Orthopaedic Web LinksThe Gateway to the Orthopaedic Internet

Christian Veillette M.D., M.Sc., FRCSCAssistant Professor, University of TorontoShoulder & Elbow Reconstructive Surgery

Toronto Western Hospital University Health NetworkEmail: orthonet@gmail.com

Objectives

• Describe the growing problem with general search engines

• Describe vertical search engines• Provide an overview of Orthopaedic Web Links• Learn how to contribute to OWL Directory• Learn how to contribute to OWL Web• Learn how to create/share resource collections

Growing Problem

• Web has plenty of useful resources• Dynamic, unstructured nature makes them

difficult to locate• Number of Web pages exceeds 20 billion• General search engines cannot maintain

comprehensive, up-to-date search indexes• Web growth Information overload in query

results• General search engine generates thousands of

hits, many irrelevant to the user query

Growing Problem

• ~80 percent of American Internet users search the Web for health information– 95 million Americans

• > 70% did not find what they wanted or did not know what to believe 

Jupiter Research - Aug 2006

Growing Problem

• Most Internet users start at a general search engine when researching health & medical advice online

• Check the source and date of online health information:– 15% - “always”– 10% - “most of the time”– 75% - “only sometimes” “hardly ever” or “never”

• 85 million Americans gather health advice online without consistently examining the quality indicators of the information they find

Pew Internet Oct 2006http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/190/report_display.asp

Vertical Search Engines (VSE)

• Vertical search engines solve part of the problem

• Specialized search technologies that focus on narrow niches

• Engines that search only narrow niche of Web are more convenient & effective for the user

• Face the challenge of collecting set of relevant, high-quality pages from Web

• Demand for high-quality pages is generally more important in vertical search engines

Healia – Health VSE

• Goto http://www.healia.com

What is OWL?• Vertical search engine for orthopedics

• 3 main technologies– Directory– MetaSearch– Web

• OWL Directory and Web consists of user or editor contributed resources

• Each resource undergoes validation by OWL Editors

Original OWL – July 1997

OWL Today• Jan 2006-2007 – 1,093,926 unique visitors

Daily Reach (Alexa.com)

Getting Started with OWL

• Goto http://www.orthopaedicweblinks.com

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Create an OWL Account• Click Login/Register at bottom of Members Area

Create your new account by clicking here

Create an OWL Account

Fields marked with a “*” must be completed

Create an OWL Account

Once you’ve created your account you will be sent an email from OWL to verify your account. The email you receive will be similar to this:

Click on this link to activate your OWL Account

Login to OWL• Once you have activated your account you will

automatically be logged into your OWL Account

Add Resource to OWL Directory-Step 1• Select the Directory tab in top navigation• Browse to category where you would like to add

new resourceOrthopedics > Universities and Academic Centres > USA > Minnesota

Add Resource to OWL Directory-Step 2

• Select Add Resource in the Members area

Add Resource to OWL Directory-Step 3

• Complete the OWL submission form

Add Resource to OWL Directory-Step 5

Optional Paid or Free listing

Add Resource to OWL Directory Review/Validation In Progress

• Submitted resource will be reviewed by OWL Editors within 5-7 days

More OWL Directory Features• OWL Community encouraged to:

– Review resources– Rate resources– Create and share collections of OWL resources

Contribute to OWL Web• Custom search engine that indexes entire web sites or

specific web pages submitted to OWL Directory• Uses Google Co-op technology• Goto http://www.orthopaedicweblinks.com/websearch.html

Select “Web” tab in top navigation menu to use OWL Web Search

To contribute to OWL Web click on “Volunteer”

Create a Google Account

Create your new account by clicking here

OR

If you already have a Google Account Sign in to Google Co-op

Create a Google Account

Once you’ve created your account you will be sent an email from Google to verify your account. The email you receive will be similar to this:

Click on this link to activate your Google Account

Confirm to be Contributor• Once your account is activated you will need to

confirm that you are volunteering to be a contributor for OWL Web Search

Confirm that you are volunteering to be a contributor for OWL Web Search

Approval Request Sent to OWL

Login to OWL Web• Once your account has been approved use the “Sign in”

link from OWL Web

Contribute to OWL Web-Step 1• Goto My Account

Contribute to OWL Web-Step 2• Select My Search Engines

Contribute to OWL Web-Step 3• Select “control panel” from Search engines I’m

contributing to area highlighted below

Contribute to OWL Web-Step 4• Control panel shows a list of sites included or excluded

by you or other contributors

To add sites to OWL Web index click on the Add Sites button

Contribute to OWL Web-Step 5• Enter in URL for single site or select “Include

sites in bulk” to enter multiple URLs

Enter in URL for inclusion

OCOSH Classification• Orthogate Classification of Orthopaedic Subject Headings• Based on expanded MeSH terminology• Current OWL database undergoing conversion to OCOSH

Summary

• OWL is a vertical search engine specific for orthopedics

• 3 main technologies bundled into one– OWL Directory– OWL Web– OWL MetaSearch

• Editor validation of user contributions

• Starting point for more trusted & reliable orthopedic resources

Thank you

The Orthopaedic Internet:

A Collaborative Resource