BACKGROUND

Web 2.0 for Healthcare Framework

Web 2.0 is the next generation of the Internet applications that depend on getting interaction with users. On other word, Web 2.0 is aiming to build collaborative framework that is considering users as active entity through participating in the framework by experience, knowledge, information and feedback. The framework will be improved with more users participating in the activities of the framework; like youtube (http://www.youtube.com), facebook (http://www.face-book.com), myspace (http://www.myspace.com), blogs and others.

Currently, Web 2.0 framework is available in different formats, such as blogs, wiki, podcasting, tags, and social networking. These formats are merged with different enterprise applications, like e-healthcare, e-business, e-science, e-government and others to offer a base for user collaboration framework. Such applications are reviewed by Hogg et al. (C. Schoth, 2007; R. Hogg, 2006). They conducted an in-depth investigation of 40 successful Web 2.0 applications. They summarized the range of characteristics to describe the phenomenon of Web 2.0 communities and to provide a systematic overview of current and emerging business models. Healthcare is one of the environments, that highly requires an establishing of collaborative framework. The following sections will describe the use of different Web 2.0 format in healthcare applications.