Informatics and Knowledge Management Directorate

Web & Media Technologies Division

Division manager: Ms Hendra van Zyl
tel: +27 21 938-0392, e-mail: hendra.van.zyl@mrc.ac.za

The WMTD use appropriate Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the convergence thereof, to grow the Web and portal environment as a dominant means of communicating health research information in an era of expanding connectivity and Internet access. In order to facilitate the transformation in Africa’s digital divide, digital and wireless media, including television and radio, is incorporated to further translate and diffuse health research information generated by the MRC into health knowledge and thereby, contributing to the knowledge economy and the building and stimulation of a knowledge-based information society.

Its research focus lies within the Consumer Health Informatics (CHI) discipline, which fits under an even broader discipline called Medical Informatics. CHI involves the assessment of information needs and information seeking behaviour of health information consumers, the development and analyses of various implementations of models that integrate consumer groups’ preferences in information systems in an attempt to optimise the knowledge diffusion of accurate health information. CHI research is used to influence policy around science communication and scientific editorial processes. Established examples are AfroAIDSinfo, an HIV/AIDS information portal and SA HealthInfo, a health knowledge network.

The following ICTs are used to transfer knowledge of MRC research and knowledge-generating organisations:

• Web technology: The WMTD has been involved with Web development since the World Wide Web became available as a service on the Internet.  Today it is the responsible entity within the MRC for all Web-based services.  This is supported by an internal policy to its effect.  Web sites that the WMTD manages range from the MRC's corporate Web site and Intranet, conference Web sites, project specific Web sites and MRC collaborations with external parties.  There are currently 17 Web sites and three portals managed by the division, for non-MRC institutions, nationally and internationally.
• Portal technology:  The WMTD has implemented its first Web portal in 2001 and since then regularly upgraded its portal technology while becoming skilled in packaging information for optimal knowledge transfer. 
• Listservs:  The WMTD has been managing protected listservs for more than 10 years.  It is implemented for a variety of purposes, with 43 listservs in operation, representing many internal MRC projects and non-MRC projects on a national and international basis.
• Discussion forums and bulleting boards:  The WMTD has been using this ICT for eight years and purchased a commercial product for integration in Web sites while the portal software has its own integrated collaboration solution.  This enables the division to develop discussion forums when required in any Web presence for communities of practice.
• Blogs: Open-source blogs are implemented for discussions of research ideas and online publication of internal articles in the form of a journal club discussion.
• Customised e-Newsletter technology is utilised for the management of users in a database of contacts, coupled with a facility to generate an html e-Newsletter version that can be distributed one-by-one in bulk mode to prevent it being discarded as spam. 
• Radio interviews and audio documentaries are produced from the division’s Production Studio that was established in 2005.  Live or scheduled Web casts are regularly streamed from the various Web sites managed by the division.
• Audio-visual posters are produced with sound clips, attached to areas on the posters to enhance the written word and image.
• CD production:  The WMTD has the infrastructure to produce bulk copying, printing and laminating of CDs.

A Production Studio is located in the division:

• to ensure that the information stemming from the MRC's research is converted into knowledge by engaging with the public in a way that allows them to derive maximum possible benefit. To allow the pubic an opportunity to participate in the work of the MRC by communicating their health- research needs to the MRC - thus ensure a high quality of information in the push and pull environments.
• To disseminate and communicate health research information in indigenous languages in order to empower and improve communities' knowledge around research.
• To bridge the knowledge gap between the people who live in rural and urban areas - the literate and illiterate - and thereby, contribute to the communication of science to members of rural communities in Southern Africa.