Thursday, March 13, 2008

Hey Mom, I'm a footnote!

The current issue of JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) has a commentary article by Jamie Spiegelman and Allan Detsky entitled "Instant Mobile Communication, Efficiency and Quality of Life." As usual (and unfortunately) normal people without subscriptions have to pay for the article, but Dr. Detsky kindly sent me a PDF copy to let me know that he had quoted this blog and footnoted the reference.

It was about giving up my Blackberry and the benefits therefrom:

The sun rises in the morning and sets at night. Airport lounges are great places to visit with friends or read a book. Red lights are an excellent excuse to stop driving, look around, and see what's happening on the streetscape. People in meetings pay more attention to you if you pay more attention to them. The email that arrived three hours ago is still relevant -- or better yet, no longer matters!

Is this some special kind of cross-over -- a peer-reviewed medical journal footnoting a blog? I imagine it is not the first time this has happened, but it feels like a graduation of sorts. Thanks to Jamie and Allan.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paul, how is your Blackberry withdrawal coming along? Please see link below for when you had originally mentioned it.

http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/2006/12/blackberry-cold-turkey.html

Thanks

e-Patient Dave said...

> Is this some special kind of cross-over --
> a peer-reviewed medical journal footnoting a blog?

HAR! Perceptive.

And a harbinger of the emerging future.

Christian Sinclair said...

FOr the curious here is how JAMA formatted the blog reference:

13. Levy P. Blackberry cold turkey [December 18, 2006]. http://runningahospital.blogspot.com . Accessed December 6, 2007.

I recently posted on how to cite from a blog on Pallimed using the NLM style. JAMA seems to have simplified it a bit. I still think it is odd that they do not include the direct link to the page which would be helpful, but I guess look too sloppy?

Congratulations on making blogs a wee bit more respectable!