An Ontological Health Cluster Framework

Abstract

Health is a multidisciplinary domain. We contend that such a domain can benefit by being framed as a knowledge cluster. The objective of this paper is to map out a health research cluster in terms of an ontology. In this way, key relationships and informational exchanges can be captured and which enable more prudent use of critical knowledge assets within the cluster. We proffer an ontology based on our assessment of the healthcare space internationally and distillation of relevant extant literature. Health Cluster ApproachThe Health Cluster is a community of practice, comprising a diverse group of researchers in an Australian University. Defined by Wenger [1], 'Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly'. As a community of practice, the Health Cluster drew researchers from a range of fields including acute care, sociology and business information technology. When such a group forms, there are inevitable differences in ontological traditions. The focus of the group was developing and delivering a research strategy broadly described as the "Business of Health". The Health Cluster focused on a diversity of work, including health informatics, mobile solutions for chronic disease management, and social/behavioural factors with STI vaccines, especially in Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.The Health Cluster as a community of practice included researchers with backgrounds from business information technology (IT), knowledge management (KM), and enterprise integration (EI). Some researchers were from a background in social research, others were involved in electronic document and records management solutions, sometimes with a focus on technology platforms. The challenge therefore, was to develop an overarching research position and framework that was embracing and accommodating, as well as extensible.Within a community of practice, knowledge is developed. We posit that in the synthesis of knowledge and research themes as community of practice, there is development of explicit knowledge from the tacit. As a community of practice, knowledge is discovered through co-participation and codified in some form. The challenge then becomes one of knowledge from one community of practice to another, the purpose being the articulation and dissemination of new knowledge. Often, the problem of a multi-disciplinary community of practice is the approach of research from different ontological traditions and perspectives. Further, the term "ontology" has taken upon different meanings in computer sciences as opposed to its use in sociology. As a community of practice, rather than defend particular ontological perspectives, our approach taken was embracing different research paradigms and to find a means to accommodate the growth of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to present and discuss the emergence of a Health Cluster research framework, which was developed through a multi-discipl...