Playing Doctor? Trends in Health Information Seeking on the Web

Evolving and improving technology can improve health and healthcare in a myriad of ways. Equipment that is designed with the user, task, and environment in mind will reduce errors and improve outcomes. New designs make it possible for patients to do things for themselves that previously only doctors could.

Straub, Kathleen. UI Design Newsletter (2007). Articles>Information Design>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Can Two Established Information Models Explain the Information Behaviour of Visually Impaired People Seeking Health and Social Care Information?    

This study provides a new and valuable insight into the information behaviour of visually impaired people, as well as testing the applicability of a specific and generic information model to the information behaviour of visually impaired people seeking health and social care information.

Beverley, C.A., P.A. Bath and R. Barber. Journal of Documentation (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>Accessibility>Biomedical

A Grounded Theory Model of On-Duty Critical Care Nurses' Information Behavior: The Patient-Chart Cycle of Informative Interactions     

Critical care nurses' work is rich in informative interactions. Although there have been post-hoc self report studies of nurses' information seeking, there have been no observational studies of the patterns of their on-duty information behavior. This paper seeks to address this issue.

McKnight, Michelynn. Journal of Documentation (2007). Articles>Information Design>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Analysis of the Behaviour of the Users of a Package of Electronic Journals in the Field of Chemistry    

The purpose of this research is to analyse the behaviour of the users of a package of electronic journals using the data of consumption per IP address. The paper analyses the data of consumption at the University of Barcelona of 31 electronic journals of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 2003. Data of sessions, articles downloaded and abstracts viewed were analysed.

Borrego, Angel and Cristabal Urbano. Journal of Documentation (2007). Articles>Scientific Communication>User Centered Design

Use and Outcome of Online Health Information Services: A Study Among Scottish Population    

The purpose of this paper is to report on a research designed to find out how people in Scotland access and use online health information.

Harbour, Jenny and Gobinda G. Chowdhury. Journal of Documentation (2007). Articles>Information Design>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

The Public Presentation of a Hybrid Science: Scientific and Technical Communication in "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Assessment of the British Government" (2002)    

A recent British national intelligence-based Assessment (2002) illustrates how one government agency communicated science to serve its policy goals. This article analyzes some of the values that drive science, public policy, and national intelligence, and traces how those values affected the Assessment writers' goals and communication strategies. Through close reading of the Assessment's foreword and first section, this study shows how the writers shaped scientific and technical information to satisfy their disciplines' values and to naturalize their "proper perspective" on the policy case. Further analysis of similar documents will extend current research on scientific rhetoric, multidisciplinary collaborative writing, and public communication.

McKenzie, Keisha. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2009). Articles>Scientific Communication>Government>Case Studies

Risk Communication, Space, and Findability in the Public Sphere: A Case Study of a Physical and Online Information Center    

This article uses theories of space and findability to analyze a public information center as an example of multi-modal risk communication. The Yucca Mountain Information Center is an informational space created by the Department of Energy to inform the public about the proposed nuclear waste repository planned for Yucca Mountain, Nevada. As a public space, the Center uses fact sheets, posters, and three-dimensional displays to make arguments about the storage of nuclear waste; we argue that the physical space, text, displays, and online space are all elements of risk communication. We offer a new way to read these elements of risk communication and suggest potential opportunities for public agency.

Nagelhout, Ed, Julie Staggers and Denise Tillery. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2009). Articles>Scientific Communication>Risk Communication>Case Studies

Editorial Ethics: The Role of the Editor Before Peer Review

Editors who work with authors before a manuscript is sent for review face certain challenges. Since we’re often the first to see a manuscript, we sometimes encounter problems we must help solve before they come back to bite the author. These problems fall into a variety of categories, of which I see three repeatedly in my work. In this article, I’ll discuss the nature of these problems, provide examples from my own career as a science editor, and suggest how similar problems might arise in other types of editing.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Corrigo (2008). Articles>Editing>Scientific Communication>Ethics

What Reviewers Need to Know About the Regulatory Reader, Continued

One of the big problems in document review is that reviewers often fail to recognize that their principal job as a reviewer is to act as a surrogate for the document end-user, in this case the regulatory reader. In this article, we offer a characterization of the reading style of the regulatory reader which is useful to keep in mind when reviewing any document or group of documents to be submitted to pharmaceutical and medical device regulatory agencies.

Cuppan, Gregory P. Brainery.net (2009). Articles>Scientific Communication>Regulatory Writing

Health at High Speed: Broadband Internet Access, Health Communication, and the Digital Divide    

The study reported here explored the broadband digital divide in the context of Internet- based health communication. Inequities in the adoption of broadband technology were examined and the comprehensive model of health information seeking (CMIS) was used to make predictions about the implications of broadband Internet for personal health. Data from a population-based survey conducted by the National Cancer Institute in 2005 (N = 5,586) were analyzed. Results showed that those who were younger, more educated, and lived in an urban area were more likely to have a broad- band Internet connection in their home. Furthermore, consistent with the CMIS, those with a broadband connection were more likely to use the Internet for health-related information seeking and communication than those with a dial-up connection.

Rains, Stephen A. Communication Research (2008). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Localizing Medical Information for U.S. Spanish-Speakers    

Examines focus group data about Spanish speakers' preferences for health communication. Contrasts known preferences of Mexican Spanish speakers with Spanish speakers in the U.S. Makes recommendations from the data for communicating health information to Spanish speakers within the U.S.

Germaine-Madison, Nicolet St. Technical Communication Online (2009). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical>Localization

Contemporary Educational Psychology: Cognitive Processes in Complex Science Text and Diagrams    

Ainsworth’s (2006) DeFT framework posits that different representations may lead learners to use different strategies. We wanted to investigate whether students use different strategies, and more broadly, different cognitive activities in diagrams versus in running text. In order to do so, we collected think-aloud protocol and other measures from 91 beginning biology majors reading an 8-page passage from their own textbook which included 7 complex diagrams. We coded the protocols for a wide range of cognitive activities, including strategy use, inference, background knowledge, vocabulary, and word reading. Comparisons of verbalizations while reading running text vs. reading diagrams showed that high-level cognitive activities—inferences and high-level strategy use—were used a higher proportion of the time when comprehending diagrams compared to when reading text. However, in running text vs. diagrams participants used a wider range of different individual cognitive activities (e.g., more different types of inferences). Our results suggest that instructors might consider teaching students how to draw inferences in both text and diagrams. They also show an interesting paradox that warrants further research—students often skipped over or superficially skimmed diagrams, but when they did read the diagrams they engaged in more high-level cognitive activity.

Cromley, Jennifer G., Lindsey E. Snyder-Hogan and Ulana A. Luciw-Dubas. Contemporary Educational Psychology (2009). Articles>Education>Scientific Communication>Technical Illustration