具体描述
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 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- 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 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.
