Our next 2 screencasts are up

Just a quick update to let you all know that our next 2 screencasts are up. This completes our series of introductory screencasts. You can find them at gasexchange.com/screencasts.

The first of these covers asking and answering questions. This is a pretty basic topic, but as it is the core of what gasexchange is about, we thought it was worth a few minutes.

The second covers voting and reputation. This is a really important topic and will give you a good understanding of the role reputation plays on gasexchange. After watching it you'll understand the importance of voting for good questions and answers when you see them. It also touches briefly on the topic of badges.

Anyway, you'll get much more out of watching the screencasts than you will out of reading about them so go to our screencast page and start watching them!

Our first 2 screencasts are up

Firstly, a big welcome to our new users.

This is just a quick note to let you know that our first 2 screencasts are finished and available on gasexchange now. You can find them at gasexchange.com/screencasts.

The first screencast is an introduction to gasexchange. In this screencast we cover the basics of gasexchange including how to navigate the site, and the basics of reputation and tags. It's essential viewing for any new visitors to gasexchange!

The second screencast is arguably the more important. Here we show you how to register and create an account on gasexchange. Our system for doing this is a bit different to the usual website registration and that's why we've devoted an entire screencast to it. We use a system called OpenID. This gives you a generic login that you can use securely on thousands of websites all over the internet. If you already have an account with one of the big online email providers (like gmail or yahoo, but not hotmail) then you already have an OpenID that you can use on gasexchange. If you don't then don't worry, we show you how to get your own OpenID in this screencast.

If this all seems too complicated then don't worry. In the near future we plan on expanding our login system so you can create an account within gasexchange without using OpenID.

Anyway, there's much more information in the screencasts so I suggest you stop reading this and start watching our screencasts straight away!

Which audience?

Toiling away in secret as we slowly prepared gasexchange, Brad and I repeatedly asked ourselves "who is this actually for?"

We first answered by saying:

“ us ! ”

Our main motivation for creating gasexchange is to better maintain our own knowledge of our craft; to better continue our own medical education — and so that instead of further isolating us from our peers we build a community around a nidus of collected knowledge and opinion.

The trap of sharing knowledge and techniques only with those you work with — or even just those anaesthetists and intensivists with whom you share a country — is missing out on the most diverse, different and challenging aspects of our practice. Even today there exists fundamental aspects of our work that we each take for granted (cricoid pressure, reversal of muscle relaxants, cuffed paediatric tubes...) yet are practiced very differently across national borders.

When we work in isolation, evidence-free dogma clothes itself in the gown of accepted practice.

So we have built gasexchange to collect knowledge and establish a dialogue between like-minded anaesthetists, and most notably with those who are not like of mind. Courteous dissent is not tolerated, it is encouraged.

The first target tribe for gasexchange is consultant medical anaesthetists and anaesthesiologists — not because other groups are less important, but rather to establish a broad foundation of knowledge and domain experts who share the same interest and enthusiasm for the project. With time we hope there will be equal involvement from trainees, perfusionists, anaesthetic technicians, nurse anaesthetists, and other non-medical anaesthetists fostering the diversity that fuels our specialty.

For now, jump in, sign up and have some fun.