Sermo: A Community-Based Knowledge Ecosystem

Sermo (Latin for “conversation”) enables a self-described authenticated community of physicians to both contribute and filter professional knowledge. Community members of Sermo can post questions to other physicians within the network, and also provide answers to questions posed by other members of Sermo’s network, as per Figure 1. As of October 2007, Sermo is open to physicians across the United States, but the company asks those who wish to join the network to provide information that enables Sermo to authenticate the fact that they are registered physicians.