12 Things: Thing 3

Working Collaboratively

Wikis
As a member of EEHIST, I have been using Wikis for a few years. The group uses PBWorks to host a wiki where we can share documents, discuss and collaborate on projects. I think many healthcare staff are aware of Wikipedia but not many I have spoken to are aware of the ability to start your own wiki and use it in this way. It's a great tool when you are part of a regionally dispersed group and eliminates the need for emails to clog up inboxes!

Another wiki I find useful is CATNIP: Critical Appraisal Toolkit Navigating into Practice http://catnipnw.pbworks.com. It is a closed wiki, so you have to request permission to access, but is an excellent resource for critical appraisal.

For medical wikis I start at Webicina - http://www.webicina.com - this is brilliant so do have a look if you haven't come across it before (there is a link on EEL!). It is divided in medical specialties - 38 at last count including Medical Librarianship - and each one gives links to Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, Twitter, video etc. It's great as a starting point, and also for showing to healthcare staff. There are also guides to Web 2, including managing a medical blog and keeping up to date. The founder is Berci Mesko and you can follow him on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/Berci

I also find Wikipedia of great use - especially for critical appraisal / research / statistical explanations!

Google Drive
Again, as part of EEHIST and as an author of 12 Things, I have used Google Drive (was Docs) quite a bit and it's another really useful tool. As part of a work group based around the region it's so useful to be able to work on a document with others, without having to keep emailing it around. You can see any updates made and who has made them. It's useful for sharing, not only with other group members, but also publicly. When HDAS was updated a few months back, I saved my updated guide to Google Drive, shared it using the "Anyone with the link" option. This gave me a link that I could Tweet to my followers - easy!

Meetings
I use Google Calender personally rather than in a work capacity. I have been invited to meetings via Doodle or Meet-o-Matic (not sure which one) and it was incredibly easy to use. I shall investigate if the need arises - as I have just taken on co-chair of EEHIST this may be quite soon!