Dear Consumer-health-informatics listmember,
Would you be prepared to help with this?
Theo Raynor from England recently asked about the top ten accessed sites on
the web. In response Omar Bouhaddou and Bob Pyke from USA brought our
attention to a list on the (American) Medical Library Association list of
ten useful health websites.
This is at http://www.mlanet.org/resources/medspeak/meddiag.html#topten
The MLA says that 'they' find these sites useful and do not actually
recommend for health consumers.
Nevertheless the question arises how 'global' are these ten sites? When
constructed they will have had an American or even more specific (New York
eg?) audience in mind. So how applicable are they to my Glasgow Granny, my
Adelaide Aunty, or even my (English speaking) cousin in Cordoba?
Would you have time to (if you have some students set it as an exercise!):
1. Think of a health topic of interest to your granny
(father/brother/yourself)
2. Go to the address above and then on to (say) two (randomly chosen) of
the sites listed to see what the site can tell you
3. Let me ([log in to unmask]) know on a scale of (1=not at all
relevant for my 'person') to (5=absolutely relevant) what you find, and
give me any comments that you have about the sites.
I PROMISE TO COMPILE ALL RESPONSES RECEIVED IN THE NEXT 10 DAYS AND SEND A
SUMMARY BACK TO THE LIST.
The issue is important because:
a) if there are plenty of good American sites suitable for use in (eg)
Scotland why do we need to waste time re-inventing them, or
b) if there are good sites which don't work because of some 'embedded'
cultural/social/treatment differences between countries, perhaps it would
be worth the effort to find ways of identifying those differences, to
enable www sites tailored by location? Or is the sheer variety of sites a
'good thing'?
Thanks ray.
Dr Ray Jones
Senior Lecturer in Health Informatics
Department of Public Health
1 Lilybank Gardens
Glasgow G12 8RZ
Email: [log in to unmask]
Fax: 0141-330-5018
Secretary
Rebecca Flanagan: [log in to unmask]
Tel: 0141-330-6110
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