E D I T O R I A L

Technology for You

Most of us would agree that it is challenging to keepup with the technological advancements that are affectingour capacity to communicate using electronic media. As anearly adopter of computer technology, I find my own lackof knowledge of more recent innovations to be paradoxical.After all, I had a computer on my desk at work in 1980,which was quite something at the time. Yet, now I findmyself pedaling as fast as I can to wrap my head aroundthe possibilities that media such as podcasts, Twitter andFacebook bring to us. So I thought it would be useful toreview the technology available to journal subscribers.

A few years ago when we were approached to deter-mine whether we wanted to podcast parts of the journal,I have to admit, that I had no concept of what a podcastwas. I did not have an iPod, and although I finally realizethat I did have an MP3 player, I didn’t use it very much. Iseemed to get inextricably tangled in the earphone cords(or are they ear bud cords?) while trying to listen to theaudio portion of TV news broadcasts while on the tread-mill at the gym. I had not gone beyond using it as an FMradio! Thanks to colleagues with technical savvy I quicklylearned about podcasts, and although initially many of mycolleagues were as uninformed as I and indicated that theywould not be interested in accessing information from the journal through podcasts, we are now delighted with thesuccess of this venture. At this point I use my iPod aftereach issue is released to hear highlights of the articles pub-lished in the journal. Have you listened to our podcasts? If not, take time to download and listen. You can hear fromauthors of the articles and authors of our Clinical BottomLines speaking about the content of the published pieces.Many of our younger colleagues just love this vehicle forhearing what’s in the journal.

Increasingly, readers of the online and print versionsof the journal will see links to online supplemental mate-rials that authors supply to enrich their submissions. Haveyou seen Galloway’s video of an infant learning to propel apower wheelchair? You can find it online as a supplementto his article that appeared in the winter issue (number 4)of 2009 (volume 21). Authors may now submit audio,video, or graphic art as supplemental materials for theirarticles. Just like tables and figures, these supplementalmaterials undergo peer review and are published online aspart of the final article.

 What other technological advances should you knowabout? Well, the journal’s new Web site allows you toaccess a mobile view of the journal through an iPhone oriPad, and even cooler—the capability to download articlesin “ePub” format for easy reading in the iPhone, Barnesand Noble Nook, and Sony eReaders.

There are many other features on the journal’s Website. Searching on the Web site returns full text resultswhere all mentions of the searched term are highlighted.The references in each article may be transferred to pro-grams that manage references. Figures and images may bedownloaded to PowerPoint files. And of special interest toauthors, it is possible to set up e-mail notifications for eachtime an article is cited. Soon through Thomson Reuter’s ci-tation data, you will be able to see how frequently an articlehas been cited and review a list of those articles publishedin Pediatric Physical Therapy that are most highly cited.

 We are creating easily accessible collections of arti-cles published in Pediatric Physical Therapy, such as ourfirst collection that comprises articles presenting clinicalguidelines. We are also moving toward ePub ahead of print. What this means is that when an article is accepted we willmove the article to electronic publication before it appearsin the print version of the journal. As subscribers, youcan set up customized e-mail alerts that will let you knowwhen a new table of contents is published, an article ap-pears electronically before appearing in print or each timea new article is added to a collection.

So that brings us to Twitter and Facebook. Yes, the journal does Twitter and Facebook, so if you want an easyway to receive short and simple updates on what are themost popular articles being accessed on our Web site, or tofind out the newest “Editor’s Picks,” just visit the journal Web page to follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

I hope that this information will allow you to takegreater advantage of the features available to you as sub-scribers. Enjoy the benefits of high tech! There clearly issomething for everyone.

Ann F. Van Sant, PT, PhD, FAPTAEditor-in-Chief 

DOI: 10.1097/PEP.0b013e3181fab1f5

Copyright © 2010 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Section on Pediatrics of the American Physical TherapyAssociation. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited.

Pediatric Physical Therapy Editorial 343