Dermatology Online Journal

Introducing the Internet Dermatology Society

...Main ContentMetricsAuthor & Article Info

Main Content

1995 Annual Report

	In its initial year, the Internet Dermatology Society has grown rapidly with a membership of 75 dermatologists and allied scientists from 14 countries. The key to this community development has been the development of a web server which automates the processing of member information. This machine acts as a listening device for dermatology, harvesting thousands of electronic messages per month from a series of medical and patient-oriented electronic mail and online forms.
Sharing resources with other dermatology societies:	The IDS catalyzes the progress of other dermatology organizations in the low cost distributed data environment of the Internet. For example, the IDS web server acts as a nexus for the Society for Investigative Dermatology, initiating online submission of abstracts for the yearly meeting. Members of the IDS are working with the pool of imaging and telecommunications experts at the IDS to bring expertise in managing their work in the rich online environment to their institutions. The IDS membership is rich in thought leaders in institutions of dermatologic education who perceive the IDS as an excellent vehicle for the diffusion of knowledge to dermatologists around the globe.
Opening the Architecture of Teledermatology to the IDS Membership:	The membership has repeatedly expressed a strong interest in the use of Internet protocols to address the needs of remote health care providers through telemedicine. Major initiatives have been made in this direction. Global Dermatology Grand Rounds initiated the concept of a virtual case presentation system for dermatology on the Internet. A feasibility study for an FTP connection to Nome, Alaska recently connected the IDS members to that site. This activity complements the online publication of the skin and soft tissues sections of the Alaskan Community Health Aid Manual. A grant proposal for teledermatology under the largest American medical provider, the Veterans Administration was submitted to link the IDS to the Health Services Research and Development site in Durham, North Carolina. The IDS mission in this regard is to encourage an open accessible architecture to the benefits of teledermatology to all the pre existing dermatology experts in the age of a graphically interfaced network.
IDS members work together to maintain the public's accessibility to traditional dermatology expertise in an evolving technical context.
Translations to multiple languages	More extensive translations of the IDS documents are sought and would represent an excellent contribution to the purposes of the IDS. A partial translation was undertaken to bring the site to the Spanish speaking population. This translation was undertaken by Sabino Peralta R., Medical Librarian and Translator in the Dominican Republic. Like so many other members of the IDS, Mr. Peralta is willing to pool resources to develop continuing medical education resources for the diffusion of knowledge to his community, broadly defined as , but more specifically his home institution, the Dominican Dermatology and Skin Surgery Institute.
Sociedad Internet de Dermatología
	The IDS remains free from any commercial influence and is eager to facilitate dermatology in acquiring the requisite technical elements required to meet the challenges of a dynamic information environment. Near term plans for the IDS include instituting a web based polling process, hosting the major mailing list in dermatology, Derm-L, and briefing members in February in Washington at the American Academy of Dermatology (time and place to be announced).
, December 31, 1995. Internet Dermatology Society 50 Glenbrook Road Stamford, CT 06902