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The Book  Preface 1. Bernd Sebastian Kamps 2. The Amedeo Story 3. HIV.NET 4. HIV Medicine 5. Flying Publisher 6. Free Medical Information 7. Amedeo Textbook Awards Perspectives The Awards Preface Rationale Awards Rules and Conditions Application Books Exclusive Sponsorship Donations
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The Amedeo Challenge back
Bernd Sebastian Kamps was born in Beyenburg, Germany, in 1954, and married Patricia Bourcillier in 1974. After three years of studying law, he entered medical school in Cologne, from which he graduated in 1981. Following graduation, he and his wife emigrated to Sardinia, Italy.
Figure 1.1. Beyenburg In April 1983, while sitting on the once unique Poetto beach in Cagliari, Sardinia, BSK's younger brother, Stephan, taught him the basics of computer programming. Over the next two years, BSK developed software to aid in the instruction of foreign languages, one of his favorite pastimes. During this time, he and his wife wrote several language textbooks for German students (French/Italian/Spanish/English/Sardinian for Mollis & Müslis). To produce and distribute the books, the Kamps' created a small publishing house, later known as Steinhäuser Verlag. There was neither the budget nor the time for publicity, but the books become popular by word-of-mouth. Within 6 years, they reached a circulation of 40,000 copies. Back in Germany In 1986, BSK returned to Germany to join a group at the University of Bonn for a follow-up study of 400 HIV-infected patients of the Bonn Hemophiliac Cohort Study (BHCS). In 1989, he joined the group led by Wolfgang Stille and Eilke Brigitte Helm at Frankfurt University. The following year, he published the first edition of his textbook AIDS 1991, for which he used his small publishing house, Steinhäuser Verlag. At the time, it was not customary for physicians to publish their own books. In fact, BSK's boss suggested that he destroy the 1,000 copies of the first edition, claiming that medical careers had been ruined for less. BSK did not comply, and after leaving Frankfurt, continued to publish yearly updates until 2000. The first of now 15 HIV textbook editions was accompanied by a diskette. Years ahead of the Internet, it contained a small piece of software, developed by his brother, which interlinked chapters of the book with hyperlinks. The diskette was officially declared freeware, and copying it was encouraged (download of the DOS version). Also in 1991, while still working at Frankfurt University, BSK and his wife published two additional French and Italian textbooks ("...zwischen den Hügeln der Venus und den Lenden Adonis"). Sardinia: The Birth of Amedeo In 1994, BSK returned to Sardinia where he registered his first web domain, www.hiv.net, in late 1995. A few months later, he decided to provide the 6th edition of his textbook - now co-edited with Hans-Reinhard Brodt and Eilke Brigitte Helm - on his website. 460 pages of a freshly published medical textbook were now just a mouse click away. The concept of free medical information was born! Updating a medical textbook annually, especially the bibliography of the various chapters, requires considerable effort. To speed up the process, BSK developed software for targeted literature searches that returned results in a format that could be easily imported into the AIDS textbook. In November 1997, he decided to publish his weekly search result on www.hiv.net and established a mailing list for his medical colleagues. At this time, BSK's brother, Stephan, decided to join the effort, offering his computer skills. In January 1998, he realized a breakthrough when he developed a piece of software that allowed the literature service to be adapted to the specific needs of single subscribers. As a result, in May of the same year, the original HIV service was extended to include 33 different subjects. The new web service became known as Amedeo, trivially named after Via Principe Amedeo Figure 1.2), the street in Cagliari where BSK lived at the time (see a view over the city port from the family apartment).
Figure 1.2. Via Principe Amedeo, Cagliari, Sardinia. Since then, Amedeo has provided its subscribers with weekly updates on new articles, which now cover about a hundred different subjects. The results are delivered in a personalized email (see example at www.amedeo.com/email.php), and Amedeo has rapidly developed into one of the most popular web services for medical scientists. At the end of 1999, the number of subscribers reached 10,000, and four years later, the 100,000th subscriber signed on. The success of Amedeo may partially be due to the fact that it was developed "by doctors ... for doctors". Most importantly, however: All Amedeo services are free of charge. Until September 2003, BSK chose not to publicize the number of subscribers to Amedeo - a deliberate move not to awaken potential "me-too" competitors... Free Medical Information In 1999, tired living on a remote island on the margin of Europe, BSK moved to Paris and summarized his web activities under the Flying Publisher logo. In 2003, with Christian Hoffmann as the new editor-in-chief, he resumed the annual publication of the HIV textbook. Within a few months, the new team also published an English edition under the name HIV Medicine. Following the tradition started in 1996, both books were made freely available on the Internet. This time, however, BSK and Hoffmann went a step further, and - in what was truly a creative move - waived the copyright for all languages except English and German. As a result, HIV Medicine was translated into Spanish, Persian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Russian. Over the following years, BSK and Hoffmann published textbooks about SARS and Influenza (the latter in cooperation with Wolfgang Preiser). The astonishing result of providing free PDFs of medical textbooks over the Internet was that they are downloaded up to 100,000 times per year. In 2005, BSK summarized his experiences as a medical publisher in Free Medical Information - Doctor = Publisher. The booklet described how to produce a successful medical textbook: from defining the project, selecting the coauthors, fixing the deadlines, building the website, as well as printing, marketing, distributing, and negotiating with the sponsors.
Figure 1.3. Mexico 2006; Bernd Sebastian Kamps (right), with Gustavo Reyes-Terán, the editor of the Spanish HIV Medicine edition. Amedeo Textbook Awards To promote the Free Medical Information ideas, BSK created the Amedeo Textbook Awards in 2006. The first 12,500 Euro award was for a clinical textbook on tuberculosis and was sponsored by Patricia Bourcillier and BSK. The winners of the award were Juan Carlos Palomino, Sylvia Cardoso Leão, Viviana Ritacco, and 37 other clinicians and researchers from 12 countries. The 700-page Tuberculosis 2007 was published in May 2007 (see also BSK's YouTube presentation). The second award of 25,000 Euro is for a textbook on antibiotic therapy, and the third one of 12,500 Euro is for hepatitis. A fourth award will be announced in October 2007. The assumption of the Amedeo Textbook Awards is that a relatively modest amount of money - 12,500 Euro - will motivate highly experienced physicians to write first-class medical textbooks for free Internet access. While Free Medical Information declared that Doctors are self-sufficient when it comes to writing, publishing and distributing their textbooks, Amedeo Challenge now claims that the medical community is probably self-sufficient, too, when it comes to financing free medical textbooks. In October 2007, BSK will issue a call for donations. He will essentially rely on more than 130,000 long-time subscribers to Amedeo and on all those who were satisfied with HIV Medicine, Influenza Report or other web services he offers (see the complete list at Flying Publisher). In a perfect world, each person would donate 10 Euro - now or over the next years - and within a few years, physicians would find more than 100 free medical textbooks on the Internet. Amedeo Challenge is a non-profit making initiative. The money made available by the sponsors and donators is entirely (100 %) distributed among the editors and authors of the winning teams. Most importantly, BSK and the Amedeo Team (www.Amedeo.com) will charge no fee for the management of the Amedeo Challenge website and associated activities. In addition to his textbook activities, BSK manages the following websites - always with the support of his brother, Stephan, who seems to be the grey eminence behind the curtains of all Flying Publisher activities:
BSK gives lectures about the current and future developments of free medical information. He speaks English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Portuguese, German, and Italian. Timeline
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