BMJ  2006;332:925-926 (22 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7547.925

Editorial

Are virtual communities good for our health?

They seem to be good at managing chaotic information—and may have other virtues too

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The last decade of the 20th century will be remembered as the period when, perhaps for the first time in history, humans became overloaded by the hyperproduction and hyperdispersion of health information. From that point on, practically anyone with an internet account and access to a personal computer could adopt the role that a few years before had been reserved to professional editors, publishers, journalists, librarians, and academics.¹ Ways of coping with this flood of information clearly need to change, and a paper in this week's BMJ suggests that they are changing (p 939)²—and in ways that challenge the established order within health systems.³

Health professionals are just as incapable of handling the increased flow of information as the public, despite their access to tools and techniques for evidence based decision making.⁴ Tools to assess the "quality" of information have been tried many times, unsuccessfully⁵; . . . [Full text of this article]

Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, University Health Network and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 2C4
(ajadad@ehealthinnovation.org)

Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, University Health Network and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 2C4

Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, M6A 2E1

SMARTRISK, Toronto, M5G 1N8

Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4L8

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Related Articles

Accuracy and self correction of information received from an internet breast cancer list: content analysis

Adol Esquivel, Funda Meric-Bernstam, and Elmer V Bernstam
BMJ 2006 332: 939-942. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Health related virtual communities and electronic support groups: systematic review of the effects of online peer to peer interactions

Gunther Eysenbach, John Powell, Marina Englesakis, Carlos Rizo, and Anita Stern
BMJ 2004 328: 1166. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Examination of instruments used to rate quality of health information on the internet: chronicle of a voyage with an unclear destination

Anna Gagliardi and Alejandro R Jadad
BMJ 2002 324: 569-573. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Complexity science: The challenge of complexity in health care

Paul E Plsek and Trisha Greenhalgh
BMJ 2001 323: 625-628. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Promoting partnerships: challenges for the internet age

Alejandro R Jadad
BMJ 1999 319: 761-764. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Virtual Communities - Confusing?

Rahul Potluri
bmj.com, 24 Apr 2006 [Full text]

Virtual Communities – Definitely a big step forward

Vivek Kakar, et al.
bmj.com, 26 Apr 2006 [Full text]

Human communities can be empowered using virtual space to build health

Pedro Urra
bmj.com, 5 May 2006 [Full text]