Community Participation & Internet Use

By way of my friend, David Brake (and, edited later to add: our mutual friend, Howard Rheingold), there's a new article in the journal City & Community, which looks at the question of whether Internet use isolates people from their local communities, or increases participation. Here's the full citation and the abstract:

Stern, M. J. and D. A. Dillman (2006) "Community Participation, Social Ties, and Use of the Internet", City & Community, 5 (4), pp. 409-424.

"Some argue that use of the Internet tends to pull people's interests away from their local area and weaken community ties (e.g., Kraut et al., 1998). Others argue that the Internet is frequently used to strengthen local ties, and is becoming a tool for helping communities organize to achieve local interests (Hampton and Wellman, 2003). Our results from a 2005 random sample mail survey of 1,315 households in a rural region of the Western United States suggest that increased Internet usage is positively related to nominal and active levels of community participation while at the same time supporting affective networks outside the local area. The location of these communities in a rural region of the West and their substantial distance from a larger population concentration provide the opportunity to draw implications for community development in the Information age and address theoretical concerns about the effects of information technologies on communities of place and local social capital."

For those interested in community development and social capital for improving public health, the implications seem clear that there is some reason to look to the Internet to facilitate such efforts.

Connecting Information & Urban Space

Yesterday's New York Times featured a review of Steven Johnson's new book, “The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic — and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World” (Riverhead).

Johnson's also the author of several other books, including one of my favorite about technology and society, "Interface Culture," which offers a compelling analysis of the ways computer interfaces and real-world concepts (think "desktop") shape our thinking.

In his latest endeavor, Johnson blends the book and blog formats by addressing both, here's an excerpt from the Times piece, including a quote from Johnson (linked above):

In “The Ghost Map” Mr. Johnson makes an explicit connection between the subject of the book and the Internet.

“The influence of the Broad Street maps extends beyond the realm of disease,” he writes. “The Web is teeming with new forms of amateur cartography, thanks to services like Google Earth and Yahoo! Maps. Where Snow inscribed the location of pumps and cholera fatalities over the street grid, today’s mapmakers record a different kind of data: good public schools, Chinese takeout places, playgrounds, gay-friendly bars, open houses. All the local knowledge that so often remains trapped in the minds of neighborhood residents can now be translated into map form and shared with the rest of the world.”

This has real significance for those working in public health today. What might it mean to map the threats to disease, injury, and illness and make those available online for everyone?

Johnson's related website, outside.in, allows anyone to add content to geographically-specific maps. So far, he and other contributors have been mapping the kinds of things he mentions above like schools and take-out places, but there's no reason that those interested in public health, could use the map to add health-related information. Johnson's insight is to take the important work of John Snow in public health and translate it beyond public health for the Internet-era. The next step might very well be to combine John Snow's and Steven Johnson's insights and see how it these might work together to benefit public health at a time when many people are more likely to access a computer than a water pump.

Urban Technology & Health

This morning NY1 reported about the work of the National Urban Technology Center, which is finding new ways to use technology to address sexual health issues among urban populations. Here's a short excerpt from the piece:

A computer-based program called "Prom Night," created by the National Urban Technology Center is being introduced in some city schools to help supplement the Department of Education's updated HIV/AIDS curriculum just revamped about a year ago.

Using a variety of animated games and scenarios, it's meant to use day-to-day situations students can relate to learn how to talk and think about the prevention of HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

“We have designed this in a way that's very hard-hitting, that deals with youth in their own culture,” says Pat Bransford of National Urban Technology Center. “We use hip hop, for example, in our animated films. We have animated characters, teenagers, like themselves, who are dealing with these issues – it gives them a chance to have more of a discussion.”

Very innovative combination of technology and urban health education!

MacArthur Foundation & Digital Media

I haven't been posting here too much lately because I've been busily involved with the MacArthur Foundation series on Digital Media & Learning (DML). The foundation recently announced a new, $50 million dollar initiative to look at the ways new media influence the way young people learn. In line with that new initiative, the foundation is publishing a series of edited volumes on a variety of topics. The initiative also includes a number of online projects, including an online discussion forum, wiki (for members of the intiative), and the Spotlight on DML Blog, which is a cool place to follow some of the work in the series. And, here's my recent entry over there, about race online. One of my colleagues and fellow authors in the volume on "Race and Ethnicity," Mohan Dutta, has an interesting entry about underserved youth and online health activism, that is very worthwhile reading.

Bringing Global Health Data to Life

We often talk about trying to find better, more innovative and engaging ways of sharing complex thoughts, ideas and data with large groups of other people. Thanks to Jenna Mandel-Ricci who shared this video in PH 710. The video clip (simlar to YouTube for those of you familiar with that) is a brief (7 minutes, with brief commercials at the beginning and end) presentation by Dr. Hans Rosling, a professor of international health at Sweden’s world-renowned Karolinska Institute, and founder of Gapminder, a non-profit that seeks to "bring vital global data to life" by developing and distributing free software. Rosling demonstrates some of this software in his presentation about global health, discusses a little about the vision of his non-profit organization, and is clearly energetic and enthusiastic here in this talk, recorded February, 2006 in Monterey, CA. The occasion is The Technology Entertainment Design Conference, also known as TED, an annual conference self-described as "a global community of remarkable people and remarkable ideas." Dr. Rosling sets a new benchmark for us all in terms of presentation of complex data in easy to understand ways.

CLICK THIS LINK TO WATCH THE VIDEO.

Back from Haitus ~

Back to posting after a haitus. Hope to see you around.

eHealth Literacy and Internet Interventions: New Articles from JMIR

The Journal of Medical Internet Research is frequently a good resource for material on health-related technology research. A couple of recent articles are especially noteworthy.

A paper titled, "Internet Interventions for Long-Term Conditions: Patient and Caregiver Quality Criteria," by Cicely Kerr, Elizabeth Murray, Fiona Stevenson, Charles Gore, and Irwin Nazareth (J Med Internet Res 2006 (Jul 28); 8(3):e13), explores a patient-generated analysis of an online intervention.


And, a paper titled, "eHealth Literacy: Essential Skills for Consumer Health in a Networked World," Cameron D Norman, Harvey A Skinner (J Med Internet Res 2006 (Jun 16); 8(2):e9), reviews some of the important skills necessary for evaluating health information online.

HIV Risk and Latino Gay Men: Free Web Seminar

I just got an email notice about a free web seminar with one of the leaders in the field of research on HIV risk among Latino gay men, Dr. Rafael M. Diaz. Here's the notice:


Understanding Latino Gay Men and HIV Risk: A Conversation with Dr. Rafael M Díaz

About this Web Seminar:

Latino gay men continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Acción Mutua will host a web-based seminar to explore the contexts that put Latino gay men at risk for HIV infection/transmission. More importantly, we will discuss factors that help Latino gay men remain safe, healthy and strong and other issues around resiliency.



Who should sign up?

* Anyone working to prevent new infections/transmissions of HIV among Latino gay men and other men of color
* Anyone seeking to understand the social and cultural context of HIV risk
* Anyone who wants to explore what makes Latino gay men resilient in the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic


Participants in this seminar will discuss:

Ø The social and cultural context of what it means to be a Latino gay man

Ø The impact of racism, homophobia, and poverty on Latino gay men

Ø How to build upon Latino gay men's individual and collective strengths



*Seminar approach:

We encourage participants to submit questions in order to make the seminar interactive and responsive to their particular concerns. Submit questions between now and the day of the seminar to accionmutua@apla.org; entitle theemail "7/25 Seminar Questions."



Details:

This web seminar is FREE. Participants will log in to the appropriate website and call a toll free number to participate in the discussion.


RSVP: Please sign up by email at accionmutua@apla.org

You will receive instructions on how to log in and what number to call after you register.


DATE: Tuesday, July 25, 2006

TIME: 2:00-3:00 pm (Eastern time)


This is a great opportunity for any one interested in knowing more about HIV risk to learn from one of the leaders in the field.

Pew Report on Bloggers

There's a new Pew Internet and American Life study out, about bloggers:


"The Pew Internet Project blogger survey finds that the American blogosphere dominated by those who use their blogs as personal journals. Most bloggers do not think of what they do as journalism. Most bloggers say they cover a lot of different topics, but when asked to choose one topic, 37% of bloggers cite “my life and experiences” as a primary topic of their blogs. Politics and government ran a very distant second with 11% of bloggers citing issues of public life as the main subject of their blog. Entertainment-related topics were the next most popular blog-type, with 7% of bloggers, followed by sports (6%), general news and current events (5%), business technology (4%), religion, spirituality or faith (2%), a specific hobby or a health problem or illness (each comprising 1% of bloggers). Other topics mentioned include opinions, volunteering, education, photography, causes and passions, and organizations."

Of interest here, is the part I put in bold above, a "specific ... health problem or illness" which makes up 1% of bloggers. An interesting juxtaposition to another finding from the Pew about the fact that health-related information is one of the most often searched for items in people's internet use. Taken together, I think this can only mean that health-related blogs are going to increase over time.

Visionary Behind Wifi in Parks

Personally, I can't wait for the wifi spots in Central Park to go live so I'm following this story closely. In this morning's NYTimes, there's a piece about Marshall Brown the visionary behind the wifi project for the city's parks, who "dreams of the wireless bubble on a grandiose scale," according to the article. I thought this quote from Brown was interesting:

“The first end of Internet expansion was about globalization, but this second phase of wireless Internet is going to be about the Internet made local.” His niche: for example, “What we’re going to enable by installing our portals in the parks is for people to get more in touch with where they happen to be.”

Brown also seems to have a desire to adddress some educational issues with this technology. The wifi hotspot just activated in Battery Park will usher users in through a portal that will offer a historical slide show, a tour of the Dutch gardens, and a video-cam hookup to the Statue of Liberty. As the article states, "In Mr. Brown’s wireless neighborhoods, connectivity is accompanied by educational content."

That's an interesting concept, providing educational content via portals at the free wifi spots. And, it seems like a great opportunity for the City Department of Health, or others interested in public health, to get out a message.

Black Gay Bloggers Protest Homophobia

Ran across this in Newsday.

"A reggae concert meant to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS is coming under fire from some black gay bloggers and activists who are incensed that the lineup includes two artists they consider to be anti-gay.

Among those scheduled to perform at the July 18 show at Webster Hall are Jamaican dancehall artists Beenie Man and the group T.O.K. Protesters have asked the concert's organizer, LIFEbeat - The Music Industry Fights AIDS, to drop them or force them to publicly denounce controversial lyrics in their songs.


'The idea that they would invite artists who encourage murdering gays and lesbians is so outrageous, insulting and unbelievable,' activist Keith Boykin said.

But concert organizers, while rejecting the anti-gay lyrics, said including the commercially successful performers in the show would allow them to reach an audience they otherwise wouldn't get to, pointing out that dancehall, a beat-driven form of Jamaican music, remains hugely popular despite controversy over its lyrical content.

John Canelli, LIFEbeat's executive director, said he felt strongly that the performers' presence would 'create dialogue around AIDS and the Caribbean-American community" and an "opportunity for groundbreaking change and good to come from it.' The artists aren't being paid, he said."

Secret Lives of Teens Online

There's been much hoo-ha (that being the technical term for it) in the old, broadcast media of late about the 'secret lives of teens online,' such as this report from a TV station in Portland, Oregon. And, has anyone watched the reports on Dateline recently? It's as if there's a producer there with a vendetta against the Internet.


And today, via Howard Rheingold, some reason has been re I learned of a newly released research from Professor Larry Rosen at UC-Dominguez Hills. Rosen finds that "only 7% of teens interviewed had ever been approached by anyone with a sexual intent and nearly all of them simply ignored the person or blocked the page." The research isn't based on a random sample (but rather a convenience sample), so it's not generalizable to all teens, or even all teens online. It's interesting, nonetheless, as a counter to the hyperbole and moral panic surrounding sexual predators online.

You can download a press release about Rosen's research here (downloads as a PDF file).

Convergence, Terrific Peer-Reviewed Journal on New Media

I just came across a wonderful journal, called Convergence, The International Journal of Research into New Media. In publication since 1995 (though I just learned of it) today, and based in the UK, full text articles are available from Hunter College library starting from 2004. (Use the "Electronic Journals" link from the main Wexler Library page, and search for Convergence.)

HIV Blogs

The magazine POZ created by, for and about the HIV+ community, has created a new and innovative approach to publishing online with its'roster HIV Blogs, including one by the Editor-in-Chief, Regan Hofmann. More and more, CEO's, editors, and other top level management-types are creating their own blogs (or, having someone else write a blog that has their name on it), and it's good to see this take off in a health-related field. However, the well-intentioned folks at POZ have made the classic public health (and beyond) blunder of not including enough voices (or, in this instance blogs) by people of color. Given the increasing impact of HIV on communities of color, and particularly women in those communities, it's shocking that of the HIV Blogs listed at POZ, only one is by a woman of color.

Resource for Peer-Reviewed Articles about e-Health Education

I ran across what looks to be a valuable resource for peer-reviewed articles about health education and technology, with an international focus. It is The International Electronic Journal of Health Education.

A bit more about the journal from their author guidelines:


"International health education and promotion including articles that focus on programs and research in countries outside the US and articles from within the US that deal with immigrant populations or international outreach activities such as study abroad programs.


Health education and promotion articles are welcome that are most effectively published using the technology available through the Internet. Examples might include reports of computerized health assessments or audio/visual intervention programs. Articles might be accompanied by computer software, PowerPoint presentations, website links or a/v streaming to demonstrate a technology based project or product. These articles may originate from any geographic location, however it will be essential for authors who submit a technology based article to demonstrate the centrality of computer or Internet technology to either the content or presentation of the article."


It's definitely worth browsing their online table of contents for the past couple of years to see if there's anything relevant to your current health / education / technology interests.

Wifi Arrives Soon in NYC Public Parks

From today's New York Times:

By the end of August, wireless networks will be established at 18 locations in 10 of New York City's most prominent parks — including Central, Prospect and Riverside Parks — in a major citywide expansion of free Internet access, according to city officials."

In my view, this is a great news for the city and for urban public health. Spreading wifi networks throughout the city's parks is a small but important step toward a framework that conceptualizes Internet access as a digital entitlement (to use Mansell's phrase) as well as an incremental move toward bridging various digital divides in the city. These impact health in a variety of ways, including but not limited to, greater access to health information that is available online. In some ways, I see the expansion of the wifi network in the city as analogous to the expansion of education in this country two centuries ago.

You can read the full article here (free registration required).

More about Podcasting and Health

Interesting presentation this evening by Iskra and Tara about podcasting and public health. I thought I'd add to the conversation with a couple of additional links.

If you're interested in creating your own podcasts, Apple provides some fairly extensive instructions on how to do it here. You can use iTunes (a free download here) to browse through a catalog of different types of podcasts.

There are also competitors to iTunes, such as Gcast, which offers free podcasting.

And, bringing this back around to health, on the Gcast site you'll notice that they're affiliated with Bono's ONE Campaign to fight HIV/AIDS. Pretty cool.

Literature Review - Deadline Extended

I sent this to everyone via Hunter email this morning, but several of these have bounced back (or been returned as undelivered for past 4 hours), so I'm posting this here. Apologies if you're just now getting word.

Several people have written to ask for extensions on the literature review. Rather than make individual exceptions, I'm extending the deadling for lit reviews until Friday, 7/7 @ 5pm. I still want hard copies (printed on paper), and would like them in my mailbox on the 10th floor ("J. Daniels" under the "Adjunct Faculty"). DO NOT, under any circumstances, slip paper copies under my door. These get thrown away by custodial staff.

The Environment, Bodybuilding & Race, from Two Favorites

A couple of favorite blogs have recently included (broadly) health-related posts, so I will close out the week with a few comments about each.

I've already mentioned the briliant writing of Twisty-Faster and her patriarchy-blaming ways. And, she recently saw the Al Gore film which she refers to as a globalwarmingumentary. God knows I love a made up word and that's a doozy. Ms. Twisty mentions this blurb from NPR which perpetuates the myth of global warming as a 'controversy," noting in her inimitable style: "NPR. Ever since they got that Bushite pit boss, you’ve really gotta keep your eye on’em." Love her.

And, from my other favorite blog, Liz over at Granny Gets a Vibrator, writes about her experiences with personal training. Liz, who is white, tells a story of working out with an African American woman, and a conversation ensues about black-white body differences. As it turns out, African Americans on average, "tend to have greater bone density than white people, different patterns of fat distribution, and unique shapes to certain muscles." Then, she goes on to talk about a bodybuilding-buddy of hers who is an African American man, and who has "high short calves." She relates this back to the sport of bodybuilding and writes this:

"But even as I was expounding on the anatomy lesson, it occurred to me that of course there is nothing inherently wrong with Kevin's calves. They're strong and sturdy, hard as rocks, well developed and healthy, and they do a damn good job of supporting his enormous bulk. The only problem is that they don't quite meet the gold standard for bodybuilders, which is--surprise!-- arbitrarily based on the average shape of white people's calves."

Bingo. Well-said, Liz!

Gender, Time & the Push to Multi-Task

Interesting presentation last night in class by Kezzie Joseph about multi-tasking and the impact on women's health. As she notes on her blog, she sees "multi-tasking [as] more of an woman's health issue," and I wanted to expand a little on that idea.

So, why is it do you think that women, more so than men, feel so pressed for time that they are risking their health? While you may have heard about the "wage gap," the fact that women still make less than men in paid employment, you may not have heard about the "leisure gap," wherein even in double-earner couples women have significantly less leisure time than men do. The reason for disparity in leisure time between women and men is primarily the result of the unequal allocation of housework and childcare. Overwhelmingly, women have the primary responsibility for housework and childcare, even when both partners work.

Given this inequality that shapes women's lives on a daily basis, it's no wonder that women feel pushed to multi-task. Of course, some women have advocated different strategies for resisting this inequality. Some have argued that housework should be paid labor. And, as I mentioned last night some people, women and men, are resisting all the ways our lives have sped up and are part of the Take Back Your Time movement.

Bayer Accused of Releasing Tainted Drugs in Foreign Countries

This story was originally reported a few years ago by CBS News, but I ran across it today via this student blog.

The story is that Bayer came out with a drug for hemophiliacs that was found to be tainted with the HIV-virus. The FDA blocked Bayer from releasing the drug in the U.S., but the company went ahead and sold it in France, Spain and Japan. Bayer, of course, denies any wrong-doing.

I wanted to post this story for a couple of reasons. One, so that I could mention Progressive U, which bills itself as "the new media voice for students," and seems to be a growing portal for young people interested in civic engagement through the Internet.

I also wanted to focus attention on the pharmaceutical companies who are in the business of "Selling Sickness," as author Ray Moynihan puts it. As Moynihan notes in his excellent book, even when pharmaceutical companies are not engaged in the kind of egregious behavior that Bayer is accused of, they are actively pursuing the creation of new diseases and conditions for which that they can then sell us "cures," at great profit to them and tremendous cost to the consumer. It's too bad Bayer felt the need to expand beyond the business of selling aspirin, which seems to be one of the few miracle drugs. Clearly, the huge profits of the pharmaceuticals are a higher priority for them than good health. And, these profits, in turn, influence politics in Washington around health care. No wonder we have no national health care.

TechSoup, NetSquared and Blogging for Justice

A few things worth noting from TechSoup. If you're not familiar with this organization and you work in a non-profit that makes any use of technology, I urge you to visit their website (linked above) and sign up for their newsletter.

If you can make it down to D.C. this Thursday, June 29, there's an interesting conference on "Blogs, Wikis, and Workspaces," that will explore ways new technologies, like the ones we've been using in the course, can help public policy organizations be more effective and efficient.

TechSoup has also started a project called NetSquared, which is intended to help nonprofits harness Web technologies for social change. One of the social justice efforts highlighted on NetSquared is about "Justice for Gwen Araujo." In case you don't know, Gwen Araujo (pictured above) was a transgendered woman who was killed when her attackers learned she was biologically male. A community activist joined with others and blogged about the trial of Araujo's attackers. You can read more about it at the link above. I think it's a great example of the way Internet technology can be used for social justice.

Laptops for the Homeless

Circling back to this meme about how technology can improve the lives of the poor, there's an article from WIRED Magazine about laptops for the homeless, brought to my attention by Bill McIver on the Digital Divide Network listserv. Here's a brief bit from that article:

"Many of those now living without a permanent roof over their heads have cell phones in their pockets or laptop computers at their hips. While people living in shelters and alleys have found it difficult to cross social divides, the digital divide seems to disappear on the streets. Nearly all homeless people have e-mail addresses, according to Michael Stoops, director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. 'More have e-mail than have post office boxes,' Stoops said. 'The internet has been a big boon to the homeless.'

Helping the homeless get e-mail addresses has been a priority for years at shelters across the country. And in an age when most every public library in the nation offers internet access, the net has proven a perfect communication tool for those without a firm real-world address."


Clearly, there are some implications here for public health and public health practitioners. It might be possible to get health information to homeless people via email, and certainly those who want to work with this population need to know how to help people set up email accounts.

And, even more encouraging is this story:

"Terri Hellerich's connection to the information superhighway is all that made life livable on the streets. 'It kept me sane and provided my income,' she said. Hellerich found herself homeless after a landlord in West Sacramento kicked her out and kept her belongings to make up for a debt. She didn't have a change of clothes, but she did have an old cell phone that she could use to stay online and check her inbox.

Hellerich slept on benches but she frequented a women's shelter with a cluster of internet-connected computers used mostly by the children who arrived at the safe house with their mothers. She started blogging and conducting a business. As an independent internet marketer, she was able to maintain bank accounts, nurse existing client connections and forge new business relationships. The business brought in only about $100 a month, but that was enough to help get her life back on track."

The article goes on to mention the blogs of several other homeless folks, including Kevin Barbieux, a woman in the UK known as Wandering Scribe, Willie York, and another blog written by a young woman who wrote about being homeless and now has housing.

Anytime, Anywhere Learning Podcasts

Via Andy Carvin's Waste of Bandwidth, a series of podcasts from the anytime, anywhere learning foundation summit in Boston. Each podcast is about 45 minutes long, between 15 and 20 megabytes. To dowload and listen, click on the name of each speaker below.


Ben Shneiderman:

Ben is the author of Da Vinci's Laptop, and is a computer scientist/edtech researcher at the University of Maryland. He talks about the need to make students ecstatic about learning, using authentic, interactive learning experiences that positively affect the community. He also talks about his work with Hive Group, developing web-based visualization tools for exploring complex data sets.

Mike Furdyk:

Mike is one of the founders of TakingITGlobal.org, the global youth activism network. He talks about his life growing up with technology from the time he was a toddler, and how it led to him creating an online community where young people can come together to affect positive social change.


Tim Magner:

Tim is the director of the Office of Education Technology at the US Department of Education. In his presentation, he offers a broad overview of emerging technologies, from mobile devices to nanotechnology, and examines the role these tools should play in education and educational management.

Although these are all focused only on "education and technology," I think each of these has clear relevance for health communication.

Information Technology & Poor Communities

Interesting discussion in class last night about "digital entitlements," using Mansell's phrase, a couple of items through my inbox today that relate to that discussion. Via The Chron.com, a recent forum, called the Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development, at the United Nations urged:

"... urged private businesses to help governments make information technology more accessible and affordable, especially in developing countries.

Computers and communications technology should not just be "a privilege for the rich, but a tool for the poor," U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said at a meeting of policy makers and high-tech experts.

Efforts to bridge the current "digital divide" should include linking villages to the Internet and providing cell phone technology cheaply to rural communities, he said at the launch of a U.N.-backed forum on using technology to battle global poverty and unemployment."

And, via the DDN listserv, notice of the Southeast Wireless and ICT Conference, which will "focus on the new and evolving technical, political, legal, and financial issues surrounding municipal broadband deployment. Industry experts and community leaders will present research results and practical hands-on experience derived from case studies on applying ICT to create digital communities and enhance rural life."

Finally, here's the link to the group I mentioned that's involved in grassroots efforts to provide wifi throughout NYC.

Technology Used to Combat Childhood Obesity

A few people in the class, including Liudmila, Tara, Julie, Nurit, and Cris, have been blogging about food and nutrition-related issues. Lots of folks have pointed to the increase in sedentary activities for kids, such as watching tv and playing video games, as part of what is responsible for the rise in childhood obesity. However, some have seen the power of technology for addressing the epidemic among children, as in this intervention,via eSchool News.

Jill Bond, a teacher at Morningside Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, Fla., uses food nutrition education to teach her fourth grade students core curriculum subjects such as math, science, and language arts.

"It's amazing how little these children knew about nutrition," Bond said. With resources gleaned from textbooks, the internet, and Discovery Education's Health Connection, she taught her students math, science, reading, writing, and about food groups, carbohydrates, fats, and more.

For a lesson on grains, she had her students grind whole grains, such as popcorn, wheat berries, and groats, into cornmeal, flour, and oatmeal. Students also kept journals of what grains they ate that week, and they watched a video from Discovery Education Health Connection about how different cultures eat different grains.

Although showing video to students might seem counter-productive, Bond said it engages her students more quickly than she otherwise could.

"Children 'so' need the entertainment, so it's nice to have the multimedia tie-in," Bond said. "These kids are so multimedia-entwined since birth. They've been raised with big-screen TVs, and some of them can text message faster than I can type."

The videos offered by Discovery Education are arranged in short segments. The videos Bond shows are only minutes long, but still, she will pause them to ask questions or to get students to anticipate what is coming up next.

Discovery Education Health Connection is a full health and prevention curriculum program available online. Its content covers nine areas: alcohol and other drugs; the body; growth and development; mental health; nutrition; physical activity; safety; tobacco; and violence."

It's also worth noting that the Wikipedia entry for Childhood Obesity is a stub, maybe some of you will consider contributing to it and expanding it.

Blogs from the NYTimes

There's a fairly useful page over at the New York Times about blogs. The page, Blogs 101, provides a set of "Collection & Rankings" blogs, and then categories of blogs by subject.

On an interesting note the author writes:

"This page is under development; feel free to suggest your own finds."

And, there's no subject heading for "Health." Perhaps you'll send in your own, or a classmate's, blog? Something to aim for.

Cancerland & Patriarchal Medicine

I mentioned this blog last night in class as one that has a unique and compelling voice. Originally, I visited the blog because I was looking for new voices in feminism, but I return again and again for her writing, her beautiful food photography, and the real-life drama of living with breast cancer. Browsing her archives, I also ran across this article by Barbara Ehrenreich about her journey through "Cancerland." In the United States, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point. The chances of her surviving for five years ore 86.8 percent. For a black woman this falls to 72 percent; and for a woman of any race whose cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, to 77.7 percent. There's been a lot of focus on "awareness" as a public health response to this, and Ehrenreich does a fantastic job of dissecting this cultural phenomenon. Here's one clip:

"What has grown up around breast cancer in just the last fifteen years more nearly resembles a cult—or, given that it numbers more than two million women, their families, and friends-perhaps we should say a full-fledged religion. The products—teddy bears, pink-ribbon brooches, and so forth—serve as amulets and talismans, comforting the sufferer and providing visible evidence of faith. The personal narratives serve as testimonials and follow the same general arc as the confessional autobiographies required of seventeenth-century Puritans: first there is a crisis, often involving a sudden apprehension of mortality (the diagnosis or, in the old Puritan case, a stem word from on high); then comes a prolonged ordeal (the treatment or, in the religious case, internal struggle with the Devil); and finally, the blessed certainty of salvation, or its breast-cancer equivalent, survivorhood. And like most recognized religions, breast cancer has its great epideictic events, its pilgrimages and mass gatherings where the faithful convene and draw strength from their numbers. These are the annual races for a cure, attracting a total of about a million people at more than eighty sites—70,000 of them at the largest event, in Washington, D.C., which in recent years has been attended by Dan and Marilyn Quayle and Al and Tipper Gore. Everything comes together at the races: celebrities and corporate sponsors are showcased; products are hawked; talents, like those of the “Swinging, Singing Survivors” from Syracuse, New York, are displayed. It is at the races, too, that the elect confirm their special status."

The entire article, linked above, is long but definitely worth reading if you care about women's health.

Personal Trainer Download

As I was just saying, there are lots of possibilities for getting fit online now. Another site came across my radar that has a page targeted especially toward public health professionals, and then the New York Times just featured an article about a yoga instructor who makes work-outs available via download.

And, here's a link to someone providing fitness and health-realated podcasts.

Online Diet & Fitness?

In our discussion in Wednesday evening's class about "Health Risks of the Internet," one of the issues that came up afterward was the sedentary nature of sitting, hour after hour, in front of a computer screen. This, obviously, has health risks in terms of obesity and all the co-morbidity issues related to it. In addition, there are repetitive strain injuries (RSI) that can result from overuse of the body at the computer.

But, this also got me thinking about the other side... are there ways that IT can be used to benefit diet and fitness? In terms of RSI, there's software you can install on your computer that reminds you to take breaks and claims to help prevent injury. I don't know of any research that's been published that puts this software to the test, but it would be interesting question to investigate.

Of course, there are also those online pharmacies that can be used to purchase diet pills although that's certainly an area that includes more risk than benefit in my opinion. Frankly, I don't want to trust the possibility of a heart attack or stroke from a diet pill based on the claims of Anna Nicole Smith (although, I really do wish her well in her lawsuit).

Then, there is the online diet and exercise support available at places such as eDiets.com and Weight Watchers Online. Again, I wonder if anyone has done any clinical trials examining the effectiveness of these sites. If I were designing such a study, I'd randomize a group that needed to lose weight, assign half to the face-to-face Weight Watcher meetings and half to Weight Watchers Online and see who lost more weight over time.

And, as I've been saying, wireless technology (wifi) opens up a whole new arena in terms of connectedness and the implications for health. This is no less true around diet and fitness. Now, you can download software for your PDA or PocketPC that allows you to track your daily diet and exercise, and it charts your progress for you. The added bonus here, of course, is that with a wireless-enabled hand-held device there's no sitting in front of a computer screen, you can take it with you! Still, there are no clinical trials on the effectiveness of these hand-held devices, but it's certainly worth researching given that the National Weight Control Registry reports that keeping a food diary was the most important factor (along with regular exercise) for those who have lost significant weight and kept it off for two years or longer.

Health Benefits of IT, Globally

I talked with several people after class last night about the potential of mobile and wireless Internet technology (IT) and the implications of these for addressing health disparities. And, in thinking about that, I wanted to point you to a couple of links. One is the blog of Howard Rheingold, Smart Mobs. The blog is part of the work he did for his most recent book of the same name and there's lots of interesting information there. In terms of the connection to health, there's a recent post up about how a blog saved a girl's leg in China.

I also wanted to mention the amazing work of a Boston-based non-profit called Satellife, which is doing work to address health disparities in Uganda using wireless networks. Here's a Wired article about Satellife from a couple of years ago.

Part of what connects these is the notion of "leapfrogging," a strategy in which developing countries (or poor neighborhoods), skip inferior, less efficient, more expensive or more polluting technologies and industries and move directly to more advanced ones.

Google Juice & Boosting Your Rank

Got "Google juice"? The web service Alexa allows you to check a website's traffic and rankings. And, in addition to being a fun tool to play around with it's another way to check the origin and credibility of the information that you see online.

Seeing site's rankings may also raise questions about how you can increase your website's rank in Google and other search engines. A recent article in the Washington Post gives a good description of how people go about boosting their website's ranking, or in the lingo of the day getting more "Google juice."

How do you get more "Google juice"? According to the article:

"a whole new industry has arisen around mining the Web for links and other page-tweaks that can help sites boost their Google rank and reel in more visitors.
This industry calls itself "search-engine optimization," though I think a better name would be "search-massage consultants."

The key to the 'search-massage' is to propogate links to your site. And, that's what folks in this industry do. Here's another snip from that article:

"Rand Fishkin, chief executive of a Seattle-based search consultancy called SEOMoz, said he focuses on getting editorial links for his clients, partly by creating feature articles that Web publishers will link to: "We call it link-baiting. The idea is to attract a lot of natural links."

It sounds like the Web's version of public relations, with consultants baiting webmasters much like PR firms pitch stories to reporters. "


I think this notion of 'Google juice,' and how it can be manipulated, is important for several reasons. One, it highlights that the order in which results are returned from a Google search are not a vetting process that tells you anything substantive about the results. And, I also think it highlights the need for the kind of critical thinking that I've been talking about in class and online, when we find information on the web. Think about the "juice" behind your next Google search.

Reproductive Health Information Online

As should be clear by now from the discussions in class, finding information online is not a straightforward proposition, especially when it comes to politically charged health issues such as reproductive health. Harkening back to a day when "Operation Rescue" operated storefronts that posed as "women's health clinics," The Rosetta Foundation's "TeenBreaks.com" is a front for pro-life advocates. They are using the website to push forward a claim for something called "post-abortion syndrome," which is not a clinically recognized diagnosis, but rather, an insidious attempt to question women's right to choose.

And, this has real life consequences for us here in New York City, as the abortion opponents gear up their fight nationwide and the city becomes a refuge on a kind of underground railroad for women seeking safe, legal procedures.

Into this fraught online (and offline) environment, comes this breath of fresh air: RHReality Check, a blog and website devoted to fighting the agains the disinformation around reproductive health. Via Jeanne Flavin, Fordham University.

Kenneth Cole, KFF, Webcast Event

Today, Tuesday, June 13, the Kaiser Family Foundation will host a live webcast event with AIDS activist, Kenneth Cole as part of “Kaiser Conversations on Health,” an ongoing interactive program designed to elevate public debate of significant health issues. Submit questions for Kenneth Cole in advance of the live program at conversations@kff.org.

WHO: American fashion designer, humanitarian and president and chief executive officer of Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc., Kenneth Cole, has been at the forefront of AIDS activism since 1985 when he allocated his company's entire advertising budget to a campaign featuring an Annie Leibovitz photo of eight well-known models posing barefoot with a group of children to support the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). He joined amfAR's Board of Directors in July 1987 and became Chairman of the Board in 2004. In addition to Board leadership, Cole designs and donates most of amfAR’s annual advertising creative and every year donates a portion of his company’s retail sales on World AIDS Day to amfAR. Cole continues to fight HIV/AIDS, most notably with the recent "We All Have AIDS" campaign.

WHAT: Kenneth Cole talks with Kaiser Family Foundation Vice President Jackie Judd and a live audience, reflecting on his AIDS activism work and strategies for success.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 13 at 12:00 p.m. ET.

WHERE: Watch the live webcast on kaisernetwork.org.
http://cme.kff.org/Key=10987.GWB.C.D.F81nFH

HOW: Submit questions for Cole in advance of the live program at conversations@kff.org.

The archived webcast of this event will be available at 5:00 p.m. ET. In addition to the archived webcast, kaisernetwork.org provides the transcript, podcast, and links to related resources.

Please note: The program is accessible via webcast. If you have never viewed a webcast before, please test your media player in advance of the live webcast.
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_howto_view.cfm

"If you see someone on a cell phone...."

If you see someone with a cell phone, what do you think of them? Who do you guess they're talking to, and about what? Over the weekend, a friend of mine was in town and was using her photo-enabled cell phone to blog her trip. I guess that's part of what's got me thinking about cell phones today.

There are several bits in the news that have me thinking about cell phones and mobile computing. Here in NYC, there's an on-going story about public school restrictions on cell phones. And, in today's NYTimes there's a piece about the use of higher-range ring tones that, according to the article, younger people can hear but older people can't hear. What struck me about the coverage of this is the way adolescents are likened to other-than-human-creatures, like dogs, with special hearing.

This is via Rich Ling, and a forwarded email listserv posting. There's another news story on MSNBC and in Newsweek that caught my attention as well. The focus of the article is about the war in Iraq, and how you discern who is a threat, and what caught my eye was this quote:

"If you see someone with a cell phone," said one of the commanders, half-jokingly, "put a bullet in their f---ing head."

Here, people with cell phones are seen as a particular kind of threat, not unlike the public school kids in NYC are viewed.

Any time there's technological innovation, there are unintended consequences that follow. Howard Rheingold has an interesting piece from a couple of years ago comparing the development of mobile computing via cell phones with the other sorts of technological innovation, like the automobile. Some of the unintended consequences he talks about in this piece are about how technology has influenced mating and dating patterns, which certainly has some relevance for public health.

I wonder, too, about the unintended consequences of "Othering" and new technology, and I worry about the unintended consequences of mobile computing for forces that want to destroy civil liberties and human life.

MTV and KFF Sponsor Video Blogging Contest about HIV/AIDS

I received this, dated June 5, from Julia Davis at The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) today, and wanted to pass it long. The partnership between KFF and MTV has been remarkably successful, and is a real benchmark for anyone interested in public health campaigns that target a large youth audience.

"Today, think MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation – as part of their think: Sexual Health campaign and with support from the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), iFilm and WebMD – announced the creation of think HIV, the first ever multi-platform, interactive community for this first generation of Americans who have lived their entire lives during the AIDS epidemic. The initiative seeks to provide a platform to foster dialogue and active engagement on the topic of HIV/AIDS and especially its impact on young people, as well as provide information and resources to young people about HIV/AIDS. According to UNAIDS, half of new HIV infections worldwide are among those under the age of 25.

“The MTV audience has never known a day without HIV, and young people around the world are at the center of the epidemic,” said Brian Graden, President of Entertainment for MTVN Music Group and President of Logo. “We have a long history of educating and empowering our audience on this issue, and while progress has been made, there is still work to be done. think HIV will offer our viewers a new, interactive and safe place to learn about and fight it.”

“By utilizing the latest media technologies, think HIV gives voice to a generation of young people about a topic that deeply affects them in unique and powerful ways,” said Tina Hoff, Vice President and Director of Entertainment Media Partnerships for the Kaiser Family Foundation. “A core tenant of work has always been to go where young people go to reach them with information and this new joint venture brings us into the new age of media.”

think HIV will feature the following components:

* think HIV Online Community – think HIV online will serve as an interactive community that will launch following the premiere of the “THINK HIV” documentary on August 18th. The site will be an engaging and interactive, safe space for young people to share their personal stories through videos, photos and blogs and text about HIV/AIDS. The user-friendly site will also provide easy access to information and resources about HIV/AIDS including prevention and testing as well as how to get involved in the global fight – including access to health information, resources and the online community at WebMD. Visitors will be able to upload their videos to the site via software from iFilm. The Alive at 25 HIV Vlogging Competition winners will be featured on the site with official state information about HIV/AIDS, links to local services, and key resources for young people developed in partnership with NASTAD members.

* Alive at 25 – National HIV Vlogging Competition – Beginning June 5th and running until June 30th, young people ages 13-25 from around the country are encouraged to submit essays of 250 words or less at think.mtv.com on why they should be selected as the exclusive think HIV vlogger (video blogger) for their state. One winner will be selected from each state by Kaiser, MTV and NASTAD, and will be given a video camera to vlog about what HIV/AIDS means from their unique perspective. Vlogs will go live on the think HIV website on August 18th. One vlogger will be awarded a grand prize VIP trip to the MTV studios in New York, and earn the opportunity to showcase their vlog on MTV. For details about the competition visit www.think.mtv.com.

* THINK HIV Documentary – MTV News & Docs – in partnership with Kaiser – will produce “THINK HIV,” a documentary in which young people themselves tell the story of how their generation has been impacted by the virus. Part memorial, part testimony, these short vignettes filmed entirely by infected or affected young people will paint a raw, intimate, and informative portrait of the epidemic’s impact on their lives. The half hour show will premiere on MTV on August 18th — the last day of the International AIDS Conference in Toronto.

think HIV builds on both MTV and Kaiser’s long-term commitment to educating and empowering young people in the fight against HIV/AIDS, in part through their 10-year partnership, currently called think: Sexual Health. To date, the Emmy and Peabody Award winning partnership has garnered more than 100 million viewers to its documentaries, 1.2 million calls to the toll-free hotline (1-888-BE-SAFE-1), and has distributed more than 450,000 informational guides. More than two out of three think: Sexual Health campaign viewers are more likely to use condoms, talk to their partner about safer sex, and to get tested for HIV or other STDs."

Class Blogs ~ Honorable Mentions

Coming to the end of the first week of Summer session, I wanted to take a few minutes to bring attention to some folks who are quickly getting the hang of blogging.

First, in terms of the assignment to "blog everyday" even though there have been groans and sobs (possibly the gnashing of teeth), lots of people have been able to do this, including: Cris, Beatriz, Kezzie, Steffie, Tara, Mary and Matt.

Second, in terms of content, I wanted to recognize a few people who are getting the hang of both the blogger interface and the task of creating health-focused content. Take a look at Tara's blog about alternative health, Cris's blog about diabetes disease management, and Kezzie's blog about women's health (and her impressive tech-skill at adding a video component!).

Finally, if you're still struggling in the class, you might seek out one of these classmates for help on getting up to speed.

Teleshrink

There's an interesting article in yesterday's New York Times about the practice of therapy by remote, technological set up.

What struck me about the article was this snippet:

"Basically, doctors can do, surprisingly, almost everything," said Don McBeath, the director of telemedicine and rural health at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock. "The difference is they can't touch you or smell you."

Dr. Gibson said the lack of smelling and touching, at least when it comes to psychiatry, has proved to be a good thing. Being physically in the presence of another human being, she said, can be overwhelming, with an avalanche of sensory data that can distract patient and doctor alike without either being aware of it.

"Initially we all said, 'Well, of course it would be better to be there in person,' " she said. "But some people with trauma, or who have been abused, are actually more comfortable. I'm less intimidating at a distance."


This is completely counter to what I would have expected. To me, it would seem that therapy would be more effective in person. I was surprised to find that some patients and clinicians actually prefer remote counseling to face-to-face.

Wondering What a Blog is, Anyway...?

If you're still a little perplexed by what a blog is, and what the term "blogosphere" means, there's a terrific post by Andy Carvin, another technology activist at Learning.Now, that explains it all for you.

How to Make Best Use of Class Time

As we discussed on Monday, each class time will start with a "practicum," that is a period of hands-on practice posting to your blog, commenting on classmates' blogs, the course wiki, and preparing your in-class presentation. Of these, the priority should be posting to your own blog, then reading and commenting on others' blogs.

This is also a time to get to know your classmates, share knowledge with them, ask questions.

As a third use of your time, you can use this time to check in with me, ask me questions about things you couldn't solve on your own.

Digital Divides and Community Activism

One of the things we'll be discussing in this class is the "digital divide," which is usually defined as "the gap between those people with access to communications and technology tools nd those without it."

For those of you interested in this topic, I wanted to pass long some excellent resources for learning more about what this means. In addition to the recent reports on the digital divide that I have linked above, you should also familiarize yourself with The Digital Divide Network (DDN). The DDN offers a tremendous wealth of information on their website, and they also have a fairly robust listserv (email list) that you can sign up for. If this is an area that you want to learn more about, I strongly encourage you to subscribe.

From your introductions to each other last night, I gleaned that many of you have a strong committment to social justice and community activism. So, it might interest you to learn that there are lots of people are activists around technology and issues of unequal access to technology, and of course, they have blogs! Check out this blog, by community technology activist in Ohio, Angela Stuber. I learned of her work, and her blog, through the DDN listserv.

Blogroll For Summer

We have a good group for the Summer I session, and I've posted the "blogroll" (list of blogs). Please take some time between now and the next class to go through and meet your classmates, leave a comment, and get acquainted.

First Meeting of Summer I Course

Today is the first meeting of the Summer I Course. We'll cover a lot of ground tonight, so come prepared to stay the entire time. Also, please review the course materials already posted on Blackboard, and take a few minutes to scroll back through the previous entries on this blog.

Credibility Commons

There's some really interesting new research out about credibility of information online:


"Two university researchers, along with a team of experts, are working on a technology that would allow users to assess the credibility of information they find through web searches.

Michael Eisenberg, professor and dean emeritus at the University of Washington, and David Lankes, an associate professor at Syracuse University, received a grant to establish a web site called the Credibility Commons. The site aims to provide computer programs and tools to help users more easily find credible information online.

The Credibility Commons arose out of a conference hosted by the University of Washington's Information School and sponsored by the American Library Association's Office of Information Technology Policy, with funding from the MacArthur Foundation. The conference centered on the credibility of internet information. Participants--who included experts from libraries, education, and other communications fields--sought to determine the scope of the problem, define the existing state of knowledge on the topic, and develop practical steps to address the credibility of information found through web searches.

Eisenberg said his team would like to provide different search capabilities and have educators and others try them out and offer feedback. "Google's page ranking has to do with who else links to that site, and it's quite good related to topic, but no one has done that on the dimensions of credibility," he said. "How do we have those credible sites come up first?"

He added: "Librarians have question-and-answer services, or 'Ask a &' services, where people can contact them and get a response back. Our hypothesis is that a librarian would not recommend a site that's not credible. So, can we somehow harvest all the sites that librarians are recommending and put these into a database and search that, rather than searching the entire web?"

Eisenberg said such a service would be particularly useful for students, who often have trouble finding and assessing the credibility of information online. "That's not filtering or censorship, that's gathering a collection that is selected as appropriate," he said.

There are applications available now that can help users determine the credibility of information they find when searching the internet. TrustWatch, a plug-in that can be downloaded for the Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer web browsers, attaches a verification to search results, telling users whether the information is verified by TrustWatch. Eisenberg said there are 10 or 15 different services like this, but users of these services have to question who determines what information is or isn't considered credible.

The Credibility Commons team discussed what its research agenda might be, and some members decided that the research should be a living, continuous project.

"We need a place for people to be able to share information, where we can provide some baseline tools for experimentation and information about credibility," Eisenberg said. The MacArthur Foundation agreed to provide funding, and the web site just recently launched. "It's captured a lot of interest, and a lot of people are contacting us about ideas related to it, as well as collaborations," he said.

So far, the site contains mostly research on the credibility of internet information. In the next few weeks, however, the group hopes to add to the site a daily or weekly listing of the latest credibility news, as well as new tools to help users assess the credibility of information online.

"We'll focus on some things probably more appropriate to a K-12 audience," Eisenberg said. "[But] the scope of our interest is not limited to & higher ed or K-12--we're really interested in everyone, and that creates special challenges. We very much want to have our audience be of the broadest possible focus."

You can read more here.

REMINDER: Final Thoughts on Wiki

This is a reminder that while there is no final exam for this course, you are required to post your final thoughts about (at least) one thing you learned in the class this semester. Please do this on the page indicate on the wiki. And, when posting, please be careful not to delete others' posts.

I'll review these, along with your blogs, and post final grades for the semester on Blackboard by the end of this week.

Have a great summer everyone! ~

African Americans and the Internet

There's an interesting article on Alternet today about African Americans' stake in the Internet. Here's a snippet:

"Cheap, ubiquitous and comprehensive broadband access is as necessary to the economic well-being of African-American communities as good streets."

Wireless as a Public Utility

There's been some talk in the mainstream press lately about an idea whose time has come, I think, and that's the notion that wireless internet access (often referred to as "wifi") should be regarded as a public utility, like electricity or running water. And, I think we've only just begun to think through what the implications of this are for public health and health communication.

The lastest news about this is in today's New York Times, and here's a snippet:


"New York City officials set a July deadline yesterday for a city contractor to have a wireless network up and running in Central Park, in what would be a major expansion of free Internet access that the city plans to replicate across its vast ribbons of parkland during the next several years.

The effort is part of a larger initiative that would also set up wireless networks by summer's end in parts of three more large parks: Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens.

All told, the commitment by the Department of Parks and Recreation, which announced the timetable at a City Council hearing, represents a major leap forward for a three-year-old project that has been hobbled by technical difficulties and a lack of interest by major Internet providers. However, it remained far from clear yesterday whether the deadlines could be met.

In pushing ahead, New York is, perhaps, trying to catch up with other cities, including Philadelphia and San Francisco, which have vowed to create citywide wireless networks and to treat Internet access as a broadly available public utility. "

Multi-Tasking Baked into the Equation

The New York Times ran an interesting story yesterday about multi-tasking, and the way that is going to affect advertising in the future.

At an Industry Media Lab, Close Views of Multitasking
By SHARON WAXMAN

LOS ANGELES, May 14 — In a sleek media lab hidden in a Los Angeles high-rise, some of the country's biggest media companies and their prominent clients are seeking to understand the state of the divided American attention span.

The space looks like the most advanced of homes: the living room is outfitted with the latest in video technology, and in the kitchen, the refrigerator has a television monitor for leaving notes for the children, and for looking up recipes on the Internet.

The installation, the Emerging Media Lab in Los Angeles, is run by the Interpublic Group of Companies, a holding company for ad agencies as well as media buyers like Universal McCann and Initiative. Since February, clients like Sony, L'Oréal and Microsoft have been using it to figure out a central question vexing marketers: how do you reach consumers who seem to be doing so many things simultaneously?

People now surf the Internet while watching television. Their children instant-message friends while listening to music. They all talk on the phone and check their e-mail while they cook.

"Our research showed that people somehow managed to shoehorn 31 hours of activity into a 24-hour day," said Colleen Fahey Rush, executive vice president for research at MTV Networks, which worked with an online research company, OTX, last year. "That's from being able to do two things at once."

As media companies plunk down billions of dollars in advertising at the major networks' fall presentations this week, market researchers are still struggling to understand the realities of what has been called "concurrent media usage."

Thus far, the researchers have found some common ground, but differ widely in crucial areas of interpretation. They do seem to agree on two points: that this kind of multitasking does not apply only to young people and that the amount of time spent multitasking is rising across the board.

For advertisers, the challenge is getting their message across in one medium while the consumer is active at the same time in several others. The buzzword these days is "engagement" — as in how engaged, or involved, the consumer is in a particular activity, a notion that is still relatively new in a media world that has for decades relied on stable indicators like the Nielsen ratings.

The question for programmers is whether it is possible to break through the clutter and offer material that commands more of their viewers' attention, and perhaps more advertising as a result.

In the Emerging Media Lab, major advertisers can observe engagement for themselves, watching consumers try new technologies or use old ones, through cameras that feed back into an observation room.

"Multitasking is not quantified yet," said Greg Johnson, the lab's executive director. "The metrics of all this is a big piece of what our clients want to know, and they want to know desperately. They don't know where their customers are, and it's our job to find them again and what they're doing."

Using the lab themselves, media executives can assess how their ads or other content appear on devices like portable video game players or cellphones.

"You can see things here in context," explained Lori Schwartz, the director of the lab project. Standing in the living room, she wielded a wireless mouse to navigate a media center, a flat-screen monitor on the wall that fed into the Internet, television channels, a DVD player, an Xbox 360 and a stereo system.

"For a lot of our clients, it is hard to keep up," Mr. Johnson said. "It's hard for them to know what to do next when every day there is something new — a blog, a site. They know to move their dollars, but they don't know how much or what media to pick."

Last week, 40 executives from the Sony Corporation of America came to explore the lab's possibilities after one division had tested its video-on-demand service there. "It's another way for us to further understand how consumers are using new media," a Sony spokeswoman, Lisa Davis, said. "We expect the learning here to benefit all of our businesses."

David Sklaver, president of KSL Media, who buys advertising time for clients like Western Union and Bacardi, said multitasking was either "a blessing or a curse" for advertisers. "If someone is watching a TV drama and has CNN News on the Internet," he said, "it's most likely you don't have an engaged viewer." But on the other hand, someone watching a sports event on television could enhance the experience by simultaneously surfing the Internet for game statistics.

A widely cited study conducted last year at Ball State University in Indiana observed 400 people over a broad age range for a day, and found that 96 percent of them were multitasking about a third of the time they were using media. A university white paper recently estimated that consumers spend about nine hours a day in media use, most of it watching television.

The OTX study for MTV used an online sample of 4,213 people, and found that those responding engaged in 15.6 hours of leisure activity a day, which included nonmedia activities like shopping, socializing or eating. Almost a third of that time involved doing more than one thing at a time, the study found.

Most of the multitasking involves television plus another activity, whether reading a newspaper, surfing the Internet or talking on the phone. And when that is the case, which activity is getting primary attention?

On this crucial point, the research differs. In a summary of its latest work on the topic in March, Forrester Research noted that only 11 percent of consumers who went online while watching television said they paid the greatest attention to TV. Some 61 percent paid more attention to the Internet, while 28 percent said they gave equal attention to both. Forrester used on-line surveys of 12,000 people as the basis for its findings.

Ms. Fahey Rush said her research showed something different. "TV is considered the primary media activity when you're doing two things at a time," she said. But when asked how she assessed what people were paying attention to while multitasking, she paused for nearly a minute. "We certainly asked people about how they feel about our brands on a variety of platforms," she said.

David Poltrack, the president of CBS Vision, the network's research arm, said that in the age of multitasking, it was hard to evaluate levels of engagement. "We know people are watching with shared attention," he said. "But we don't know to what degree it's less-than."

It does seem certain, though, that a viewer who is multitasking is not doing those activities with equal interest. "Terms like multitasking imply equal attention," said Mike Bloxham, director of testing and assessment at Ball State. "But cognitive science tells us this isn't possible. You have to give priority to one in order to absorb the messages."

Industry experts say it will be some time before this kind of research results in changes in the pricing of advertisements. IAG Research, a company that measures engagement, has slowly been bringing the television industry around to its measurement approach. In daily online surveys, the company asks respondents substantive questions about the programs and advertisements they watched. The viewer's attentiveness is graded on a scale of 0 to 100, and is not formally used to set advertising rates, but Alan Gould, IAG's chief executive, wonders how long that will last.

"When you have a small but attentive audience, that information can be very important," he said, citing the UPN hit show "Everybody Hates Chris." He said viewers of the program were 27 percent more attentive than those of a normal program. One day, that could mean higher ad rates for such shows that command a greater portion of its viewers' concentration.

"Over time," he said, "I don't see how it doesn't get baked into the equation."

My question reading over this is how this is going to affect health communication? How is it possible to influence people's thinking about a specific issue, disease or health condition when they're paying attention to multiple things at once? Over time, I don't see how that doesn't get 'baked into the equation' in health communication.

Ed Tech Tops Agenda

Via the YouthLearn Newsletter and eSchool News online comes this tidbit:

"Education, government, and industry leaders gathered April 28 in Washington, D.C., to discuss key issues regarding the use of technology in the nation's schools. Among the topics addressed at the fifth annual Intel Visionary Conference: how to secure funding for educational technology during a period of lean federal budgets; how to deliver targeted and sustained staff development; and how to prepare students for an increasingly uncertain future.

Opening the conference was Tim Magner, director of ED's Office of Educational Technology, who prompted his audience to imagine the future by considering the past.

'Think about the jobs you're doing now--were they around when you were in the fourth grade?" Magner asked. Noting that few participants had job titles that would have made sense a generation ago, Magner said educators are in the strange position of having to prepare students for jobs that don't yet exist or that "we might not even be able to imagine.' "


I think Magner's comment is particularly true when it comes to careers in health and health communication.

Finding Answers Online in Sickness and in Health

The good folks over at the PEW have released a new report about finding health info online. Here's the blurb:

"As more Americans come online, more rely on the internet for important health information. Fully 58% of those who found the internet to be crucial or important during a loved one's recent health crisis say the single most important source of information was something they found online.

You can read the full report here..

Internet & Health Research with Adolescents in Ghana

Catching up here. I received this press release from Johns Hopkins University last week via email, thought it was relevant here:


"Internet May Be the Way to Send Youth Health Messages"

In a study of Ghanaian teens and their Internet usage, Dina L.G.
Borzekowski, EdD, assistant professor in the Bloomberg School's
Department of Health, Behavior and Society, and her Ghanaian coauthors,
Julius Fobil and Kofi Asante, learned that approximately 53 percent of
teens from Ghana's capital city of Accra used the Internet to find
health information, regardless of their school status, gender, age or
ethnicity. The study is one of six articles about teens published today
in a special issue of Developmental Psychology.

"In a world where we can sometimes be quick to point out the negative,
this is a great example of the media being used in a positive way. The
Internet can be a good educational and public health tool for
hard-to-reach populations," said Borzekowski.

The authors surveyed a representative sample of 778 15- to 18-year-olds
living in Accra, Ghana, who were either in school or out of school.
Participating youth completed self-report surveys of their media use.
Whether it was for school, work or personal reasons, 52 percent of
out-of-school Internet users had tried to get health information, while
53 percent of in-school Internet users had done the same.

Of important social significance, said the authors was their finding
that teens who were not in school used the Internet as an alternative to
talking to their parents, who may have less formal education than the
parents of teens in school. "A lack of parental education or cultural
taboos regarding sexual topics may make it more difficult for many of
these [out-of-school] teens to get information on health and sex," said
Borzekowski.

"The Internet is making great strides for youth in developing
countries," said Borzekowski. "The far-reaching and positive use of the
Internet is invaluable for adolescents who want to find out more about
personal, sensitive and embarrassing issues related to their bodies,
relationships and health."

"Online Access by Accra's Adolescents: Ghanaian Teens' Use of the
Internet for Health Information" was authored by Dina L. G. Borzekowski,
Julius N. Fobil and Kofi O. Asante.

The study was supported by grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Institute for Population and Reproductive Health.

Public Affairs media contacts for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health: Kenna Lowe or Tim Parsons at 410-955-6878 or
paffairs@jhsph.edu.