The FEM wiki project: A conversion of a training resource for field epidemiologists into a collaborative web 2.0 portal

Abstract

While an ever increasing popularity of online wiki platforms, user-tagging tools, blogs, and forums is the core characteristic of the Web 2.0 era, converting an existing high-quality training module into a collaborative online space for an active community of practice (CoP) while preserving its quality approval processes is a challenging task. This is the aim of the ECDC-funded Field Epidemiology Manual (FEM) wiki project, based on training resources organized in 17 chapters developed for the European EPIET epidemiology training programme. This paper describes the challenges, solutions, and development processes behind the FEM wiki portal - an online collaborative Web 2.0 platform taking advantage of the user-generated input while preserving the structure, editorial processes and style of the existing FEM manual. We describe the need for ECDC-recognised content and discuss the editorial roles developed in this European project but applicable to any other training resource converted into an online wiki platform. © 2011 ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering.