Mediating Health Information: The Go-Betweens in a Changing Socio-Technical Landscape (Health, Technology, and Society)

Welcome or not, most citizens in Western countries are unable to go through a day without receiving a dose of health information. This book examines the ways in which ordinary people locate and digest the amount of health information available today, focusing on the unexplored 'middle' place of human and technical mediators. Examining health information seeking and the roles of human and technical actors that intermediate this process, this book uses new empirical data from a number of clinical and community settings. Unique insights are offered into the positioning of health information seekers within the service framework of various professions. Welcome or not, most citizens in Western countries are unable to go through a day without receiving a dose of health information. Health information is available from, passed through, or pushed at lay citizens by healthcare professionals, alternative practitioners, pharmaceutical companies, employers, co-workers, friends and family members, vendors of health products, and government-sponsored campaigns. It is delivered through a variety of media, including, increasingly, the internet. This book examines health information provision and seeking and the roles and interactions of human and technical actors that intermediate this process. New empirical data from a number of clinical and community settings- including Aboriginal communities, libraries, rural areas, online communities and radiology clinics- is used to demonstrate a new concept termed 'health info(r)mediation'. Emerging socio-technical configurations are examined. The contributors are from a diverse range of academic and practice-oriented backgrounds, resulting in a critical and theroetically-based volume grounded in the practical realities of health information use in an increasingly networked world. Many of the chapters provide guidance for health, social service and information professionals charged with creating and/or providing health advice for citizens The go-betweens: health, technology and info(r)mediation / Sally Wyatt, Roma Harris, and Nadine Wathen Everybody's talking at me: situating the client in the info(r)mediary work of the health professions / Leslie Bella ... [et al.] Health intermediaries: positioning the public library in e-health discourse / Flis Henwood ... [et al.] To filter or not to filter: legal and ethical aspects of librarians use of internet filtering techniques / Elaine Gibson and Jan Sutherland Invisible logic: the role of software as an information intermediary in health care / Ellen Balka and Arsalan Butt Personalized narrative diagnostic imaging: can it mediate patient-system dialogue? / Peter Pennefather and West Suhanic Using the Internet as a health intermediary: providing information and services to marginalized sexual communities / T.C. Sanders Between the clinic and the community: pathways for an emerging e-health policy in the remote First Nations of northwestern Ontario / Adam Fiser and Robert Luke We're all out there busting our guts, trying to do the best that we can for our people?: health intermediaries in Australian indigenous communities / Lyn Simpson, Michelle Hall and Susan Leggett Helpers, gatekeepers and the well-intentioned: the mixed blessings of HIV/AIDS info(r)mediation in rural Canada / Roma Harris ... [et al.] Reflections on the middle space / Nadine Wathen, Roma Harris, and Sally Wyatt. "This book examines health information provision and seeking and the roles and interactions of human and technical actors that mediate this process. New empirical data from a number of clinical and community settings - including Aboriginal communities, libraries, rural areas, online communities and radiology clinics - are used to demonstrate a new concept termed 'health info(r)mediation'. Emerging socio-technical configurations are examined. The contributors are from a diverse range of academic and practice-oriented backgrounds, resulting in a critical and theoretically-based volume grounded in the practical realities of health information use in an increasingly networked world. Many of the chapters provide guidance for health, social service and information professionals charged with creating and/or providing health advice for citizens."--BOOK JACKET This book explores interactions between humans and technology in mediating health information. Seeking health information advice is a significant and growing activity among members of the public. This book argues that new technologies provide greater access, but not necessarily better answers and explores interactions between humans and technology in mediating health information. Welcome or not, most citizens in Western countries are unable to go through a day without receiving a dose of health information. This book examines the ways in which ordinary people locate and digest the amount of health information available today, focusing on the unexplored 'middle' place of human and technical mediators