Can We Harness New Media for Public Health?

After a year of public health blogging I have numerous questions on the utility and impact of new media on public health. While there is no technical definition of "new media" that I am aware of (please tell me if you have one) this is what I mean by the term:

"Interactive digital media, such as the Internet, as opposed to traditional media such as print and television" (from Wictionary - an example of new media in action).

Other types of new media that I regularly interact with include: Facebook; Twitter; personal and community blogs; Delicious; Yelp; YouTube; LinkedIn; and, of course, my cell phone. A few of these examples fall into the social media category. In other words, it is used to primarily network with others and to build relationships. Others are primarily used for communicating and documenting ideas, activities, and information.

There are a variety of ways to use new/social media...and that brings me to the questions that I just keep on asking myself...

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Mobile Phones for Health Surveillance

An article in the Yale Journal of Public Health recently reported on the use of mobile technology to improve public health surveillance activities. Advances in technology are not always quick to be adopted in public health, though the computer and Internet have exponentially increased the efficiency and productivity of information management and risk communication. How else could one so quickly be informed about a SARS outbreak or the current state of Avian flu?

My husband, after returning from a 2-week trip to Kenya, told me stories about the widespread use of mobile phones, even in the most rural and poor regions of the country. He noted that he never saw them actually talking on the phone, it was a device used for text messaging. "Minutes" are just too expensive.

Given the penetration of mobile technology - how might cell phones be used solve pressing public health issues? This article describes two CDC activities; one aimed at using PDAs to collect surveillance information for its "Household Morbidity Surveillance Survey" in Kibera, the other is to use text messaging to improve inter-governmental communication about disease outbreaks. 

There is certainly an irony on the use of PDAs to collect information from some of the poorest people in the world. However, if it is able to collect better data, more quickly, and to improve the delivery of health services and prevention information I am in full support! 

How else might mobile phones be used to collect or communicate health information?

If interested, check out the following websites

• Texting4Health - A conference held at Stanford University, February 2008
• MobileActive.org - Blogs, information, and a directory for activists using mobile technology worldwide

Google Gets Public Health

Flu season is almost upon us. Google "flu" or "flu symptoms" and you are likely to have been picked up by the new Google surveillance system that aims to become an early warning system for regional flu outbreaks and trends across the United States. The New York Times recently reported (and blogged) about the Google.org web tool, called Google Flu Trends, which may be able to save lives.

There are no doubt questions about how well this tool will can reliably predict flu outbreak before people visit the doctor. But it is exciting to hear yet another way that Google is attempting to provide some public health improvements and innovation.

We all know that our Internet use is not exactly private knowledge. But does this surveillance cross the line? I would argue, no. I see little to no harm in Google relaying aggregate data of flu symptom searches from its site to public health organizations. But, would people feel differently if it was monitoring searches for "HIV symptoms" or "HPV symptoms"?

Mobile technology, the internet, and Web 2.0  is increasing in use by people of all ages and incomes. This provides public health practitioners with new opportunities to target outreach and education activities more effectively and to harness the power and creativity of people to change social norms and improve social support. I look forward to seeing where the intersection of internet technology and public health meet next.