Tag Archives: #CARC2022

Co-creating through Social Media Crowdsourcing

Developing an infographic with and for patient partners about conference abstracts by Dr. Dawn Richards

The research and scientific worlds are full of processes and protocols that most people in these worlds take for granted. One of these items is the conference abstract. If you’re not in the research world, how would you describe a conference abstract to someone outside of research?

In planning for the Canadian Arthritis Research Conference 2022 (CARC), the Steering Committee created a new category of abstracts, those prepared and submitted by patients. The idea is to encourage more patients to submit abstracts for consideration to the conference, but how can you do that if you don’t even know what an abstract is? What happened was an organic process:

  • I put out an initial call on Twitter from @TO_dpr, and asked patient partners to let me know if a resource or tool helping people know more about what abstracts are would be helpful. The overwhelming response was ‘yes.’
  • Next, I drafted some text that described what an abstract is, what it’s used for and what the parts of an abstract are. My goal was to help demystify abstracts.
  • Back on Twitter again, I followed up my original tweet and asked people to comment on the text for me via Google Forms, so that we could ultimately create something that was useful to patient partners. Through Google Forms I collected responses from 17 individuals, and incorporated their feedback into the text about abstracts.
  • From there, my communications colleague helped to put the text into an infographic that made everything feel simple and uncluttered.
  • I circled back to everyone who provided me with input – to let them know how they contributed, and where they can find the infographic, and if they wanted to be thanked, they are acknowledged on the infographic itself.

View the full Infographic in English here: Infographic_Abstract Preparation for Conferences and in French: Infographic _ Abstract Preparation for Conferences _FR

Within a matter of weeks, we went from having an idea about a resource on conference abstracts to having an infographic about conference abstracts created with input from patients. Engaging patients to co-create resources doesn’t always need to be a large, formal project. Our little project shows the power of taking a fairly simple idea, crowdsourcing input from patients through social media, and then putting that input in to action to create an infographic that anyone can use. We hope knowing this helps you with any of your co-creation projects – from big to small.

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Canadian Arthritis Research Conference: Jan 31 & Feb 7-8 2022.

“CARC” is not a household name. It’s not going to top Coke, Pfizer or Netflix for brand recognition. But if you are part of the broad (inclusive) arthritis research community CARC might be valuable for you. It’s the Canadian Arthritis Research Conference and 2022 marks the 3rd annual event.

February 7 and 8, 2022 [Keynotes & symposia]: Join us for 2 keynotes, 12 invited symposia, and 12 ‘Best of the Best’ research presentations by emerging scientists (clinicians can be scientists as you know). Those 12 research presentations will come from the call of abstracts competition, see below.

Monday, January 31, 2022 [aka “Training/Lifelong Learner Day”]: All conference research oral presentations and research posters will be presented on the “Research Presentation Day” Monday, January 31, 2022. The conference organisers are separating the research presentations from the February keynotes and symposia so that speakers are not competing against each other. January 31 will have laser-like focus on research abstracts (including systematic reviews, all types of original research, and evidence synthesis). There will be expert tips for younger scientists (which includes clinicians) and opportunities for break out groups. A true “training day”– and everyone is a life-long learner, correct?

Why attend CARC? Three reasons: 1) Networking opportunities! The conference provides all levels of trainees (clinical fellows and MSc/PhD/Postdoc) to present and engage with researchers, clinicians and other experts. 2) We will award a series of prizes for research abstracts relating to posters and presentations made for CARC. 3) We plan to provide keynotes and symposia presenters with honoraria to reflect their preparation and contribution to the conference.

Who should consider attending? The world of arthritis researchers, clinicians and trainees. This conference (and its predecessor, the CAN Network Meetings of the early 2000s) have traditionally been well attended by rehabilitation researchers, other clinicians, basic scientists and health systems researchers. Abstracts are welcome from the broad church of arthritis. Email us if you are not sure you fit (but you will!). imha-iala@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Call to action! Please! Three of them! 

  1. Hold the 2022 dates: CARC Keynotes & symposia: February 7 & 8, 2022.
  2. Keep January 31, 2022 free to present your research abstract!
  3. Keep an eye on the CIHR-IMHA twitter account @CIHR_IMHA or this blog for how and when to submit abstracts, register for the conference and schedule details.

Final (somewhat innovative) point: Democracy strikes! 

We are inviting CARC keynote (individuals) and symposia (3-speaker panel) presentation suggestions from anyone. Literally anyone. The CARC Scientific Committee will evaluate the symposia submissions based on criteria such as importance of the research question, rigour of the methods, and research impact. This isn’t rare but many conference keynotes and symposia are appointed by the Scientific Committee. We are embracing a more communal approach via a crowdsourcing survey.

We (the Scientific Committee) are still working on the details of the criteria and we welcome your input! More to come on how to submit your suggestions!  For now, please note the dates, alert your colleagues, and look forward to 2022 with excitement.

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