What I’m supposed to talk about “If I were the editor in chief of the Cochrane Collaboration what would I do to improve the quality of Cochrane reviews” Richard Smith Editor, BMJ July 2002

What I’m will talk about “If I were the editor in chief of the Cochrane Collaboration what would I do to make the Cochrane Library more useful, actionable, sexy, and amusing” Richard Smith Editor, BMJ July 2002

Methods of preparing my talk Just as Friedrich August Kekule dreamt the structure of the benzene ring, I dreamt this talk? Is this a first for Cochrane?

These are pictures I associate with the Cochrane Library now

These are pictures I associate with hwo the Cochrane Library might be

Utility of information Equals Relevance x validity x interactivity Divided by Work to access

Weekly BMJ Relevance Low Validity Variable Interactivity Low Work to accessVariable UtilityPoor

Cochrane Library Relevance Too many holes Researcher’s questions not the questions of patients, clinicians, or policymakers Doesn’t recognise that the questions keep changing

Cochrane Library Validity High But what about breaking down information os that it can be applied to individual patients

Cochrane Library Interactivity Miserable Why can’t the Cochrane Library be as much fun as the colloquiums? Why no music, dancing, or trips up fiords?

Cochrane Library Work to access Too bloody much Looks awful No jokes No pictures No sex Nothing human No light moments

Who are the Cochrane Library’s competitors? Think for a moment Feeding the dog Hollywood movies Manchester United Attractive people with their clothes off This is the attention economy

What might come out of the Cochrane Library? Something very practical for patients Juicy stuff on methodology Greatest hits The movie The comic book version Cochrane for those under 6

Bringing the Cochrane Library ALIVE

The need for argument Where there is much desire to learn there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making." John Milton

The liberty to utter Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. John Milton

The power of conversation When minds meet, they don't just exchange facts: they transform them, reshape them, draw different implications from them, and engage in new trains of thought. Conversation doesn't just reshuffle the cards; it creates new cards. Theodore Zeldin

Making new knowledge The power of bringing together the right minds around a subject in an online dialogue, well facilitated, well deliberated, has enormous potential to help us get through issues that we've never solved before. Mario Morino

Richard Horton’s presentation in Barcelona One paper x authors (x greater than 4 less than 10) One conclusion Ask the authors individually for the conclusion x conclusions

The friendliness and participativeness of Cochrane Restrictions on using the Feedback function The Cochrane Library includes a system for submitting feedback on reviews and protocols published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and on the structured abstracts published in The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE). This feedback service is not currently available in any of the other databases within The Cochrane Library. And worst of all I couldn’t go back. I was stuck. “Who’d want to a member of a club that let you in but not out.” It’s like the IRA.

What is editing? Editing is the same thing as quarrelling with writers--the same thing exactly. Harold Ross

Editors run snack bars Editors may think of themselves as dignified headwaiters in a well- run restaurant but more often they operate a snack bar and expect you to be grateful that at least they got the food to the table warm. Thomas Griffith

So what the hell is the message? More relevance More different forms More unihibited conversation More jokes More winkles, fewer oysters It’s the Cochrane way

“Relax if you wanna cum”