AASLD Website Goes Hi-Tech 

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Dr. Patricia Latham recently shared her goals and ambitions for AASLD’s website. One of her priorities when accepting the position of web advisor is one that AASLD strives for daily: “We want the website to be the premier site for information about liver disease and to be the face of our organization.” The world wide web has quickly created a global community. Dr. Latham sees the website as a portal for that global society to the resources of our organization. Her goals for the website, shared by the web advisory team of AASLD staff and members, are to “create and nurture a community of practice in support of hepatology and our membership.” Providing members with a site in which they can learn and share up-to-date and accurate information about the liver and liver disease is an over-arching goal.

Dr. Latham and her co-web advisor, Dr. William Balistreri, have worked collaboratively with staff to improve navigation, usability, and interaction on the website. Many changes have already been implemented:

• Practice guidelines have been reorganized and presented in a way that makes each guideline easy to find, with pertinent information about its status.
• Interactive workspaces have been developed to allow committees and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to have ongoing communication.
• A job board has been created to allow potential employers and employees to find one another. 

Some welcome additions to the site include a search box to supplement a site map for quick navigation, and a “Your Liver” section oriented to the press and public. The Best of the Liver Meeting provides selected lectures and abstracts of the past year online. The Research Center has a wealth of resources for liver professionals monitoring NIH activity and up-to-the minute news on liver disease in the media.

Current projects include the creation of space for Associate members that will include educational materials and information about training and funding opportunities in hepatology. Another project near completion is to provide direct online access to registered members from our website to journal articles.

The evolving functionality in the website now allows members to use the site to conduct the affairs of the association, schedule attendance at upcoming meetings, apply for grants, research current studies, and keep current in the global liver community. One of the future goals for the website is the development of a rich resource for professional education. As an association of medical professionals, our members are quite comfortable with modern technology. Dr Latham strives to make available materials and resources for education that, “take advantage of all forms of multimedia.” Her vision of education on the site is as “a living textbook of evolving knowledge in the field.” 

Although AASLD’s website tries to provide the best information and resources for its members, it is the membership who must tell us what they want to see on the website. The value of the site lies with the members. “We need input from the committees and members,” Dr. Latham concludes, “and a sense of ownership by members. Tell us what you want. This website is for you.”