User Needs of Young Czech Adults with Multiple Sclerosis in a Lifestyle App Design

This paper presents a study that examined desired functionality, content, and design of a mobile application for young Czech adults living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The study was structured around a high-fidelity prototype developed for the corresponding user group in Norway. Both groups were active on social media and willing to contribute to designing an application promoting a healthy lifestyle and well-being. Adopting the content analysis, the study first compared the social content shared within the Facebook communities in the Norwegian and Czech user groups that were active. Regardless of the similarities, the Czech group expected that solutions regarding main functionalities and content should stand out from other competitive applications offered on the market. Most of all, they would like to see healthcare staff being engaged in content creation by providing credible information, especially regarding new treatments and clinical trials. Enhanced interaction between all the stakeholders (patients, and healthcare providers) would add value and relevance to the content already provided by social media.

Medical Informatics Idle YouTube Potential

YouTube as an online video-sharing service in the context of Web 2.0 goes beyond the bounds of pure fun, for which the platform was primarily established. Nowadays, commonly to other social media, it serves also educational, informational and last but not least, marketing purposes. The importance of video sharing is supported by several predictions about video reaching over 90% of global internet traffic by 2020. Using qualitative content analysis over selected YouTube videos, paper examines the current situation of the platform's marketing potential usage by medical informatics organizations, researches and other healthcare professionals. Results of the analysis demonstrate several ways in which YouTube is already used to inform, educate or promote above-mentioned medical institutions. However, their engagement in self-promo or spreading awareness of their research projects via YouTube is considered to be low.

Overcoming Constraints in Healthcare with Cloud Technology

Transitioning enterprise operations to the cloud brings a variety of opportunities and challenges. Such step requires a deep and complex understanding of all elements related to the technology as well as defining the manner in which specific cloud challenges can be dealt with. To provide a better understanding of these opportunities and challenges within healthcare, systematic literature overview and industrial cases review is used. Results of the two methods show interconnection between cloud deployment advantages and constrains. However, healthcare case studies provide interesting insights emphasizing cloud complexity and superposition which seems to balance organizational limitations.