BMJ 2002;324:556-557 ( 9 March )

Editorials

Against internet exceptionalism

There's nothing radically different about information on the web

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

The sheer novelty of the internet continues to colour discussions of it. Attention paid to online health information invariably focuses on how it differs from what has gone before rather than how it has remained the same. Certainly, the internet provides swift access to large amounts of information that previously required determined tracking. Users can communicate rapidly through email, chat rooms, and other internet forums. And it is remarkably easy to publish and disseminate information, with little accountability.1 But are these enough to justify the belief that information retrieved via the internet differs radically from what has gone before, requiring an exceptional response?

The combination of rapid access and wide dissemination makes it easy to understand the appeal of initiatives aimed at limiting access to misleading or inaccurate information on health. Allowing users to judge at a glance the quality of such information by the use of labels has been . . . [Full text of this article]
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Relevant Article

The quality of health information on the internet
Gretchen P Purcell, Petra Wilson, and Tony Delamothe
BMJ 2002 324: 557-558. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Rahmqvist, M., Bara, A.-C. (2007). Patients retrieving additional information via the Internet: A trend analysis in a Swedish population, 2000--05. Scand J Public Health 35: 533-539 [Abstract]  
  • Marshall, L. A., Williams, D. (2006). Health information: does quality count for the consumer?: How consumers evaluate the quality of health information materials across a variety of media. Journal of Librarianship and Information Science 38: 141-156 [Abstract]  
  • Hargrave, D. R., Hargrave, U. A., Bouffet, E. (2006). Quality of health information on the Internet in pediatric neuro-oncology. Neuro Oncol Duke 8: 175-182 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Charnock, D., Shepperd, S. (2004). Learning to DISCERN online: applying an appraisal tool to health websites in a workshop setting. Health Educ Res 19: 440-446 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Powell, J A, Darvell, M, Gray, J A M (2003). The doctor, the patient and the world-wide web: how the internet is changing healthcare. JRSM 96: 74-76 [Full text]  
  • Purcell, G. P, Wilson, P., Delamothe, T. (2002). The quality of health information on the internet. BMJ 324: 557-558 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Hard print medical publishing vs the Internet – a modern day Cinderella story
Lindy C van den Berghe
bmj.com, 13 Mar 2002 [Full text]
Integrity in Internet Information
Michael J Rigby
bmj.com, 30 Mar 2002 [Full text]
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