raised.
feeds
Feeds allow blog users to stay up to date with blog
content without having to visit the blog. Software
known as feed or news aggregators automatically
download the RSS or Atom files that make up the
feed.
multiple authors
Blogs can have multiple authors, with each author
offering differing persepctives and areas of expertise.
IntroductionThe New South Wales Health Impact Assessment
Project (CHETRE 2006) seeks to buid capacity across
government to undertake health impact assessment
(HIA). Though a HIA website and e-newsletter were
developed early in the project, a need was identified
for an additional mechanism to enable commun-
ication and discussion between the growing body of
HIA practitioners in New South Wales, Australia
and internationally.
Other
Ireland
Denmark
Spain
United
Kingdom
Canada
USA Australia
References
Bachnik W, Szymczyk S, Leszcznksi P, Podsiadlo R et al.
Quantitive and sociological analysis of blog networks,
Acta Physica Polonica B 36(10): 3179-3191, 2005.
th-www.if.uj.edu.pl/acta/vol36/pdf/v36p3179.pdf
CHETRE. NSW Health Impact Assessment Project,
Centre for Health Equity Training, Research and Evaluation,
accessed 17 March 2006.
chetre.med.unsw.edu.au/hia/nsw_hia_project.htm
Kahn R, Kellner D. New Media and Internet Activism:
From the 'Battle of Seattle' to blogging, New Media &
Society 6(1): 87-95, 2004.
Nardi B, Schiano D, Gumbrecht M, Swartz L. Why We Blog,
Communications of the ACM 47(12): 41-46, 2004.
Null C. No Longer Safe for Work: Blogs, Wired News 24
October 2005, accessed 17 march 2006.
www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69298,00.html
Schwartz J. If You Want to Lead, Blog, Harvard Business
Review 83(11): 30, 2005.
Authors’ Affiliation
Centre for Health Equity Training, Research & Evaluation,
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
LMB 7103, Liverpool BC NSW 1871, AUSTRALIA
web: www.chetre.med.unsw.edu.au/hia
email: b.harris-roxas@unsw.edu.au
What We DidWe established a weblog, or blog, to facilitate dialog
between HIA practitioners. Blogs are distinct from
traditional websites in that they facilitate regular
updating, allowing any reader to comment on posts
and can accommodate a large number of contrib-
uting authors.
What We FoundWe identified a number of ways in which blogs
could be used for HIA-related purposes:
1. Individuals using blogs to document and share
their personal experience of undertaking HIA, for
cathartic or reflective purposes (Kahn & Kellner
2004);
2. Organisations using blogs to share information
within organisations, comment on topical or tech-
nical issues and to showcase their HIA experience
to a wider audience (Schwartz 2005); and
3. Practitioner networks using blogs to share practical
tips, information and tacit knowledge, as is the
case with the HIA Connect Blog (Nardi et al 2004).
Readership by Country
Challenges
changing the way people use the net
The process of commenting on posts represents a
considerable departure from the traditional, passive
model of web use. Despite having a number of
regular visitors we have experienced difficulty in
encouraging users to comment on the issues raised.
If blogs are to genuinely operate as a tool for
practitioner networks rather than simply being
sources of information it is crucial that this hurdle be
overcome.
This problem doesn't have a clear-cut solution. Attitudes to
blog use may change incrementally and generationally,
however it is also important to write posts that encourage
comments and to take the time to acknowledge and respond to
comments that are made.
digital divide issues
Effective blog use requires internet access and a higher than
average level of comfort using the web, assumptions that may
exclude many people within the HIA field and the community
at large. It is important to recognise this as a major drawback of
using blogs; they should only be utilised as an adjunct to, rather
than a substitute for, other network-promoting activities.
from readers to authors
If a blog is to maintain a reasonably constant rate of updating it
requires a number of contributing authors. To date we have had
difficulty finding other HIA practitioners with an interest in
becoming authors, though this remains a major goal and reflects
our desire to build capacity and leadership around HIA.
censorship
To further complicate issues involved in using blogs an increas-
ing number of servers are blocking access to them (Null 2005).
This is primarily being done to limit the amount of what is seen
as workplace procrastination, though a number of organisations
have stated that they are blocking access in an effort to prevent
sensitive information being posted on the web by employees.
So What?Blogs are not a panacea. They are more redimentary in design
than newsletters, more labour intensive than email listservs and
less engaging than conferences. Blogs do however represent a
useful addition to these approaches for promoting interaction
between groups or networks.
Blogs have the capacity to operate as network hubs (Bachnik
et al 2005), linking a number of activities. This has obvious
relevance beyond HIA to other impact assessment and
professional networks, allowing disparate and potentially far-
flung practitioner networks to exchange ideas and experience.
Sample Post 3
Raising Issues