As the communication revolution caused by the internet affected all the fields we can think of, serious progress is accomplished regarding the access to scientific information, transfer of information interpersonally and among different social units and the rapid sharing of the information by numerous people simultaneously. In parallel with these developments many internet services regarding orthopedics and traumatology are presented to the users. One of the most crucial services in that sense is the discussion lists (6-8). These lists are multi-aspect correspondence systems supplied by e-mail and internet services. In short, a cyber discussion platform is formed in the cyber world.

While I was surfing in the pages on orthopedics, I found two international discussion groups, I subscribed immediately. These two discussion groups were the Orthopod -established by C. Oliver from England- on general orthopedics and OTA, designed by Orthopedic Trauma Association in the USA, addressing mainly to the traumas of the skeleton system. Becoming members of these two groups was really inspiring for me. I was deeply excited by the atmosphere. Meanwhile, I started to think on the need for such a group in our country, in which we could talk in our own language.

First of all, I tried to find out on the web, weather or not such a group already existed. I could not find an active group. I discussed the issue with some of my instructors and colleagues, who were interested in internet. Their common opinion was that establishing such a group would be very beneficial for all. Thus, on March 31, 2000 I added the e-mail addresses of almost 80 colleagues recorded in my address book, into the group I established under the name “turk_othopod” in the e-group page of yahoo (then called egroups.com). The number of the members today is exceeding 1000. The number of the active members as of April 19, 2005 was 1039. Today, the turk_orthopod has members ranging from assistants to professors, from many health institutions throughout our country.

In addition to some Turkish colleagues working abroad, we have members from Azerbaijan, India, Iran and Bulgaria.

The basic objectives of turk_orthopod can be summarized as:

• Providing a cyber platform for Turkish speaking orthopedists for professional discussions
• Opening a discussion through the net on current, yet eligible issues
• Announcing the new congresses, courses and meetings to our colleagues in a very short time
• Providing an academic and high-quality discussion media among our colleagues working on orthopedics and traumatology
• Sharing the experiences of our colleagues on different fields
• Providing access to our members to domestic and foreign publications published in our country
• Facilitating the access especially to domestic sources, which are not easily accessible

Although it was merely used for announcements following its establishment, turk_orthopod has eventually become a discussion platform, growing gradually. A total of 2750 messages were sent to the group since its establishment.

The web address of the group is (URL): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/turk_orthopod

In short, our basic target and wish is to enable this group to accelerate the communication among the Turkish Orthopedics family and form a quality discussion platform and, consequently, be beneficial to all its members. The efficiency of the list depends on the active attendance of its members. Hereby, I would like to thank to all my colleagues, who have contributed to the establishment and maintenance of the group and rendered it to become a cyber voice of the Turkish orthopedics.

Doç. Dr. Mehmet Arazi