From taxonomies to folksonomies: a roadmap from formal to informal modeling of medical concepts and objects

The exploitation of nomenclatures, taxonomies, terminologies and classification of medical diseases, procedures, guidelines has been pivotal to advances in the healthcare domain. Parallel to those have been evolutions in educational technology and medical education where medical educational content is often shared among different educators and institutions. This paper compares the above parallel evolutions in the light of recent developments in web technology, as well as, perception of use like Web2.0 or Web3.0. The discussion is much influenced by recent progress within the general research arena of medical education and medical content repurposing in specific. It is concluded that novel approaches making use of social networking concepts that will govern the shaping of learning objects or their associated ontological descriptions are envisaged.