E-recruiting

In academia, researchers traditionally use osmosis to build multidisciplinary collaborations — scientists diffuse into a new field by reading research in an area, then picking their partners. But the splitting of science into smaller units and the explosion in the amount of published literature has made creating such connections difficult.

This problem can be overcome by using the Internet. Hosting profiles of users can serve as a worldwide magnet for like-minded, if far-flung, kindred spirits, and can simplify the process of bringing scientists together.

Over the past five years I have used such e-recruiting techniques to help seed the growth of a new field called ‘telepreventive medicine’, which uses the Internet to educate people about preventive medicine. The network has grown from fewer than 50 individuals in 1999 to more than 13,400 scientists from 151 countries this year. The mission is to tap into every scientist interested in disease prevention, and to provide, for free, a ‘supercourse’ — an open-source set of PowerPoint lectures on prevention for educational usage worldwide.

The e-recruitment strategy combines technology with social currency to boost involvement. For example, scientists working in epidemiology naturally want to help arrest the spread of disease. So they share lectures because they know their work will benefit others — especially colleagues in the developing world.

The network has expanded using both low- and high-tech methods. On the low-tech side, many on the network tell their friends and faculty members who, in turn, become users. And, as a group, we annually distribute 10,000 CDs with 1,000 lectures on them and ask recipients to pass copies to colleagues and students.

On the high-tech side, the network uses weekly updates to alert users to additions. It can also respond quickly to a crisis. For example, should a tornado hit Oklahoma, an announcement for information can be sent out through the network and within hours there will be a ‘tornado supercourse’ set of experts, accompanied by lectures that people can tap into.

The next step may be to widen the network beyond public health into all of science. I envisage a broader application that could bring together scientists with common interests but from different disciplines.

→ http://www.pitt.edu/~super1