1. Collaborative Web-Based Radiation Oncology Textbook A Paradigm Shift in the Writing, Editing, and Publishing of Textbooks Brian C. Cook 1, Tomas Dvorak 2, Michael D. Chan 2, and David E. Wazer 2 1 Sampson Radiation Oncology, Clinton, NC 2 Department of Radiation Oncology, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, MA Sampson Regional Medical Center Sampson Radiation Oncology Sampson Regional Cancer Center

2. Collaborative Web-based textbook Purpose: To develop a free web-based radiation oncology textbook that can be written to, modified, and used by anyone, from anywhere http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Radiation_Oncology Main Page

3. Wiki concept applied to radiation oncology Rationale: Uses the wiki concept to allow easy, collaborative editing by a multitude of users. This allows for the textbook to be updated quickly as new data emerges *** The wiki book is dynamic not static *** Editing Window

4. Multiple user advantages over traditional textbooks User Advantages: - -References to studies are all linked directly to their published articles via PubMed - -Content is virtually limitless (no size limit for text + pictures) - -Structure is web-like (hyperlinks), not linear – allowing for more intuitive organization - -Searchable (indexed by Google) - -Links to other related content on the web (e.g. ASTRO.org, NCCN.org, Cancer.gov) Textbook Page With PubMed Link

5. Multiple editor advantages over traditional textbooks Editor Advantages: - -The power of cooperation – a large work can be built over time - -Dynamic review by multiple editors minimizes author bias - -Error discovery and correction is enhanced - -A history is kept of all changes - -Unwanted changes are easily reverted to original Version Control

6. Current Status - -The wiki textbook was created in 9/2004 - -So far, it has been edited by more than 150 unique users in the USA and internationally - -It has grown to more than 400 web pages (chapters) containing 356,000 words (equivalent to 460 full-text pages of the Red Journal) - -More than 3,000 papers are summarized and linked to via PubMed - -Separate listing of randomized evidence for a given disease/site Embedded Images

7. Conclusions An online wiki-based textbook has been established This format allows unique advantages over traditional textbooks However, there are concerns about control of content and lack of formalized peer review Its utilization and acceptance by the radiation oncology community remain to be determined