A small, selective harvest from the information garden
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 
For a while I've been struggling to come up with an original title for the resource collections I publish intermittently. Something concise and descriptive, like "Quicklinks" or "Handpicked Links". Then, last week I came across the term "information garden." Yes, I can see parallels between harvesting a bumper crop of fruits and vegetables, and retrieving high-quality nutrition resources.
For example, while searching the rampantly growing mixed beds of research, reviews & commentary, I rely on familiar guides (e.g., OVID, Google Scholar,) and carefully curated collections (PEN, Amedeo). Sometimes I get lost in dense overgrowth (verbiage and statistics) or distracted by a showy specimen (sensational headline or provocative title). Most of my time, thought & energy go to weeding, pruning, sorting and then placing in the "trug" (Connotea) only the best "produce": evidence to guide dietetic practice; expert opinion on current nutrition topics & controversies where research is limited or difficult to interpret; thoughtful, insightful articles by my colleagues and mentors.
A couple of weeks ago I stumbled* over PubMed Central Canada, an archive of life science journals with free full-text articles. My search last week on nutrition articles published in 2009 yielded 1000+ results, including these articles pertinent to clinical dietitians' diverse practice areas:
The Differential Diagnosis of Food Intolerance
The Public Health Impact of Herbs & Nutritional Supplements
Nutritional status and nutritional therapy in inflammatory bowel diseases
Effect of B vitamin supplementation on plasma homocysteine levels in celiac disease
Comparison of Weight-Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates
Effects of different cooking methods on health-promoting compounds of broccoli
That's all for today -- the articles are information-dense so I'm going to leave you with them for a while before I publish the next collection.
(*Yes, I do use the word "stumble" a lot in my posts, but it's very true: I often find the best resources when I'm looking for something else.)
Reader Comments (4)
What a perfect title - the Information Garden. Love it. I missed a couple of these when you tweeted the links, so thank you for posting ! I'm also going to have a look through your Guides.
Getting bogged down in dense overgrowth or being distracted by showy specimens is so very easy to do.
Hello, Kathryn. Glad you like the title and concept :-). I keep thinking of more parallels between gardening and information management...perhaps the ideas will turn into another post.
I'm also encouraged to hear you find posts like these useful. It would be quick and easy to save everything that looks or sounds good to my computer or Connotea, but I think retrieving what I need in-the-moment could be difficult and time-consuming. Writing about the "harvest" of articles forces me to be selective and critical. I'm hoping a bit more thought and effort at the front end will make it relatively easier to draw on the best information when it's needed.
I think it's a wonderful title too - very evocative of your approach to finding and sharing resources.
I caught a few of these via Twitter but am looking forward to catching up with the iron physiology article in particular.
Looking forward to the next harvest!
Thank you, Sophie. It's always a pleasure to exchange information, ideas & opinions with you.
Yes, I was happy to find the iron physiology article, too. I love lots of details when it comes to nutrients -- even though I know food is much more. I find learning about what goes on in our bodies so fascinating.