June Wrap

With today the official first day of winter, you may well need something to do on these long dark winter nights. Here's a few ideas...

• Have you considered taking a MOOC? The term MOOC - a Massive Open Online Course – was coined in 2008 and there are now dozens of MOOCs, many offered by top universities – and the best bit is they are usually free!

I'm currently doing the 'Medicine in the Digital Age' MOOC through Rice University The idea that medicine is likely to be the next industry ‘disrupted’ by technology is a fascinating one – what will a doctors visit look like in 5 years time? How useful are FitBits and other wearable technologies?  How safe is it to Google your health? If you are interested in these types of questions here are three books that are on my ‘to read’ list:

• The Guide to the Future of Medicine: Technology and The Human Touch by Bertalan Mesko
• Networked: The New Social Operating System By Lee Rainie & Barry Wellman
• The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health by Eric Topol

Lynda.com is another good site for a cold winters eve. With courses covering design to photography, business and education – Lynda.coms courses are bite sized sessions, where you set the pace for online learning (you do need a subscription).