Slice of Life: From shared educational resource to international meeting
In the beginning
In 1986 Slice of Life began as a faculty project based in the Health Sciences Library at the University of Utah.
"Slice of Life" was the name given to the shared Videodisc (NTSC format of stored, still images in video format. Over ten years the disc went through 7 editions, as new material brought the total to 44,000 images, from 240 contributors at 65 institutions.
The goal was to have freely available most of the still images needed for basic science education. The focus was health sciences education. Subjects like histology, pathology, anatomy, and radiology were very well represented. In 1993 a new Disc, Slice of Brain focused on the neurosciences with many of the original images, plus many more.
From 1989-1993 contributors and people interested in medical multimedia gathered annually to share educational materials they had created using the disc. The meeting was a logical outgrowth of the project.
Some faculty wanted their software distributed, so a non-profit, library-based distribution office was established as commercial publishers were often not willing to distribute software in an affordable manner to a small market. Distribution of software by the Eccles Health Sciences Library ended in 1998 as many projects were moved to the Web or lacked resources for conversion.
Serendipity
Since the original contributors wanted to share their teaching materials we had a like-minded group of individuals. We have added many "Slicers" along the way. This has provided the foundation for successful collaboration. Meetings and hands-on pre-workshops became places to share ideas and teach techniques. Social events turned into collaborative projects or grant proposals. The HEAL project is one such project. (http://www.healcentral.org)
An international network
A group of health science educators and software developers mixing practical technology with education has emerged. The 16th annual workshop focuses on Medical Multimedia with presentations and pre-workshops on evaluation, new technology, and demonstrations in health sciences. It will be held in Amsterdam and Leiden, June 28-July 3, 2004 and is limited to 250 registrants. The diverse program and abstracts can be seen at http://www.slice.gsm.com. Programs and Abstracts of the past 6 meetings can be reviewed at http://slice.gsm.com/2004/past_meetings.htm
Student software prize
The annual $1000 medical student software prize acknowledges the help many faculty have received from creative medical students over the years. (This year's deadline is June 11, 2004 with guidelines and form at http://slice.gsm.com/2004/student_software.htm). The prize is open to students in any country and projects in any language.
Future evolution?
This will certainly occur and will depend on individuals who want to take this informal group in a particular direction or undertake specific projects. Of particular interest is the creation of shared resources, tools, and materials that can be used in a variety of ways in any language.
Current projects free to be used or downloaded:
- Digital Brain Atlas that can be downloaded for free. It was created with Flash and has graphics that can be zoomed. http://medstat.med.utah.edu/eccles/slice/brain.html
- A Neurological Examination site with Videos of normal and abnormal patients. http://medstat.med.utah.edu/neurologicexam/home_exam.html
- A companion Pediatric Neurological Examination site went on line this year. Movies can be freely used on other non-profit educational sites. http://medstat.med.utah.edu/pedineurologicexam/home_exam.html
For more information: suzanne.stensaas@hsc.utah
Images, diagrams and attachments
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