Grants talk:Project/Rapid/Mgonzalezmillan/Wikipedia Project for Offline Education in Medicine (POEM) Guatemala

Comments from I JethroBT (WMF)[edit]

Hi Mgonzalezmillan, and thanks for this proposal to increase access to offline medical information in Guatemala. Here are my comments and questions:

I applaud your planning in seeking funding to assess feasibility of this kind of project in a more difficult environment compared to other iterations before moving to a second phase. Having read over this report from the work in the Dominican Republic (which was very informative and instructive to read), do you imagine being able to prepare a report similar to that one for this proposal, or will you be focusing on additional or largely different research questions?
One question I had about the Internet-in-a-Box that was mentioned in the TPS grant report was whether competing technologies were likely to replace it in the very near future. Are you aware of any other products or technology that might affect the longevity or feasibility of Internet-in-a-Box in this setting?
Internet-in-a-Box seems to accommodate multiple kinds of references sources, including Wikipedia. Based on previous work, do you have a sense of what use cases Wikipedia might be best suited as opposed to other references sources by health practitioners and community health workers?

When you're able, please respond to these questions. Overall, I'm intrigued by this continued groundwork and think this exploratory work will help prepare you for larger projects in the future. Thanks, I JethroBT (WMF) (talk) 08:16, 30 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi I JethroBT (WMF) and thanks for such interesting questions.

Sure, the idea is to produce a similar report at the end of the study with basically the same research questions, among others: What are the existing technologies? What are the information gaps? Can the Internet-in-a-Box help bridge these gaps? What is the role of Wikipedia? How can the needs of minorities (Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic and indigenous people in Guatemala) can be addressed?
As we see it, the technology that could fill the need for the device would be the internet. However, in the Dominican Republic we talked with ICT companies and they told us they do not have plans in the near future to expand penetration in rural and remote areas. We have done some desk research on Guatemala's ICT environment and the divide between urban and rural areas is even larger than in the Dominican Republic; the country also has a lower income so it would be harder to increase connectivity. Once we are in Guatemala, we are planning to interview ICT companies which will give us a more definitive answer. However, we are expecting a low prospect of internet expansion. At the same time, we do not know of similar competing technologies.
The suitability of Wikipedia is a topic that is still evolving. In the trip to the Dominican Republic in March, we sensed that most doctors consulted Wikipedia but that the majority considered it a basic source for general inquiries, not to make practical decisions, and questioned its reliability (while a few others did like it and used it regularly). Right now, the doctors in the pilot I have monitored (next week I will visit the rest) use it more frequently and value it more (for instance, a doctor mentioned she used a Wikipedia article on urine tests to help interpret a patient's results). I want to continue to explore this subject to see what are the different users and how can Wikipedia reach more doctors. In Guatemala, as opposed to the Dominican Republic, there are community health workers (members of the community that are not physicians but provide medical care) and my sense is that Wikipedia would be a great source for them. This topic is definitely an important part of the study.

Please le tome know if you have further questions and I will gladly answer them. Thanks, --Mgonzalezmillan (talk) 15:44, 30 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]