Maintaining a catalog of manually-indexed, clinically-oriented World Wide Web content

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Web Science

Background:

• The World Wide Web presents challenges in identifying high-quality, clinically relevant content due to a lack of quality control and distributed information sources.
• Maintaining an organized catalog of such specialized online information is also a significant undertaking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development and implementation of semi-automated tools for maintaining the CliniWeb database.
• To enhance the accessibility of quality-filtered, clinically-oriented web content for healthcare professionals and researchers.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing web crawling techniques from high-level pages for efficient content identification.
• Developing tools for streamlined content selection, indexing, and link checking to ensure database currency.
• Planning for the integration of detailed metadata and linkages to the broader medical literature.

Main Results:

• A functional CliniWeb database has been established, populated with quality-filtered clinical web content.
• Semi-automated tools facilitate the ongoing maintenance and updating of the CliniWeb catalog.
• Improved identification, selection, and verification processes contribute to a more reliable resource.

Conclusions:

• The CliniWeb project demonstrates the effectiveness of semi-automated tools in managing a curated catalog of online clinical information.
• These tools significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of maintaining a high-quality web resource for medical professionals.
• Future integration with medical literature metadata will further enhance the value and discoverability of CliniWeb content.