From SiobhanChamp-Blackwell at creighton.edu  Fri Aug  1 14:03:27 2008
From: SiobhanChamp-Blackwell at creighton.edu (Champ-Blackwell, Siobhan)
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 13:03:27 -0500
Subject: [DDN] Alaska Health
Message-ID: <BB3EEC584579204DB6E2CA0F6DB7566F0EDB7EDF@exbe01.blue.jays.creighton.edu>


Click on the link to read the entire article about access to health care
in rural Alaska. Use of community workers to bridge the gap in access to
health care is used in rural US, low income areas, and globally. The
story highlights one young woman's experience of leaving the area to
train as a dental health therapist and then returning home to practice.
How many young people want to work in these kinds of fields but don't'
leave home so don't have the opportunity? How can bridging the digital
divide, creating training and education programs to reach rural students
and certify them, help improve the life of the people happily living in
rural areas? 


I'm also very pleased to see US Surgeon General Mike Leavitt keeps a
blog! His previous entry discusses the collaboration of tribal members
who are now looking into implementing an electronic medical record
system
http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/my_weblog/2008/07/alaska-blog-1-.html 


siobhan


Alaska Blog II- Yakutat Tingit Clinic
<http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/my_weblog/2008/07/alaska-blog-ii.html>  


The sign on the outside of the airport building said, "Food, Shelter and
Booze." Before leaving to visit the Yakutat Tingit Tribe's clinic, I
told the pilots of our plane I would be gone a few hours and suggested
they step inside for two of the three featured amenities. 

It was a drizzly afternoon, but life in Alaska just carries on. This was
July and the weather was good, during which not an hour can be spared as
they get ready for winter. Twenty hours of daylight helps, but knowing
winter comes soon keeps people moving. 

You are subscribed to Secretary Mike Leavitt's Blog for U.S. Dept. of
Health & Human Services. This information has recently been updated, and
is now available
<http://service.govdelivery.com/service/view.html?code=USHHS_22> . 

________________________________

 


From paperlesshomework at yahoo.com  Fri Aug  1 14:04:53 2008
From: paperlesshomework at yahoo.com (Paperless Homework)
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 11:04:53 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <9434949F-4E31-4B74-9188-705FD4C97A41@us.iearn.org>
Message-ID: <439131.45207.qm@web62312.mail.re1.yahoo.com>

Hi Everyone,

One of the ways to improve rural/urban health is through education and e-learning? would be effective.

While there are other more effective ways, one way we are doing and have not the resources to do full scale is the use of e-learning to teach students health issues through their daily learning experience in schools.

What we intended to do was to create modules like " Learning English through Anti smoking campaign" providing modules like comprehension based on the dangers of smoking. This concept may be applied to other issues like learning sex, Aids, drugs etc.
Children while trying to learn English, will unconsciously be learning the evils of say smoking, aids etc. This method is far far better than trying to spend millions advertising the evils of such and where nobody actually bothers.

Anyway, we are leaving those aside while we concentrate our efforts on other areas until we can get volunteers (which we are not able to) to help out on this. Sorry to say out of hundreds we have only two miserable modules on that :>)

Our initial efforts now is to spread the use of e-learning generally to all schools in the world particularly in the developing countries which we are now talking with various parties in various nations.

My two pennies' worth

Alan 
www.paperlesshomework.com


--- On Fri, 8/1/08, Ed Gragert <ed at us.iearn.org> wrote:
From: Ed Gragert <ed at us.iearn.org>
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
Date: Friday, August 1, 2008, 5:29 AM

Hi Everyone,

Joe has some good points in terms of seekers and finders if we look  
solely at use of the net by individuals.  However, our experience  
working with schools, educators and students is that there is a strong  
evidence that meaningful and structured online connections and school/ 
community project work can make a major difference in health.  And, by  
implication these positive differences could be magnified if we work  
to further bridge the digital divide.

We in iEARN have numerous examples, some of which are active right  
now, of how connected primary and secondary schools are engaged in  
collaborative project work in health (HIV/AIDS, Malaria, TB) issues.   
In addition to giving access to medical information, as Siobhan has  
suggested, collaborative project work connects youth together--to ask  
questions, share information, conduct collaborative research and then  
engage in community outreach education and health project actions.

For example, teachers students in Botswana link schools in Kenya, US,  
India and Iran to work together online to reduce malarial cases in  
their communities (https://media.iearn.org/node/174).  In the  
project's community outreach programs, connected young people play a  
key role in sharing what they have learned online through interaction  
with their peers in other countries.  They also link up communities in  
these countries to provide treated nets and provide education to  
community members on their effective use.

Similar project works are underway on HIV/AIDS prevention and  
treatment--using peer-to-peer interaction and sharing online as a  
mechanism for creating change and change agents on the community level.

Regards,

Ed

Ed Gragert
iEARN-USA - Six years older than the WWW!! Connecting Youth Making a  
Difference for 20 years! http://us.iearn.org

_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with
the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.



      

From claude.almansi at gmail.com  Fri Aug  1 15:27:24 2008
From: claude.almansi at gmail.com (Claude Almansi)
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 21:27:24 +0200
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <9434949F-4E31-4B74-9188-705FD4C97A41@us.iearn.org>
References: <.69.159.196.66.1217440830.squirrel@webmail.takingitglobal.org>
	<BB3EEC584579204DB6E2CA0F6DB7566F0ED6C04B@exbe01.blue.jays.creighton.edu>
	<eb0914de0807310826l1a343183s10b4bf6ca981d2ae@mail.gmail.com>
	<9434949F-4E31-4B74-9188-705FD4C97A41@us.iearn.org>
Message-ID: <bb3c31460808011227k54e4e70cybc58956d8afe4f30@mail.gmail.com>

Off the cuff and without qualification to answer knowldgeably: the
digital divide prevents blind people from using digital accessive
technology. And for instance trachoma-caused blindness is most present
in areas with little or no access to such technology, for instance to
screenreaders - not to mention more sophisticated things like GPS.
This means that those blind people's access to education and
vocational training etc. is all the more curtailed, hence there
possibilities to earn enough is curtailed too.

Of course, the priority is fighting trachoma, and that's not - or not
only - a digital issue. But for those who have already lost sight
through trachoma, having digitally-equipped training centers might
mean a progress in life quality and health.

Best

-- 
Claude Almansi

From cnd at knowprose.com  Fri Aug  1 21:38:43 2008
From: cnd at knowprose.com (Taran Rampersad)
Date: Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:38:43 -0400
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <.69.159.196.66.1217440830.squirrel@webmail.takingitglobal.org>
References: <.69.159.196.66.1217440830.squirrel@webmail.takingitglobal.org>
Message-ID: <4893BAA3.2080004@knowprose.com>

It is difficult to say that the digital divide and human health are 
linked, in my opinion. Socioeconomic status affects both the digital 
divide and human health. That said, sitting around on one's posterior 
most of the day while eating fast food or microwaveable food most 
certainly could be seen to demonstrate how decreasing the divide can be 
linked to poor health. Improper equipment - and sometimes even proper 
equipment - can lead to repetitive stress injuries such as the infamous 
metacarpal tunnel syndrome.

There are some that believe that human health can be increased through 
empowering users. I tend to agree on the bunny slope. But on the 
steeper, more slippery slopes this type of thinking can itself be 
dangerous to one's health. Even Twain quipped that reading health 
magazines could cause one to die of a misprint - on the Internet, that 
is an even more serious issue since not only can anyone publish - anyone 
does. While it is all well and good that people may read information on 
the internet that can be helpful, this does not and should not replace 
properly educated and trained members of the medical community. Reading 
about placing a chest tube is quite different than doing it; diagnosing 
a disease is something that people take years and years to learn how to 
do - and these people, Medical Doctors, still sometimes make honest 
mistakes despite their training. Should we expect better from those 
without training?

Technology, properly used, can facilitate health and quality of life. 
Improperly used, it can do quite the opposite.

And I haven't even really touched on the issue of children... a large 
topic, indeed.


Ilan Tsekhman wrote:
> As promised here is the suggested conversation topic for August (a few
> days early!).
>
> That a myriad of socio-economic factors influence human health is well
> known. But how about the digital divide in particular? Are there
> implications on human health resulting from the digital divide?
>
> Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences on the subject

-- 
Taran Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
cnd at knowprose.com

http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.your2ndplace.com

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/

"Criticize by creating." ? Michelangelo
"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla


From cnd at knowprose.com  Fri Aug  1 21:41:05 2008
From: cnd at knowprose.com (Taran Rampersad)
Date: Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:41:05 -0400
Subject: [DDN] Geeks Without Borders
In-Reply-To: <.99.239.182.24.1216834522.squirrel@webmail.takingitglobal.org>
References: <.99.239.182.24.1216834522.squirrel@webmail.takingitglobal.org>
Message-ID: <4893BB31.7030306@knowprose.com>

GeekCorps is ok, I suppose, but in Latin America and the Caribbean it 
seems to be up to local folk who, sadly, do not get as much press as 
those who own their own. ;-)

Ilan Tsekhman wrote:
> I stumbled upon an article that I thought might be of interest.
>
>
> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080722.wtq-0708-Krpan/BNStory/GlobeTQ/home
>   


-- 
Taran Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
cnd at knowprose.com

http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.your2ndplace.com

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/

"Criticize by creating." ? Michelangelo
"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla


From shsnow at mindspring.com  Wed Aug  6 08:33:38 2008
From: shsnow at mindspring.com (Stephen Snow)
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 08:33:38 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
Message-ID: <22026388.1218026018956.JavaMail.root@elwamui-chisos.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Access to information is essential to health -- planting information, weather information, straight-up health information (115 million people use the web in the US to get health information, according to Pew). In addition, most physical ailments (as shown in visits to primary care clinics) do not have an organic basis but have an emotional base -- making human connections and relationships vitally important as an aspect of human health.

--Steve Snow
shsnow at mindspring.com

-----Original Message-----
>From: Taran Rampersad <cnd at knowprose.com>
>Sent: Aug 1, 2008 9:38 PM
>To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
>Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
>
>It is difficult to say that the digital divide and human health are 
>linked, in my opinion. Socioeconomic status affects both the digital 
>divide and human health. That said, sitting around on one's posterior 
>most of the day while eating fast food or microwaveable food most 
>certainly could be seen to demonstrate how decreasing the divide can be 
>linked to poor health. Improper equipment - and sometimes even proper 
>equipment - can lead to repetitive stress injuries such as the infamous 
>metacarpal tunnel syndrome.
>
>There are some that believe that human health can be increased through 
>empowering users. I tend to agree on the bunny slope. But on the 
>steeper, more slippery slopes this type of thinking can itself be 
>dangerous to one's health. Even Twain quipped that reading health 
>magazines could cause one to die of a misprint - on the Internet, that 
>is an even more serious issue since not only can anyone publish - anyone 
>does. While it is all well and good that people may read information on 
>the internet that can be helpful, this does not and should not replace 
>properly educated and trained members of the medical community. Reading 
>about placing a chest tube is quite different than doing it; diagnosing 
>a disease is something that people take years and years to learn how to 
>do - and these people, Medical Doctors, still sometimes make honest 
>mistakes despite their training. Should we expect better from those 
>without training?
>
>Technology, properly used, can facilitate health and quality of life. 
>Improperly used, it can do quite the opposite.
>
>And I haven't even really touched on the issue of children... a large 
>topic, indeed.
>
>
>Ilan Tsekhman wrote:
>> As promised here is the suggested conversation topic for August (a few
>> days early!).
>>
>> That a myriad of socio-economic factors influence human health is well
>> known. But how about the digital divide in particular? Are there
>> implications on human health resulting from the digital divide?
>>
>> Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences on the subject
>
>-- 
>Taran Rampersad
>Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
>cnd at knowprose.com
>
>http://www.knowprose.com
>http://www.your2ndplace.com
>
>Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/
>
>"Criticize by creating." ? Michelangelo
>"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla
>
>_______________________________________________
>DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
>DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
>http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
>To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.


Stephen Snow, PhD, LPC
Executive Director
Collaborative Family Health Association
www.cfha.net
shsnow at mindspring.com
828-689-3615
828-689-5066 (c)
"Nearly 70% of all health care visits have primarily a psychosocial basis." (Fries, et. Al 1993, Shapiro et al., 1985)

From fouadbajwa at gmail.com  Wed Aug  6 09:08:11 2008
From: fouadbajwa at gmail.com (Fouad Bajwa)
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 18:08:11 +0500
Subject: [DDN] Inclusion on the reformulation of the Pakistani IT Policy
In-Reply-To: <701af9f70808060600p7ecf7ca2y8f172b38569f45b5@mail.gmail.com>
References: <701af9f70808060600p7ecf7ca2y8f172b38569f45b5@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <701af9f70808060608xde14b8djbead494652a0f454@mail.gmail.com>

Dear Friends and Community Members,

Though I have been very quiet on this list, I have been advocating the
process of ICT4D change with similar minded colleagues in Pakistan. We
have had great success in this area and the Government of Pakistan has
included our team on the working groups for the new IT Policy
forumlation activties.

More information on the IT Policy formulation activity in Pakistan can
be regularly monitored on the Pakistan ICT Policy Monitor, an
initiative we established to encourage debate on ICT4D, Internet
Governance, IPR, Human Rights etc. The community comprises of Civil
Society, Academia, Researchers, Legislators, Government Heads of
Departments, International and Local Media and so forth. The forum is
open for anyone to join at:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/pakistanictpolicy/

--
Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa

From SiobhanChamp-Blackwell at creighton.edu  Wed Aug  6 09:26:51 2008
From: SiobhanChamp-Blackwell at creighton.edu (Champ-Blackwell, Siobhan)
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 08:26:51 -0500
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <4893BAA3.2080004@knowprose.com>
References: <.69.159.196.66.1217440830.squirrel@webmail.takingitglobal.org>
	<4893BAA3.2080004@knowprose.com>
Message-ID: <BB3EEC584579204DB6E2CA0F6DB7566F0EE73667@exbe01.blue.jays.creighton.edu>

Taran, I totally agree with all you have said! Its scary to think of people self diagnosing and self treating based on what they might read on the Internet. There are great resources online that can help a person become better educated, follow preventive measures, etc. People have to learn to evaluate the information they find online - and this is especially true when it comes to health information. 

There are many applications that can assist providers - telemedicine, elearning, document delivery for keeping up with research in the latest medical findings - that become an issue when providers themselves face a digital divide. A medical librarian in Nebraska assisted one of their faculty who volunteered for three months in a refugee camp - the provider found herself in a position of running a program that she hadn't been trained to run, and was able to use, for one hour a day, the Internet caf?. During that hour she was in touch with her medical librarian back home, and was able to find the tools she needed to set up a clinic, train volunteers and update herself on what she needed to know. What would she have done without that Internet caf?? 

I liked the concepts presented in by Alan of Paperless Homework - combining health prevention with another learning objective - that's great. Teach people to navigate the Internet and evaluate what they find by using health as the navigation topic. I created this module http://nnlm.gov/mcr/ctc/ as a very basic way to do that. People are already using the Internet to find information about their health - lets help them do it in a safe manner.

Siobhan

Siobhan Champ-Blackwell
Community Outreach Liaison
National Network of Libraries of Medicine MidContinental Region
Creighton University Health Sciences Library
2500 California Plaza
Omaha, NE 68178
402.280.4156/800.338.7657 option#1,#2, then #1
siobhan at creighton.edu
http://nnlm.gov/mcr 
http://nnlm.gov/mcr/bhic/
http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/siobhanchamp-blackwell  
-----Original Message-----
From: digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net [mailto:digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net] On Behalf Of Taran Rampersad
Sent: Friday, August 01, 2008 8:39 PM
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health

It is difficult to say that the digital divide and human health are 
linked, in my opinion. Socioeconomic status affects both the digital 
divide and human health. That said, sitting around on one's posterior 
most of the day while eating fast food or microwaveable food most 
certainly could be seen to demonstrate how decreasing the divide can be 
linked to poor health. Improper equipment - and sometimes even proper 
equipment - can lead to repetitive stress injuries such as the infamous 
metacarpal tunnel syndrome.

There are some that believe that human health can be increased through 
empowering users. I tend to agree on the bunny slope. But on the 
steeper, more slippery slopes this type of thinking can itself be 
dangerous to one's health. Even Twain quipped that reading health 
magazines could cause one to die of a misprint - on the Internet, that 
is an even more serious issue since not only can anyone publish - anyone 
does. While it is all well and good that people may read information on 
the internet that can be helpful, this does not and should not replace 
properly educated and trained members of the medical community. Reading 
about placing a chest tube is quite different than doing it; diagnosing 
a disease is something that people take years and years to learn how to 
do - and these people, Medical Doctors, still sometimes make honest 
mistakes despite their training. Should we expect better from those 
without training?

Technology, properly used, can facilitate health and quality of life. 
Improperly used, it can do quite the opposite.

And I haven't even really touched on the issue of children... a large 
topic, indeed.


Ilan Tsekhman wrote:
> As promised here is the suggested conversation topic for August (a few
> days early!).
>
> That a myriad of socio-economic factors influence human health is well
> known. But how about the digital divide in particular? Are there
> implications on human health resulting from the digital divide?
>
> Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences on the subject

-- 
Taran Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
cnd at knowprose.com

http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.your2ndplace.com

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/

"Criticize by creating." - Michelangelo
"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla

_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.

From paperlesshomework at yahoo.com  Wed Aug  6 11:06:17 2008
From: paperlesshomework at yahoo.com (Paperless Homework)
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 08:06:17 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [DDN] Inclusion on the reformulation of the Pakistani IT Policy
In-Reply-To: <701af9f70808060608xde14b8djbead494652a0f454@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <581044.59853.qm@web62303.mail.re1.yahoo.com>

Dear Fouad,
?
Remember me ? Alan Foo from Paperless Homework? We met in Stockholm. 
?
Do you have any info on who is actually representing you in Malaysia? I am now looking for ULPCs suppliers and wish to test our software on those machines to make sure they are capatible to be used on our software since our software is still not Vista capatible and ULPCs can still be installed with WinXPs.
?
We need to advise our customers to buy which model. We are not planning to push to India, China and Indonesia and Africa.
?
Since currently we are giving free our contents to all schools in the world, we are getting very good responses and very easy too. We would let viral marketing to do the rest.
?
Hope you can advise your supplier in Malaysia to contact me? My number in Malaysia is 60193754266 or 603 79809901. Or can contact me at www.paperlesshomework.com/Ycontact.htm
?
If okay I can recommend your machines to all our users.
?
Regards
Alan Foo
www.paperlesshomework.com
?
?


--- On Wed, 8/6/08, Fouad Bajwa <fouadbajwa at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Fouad Bajwa <fouadbajwa at gmail.com>
Subject: [DDN] Inclusion on the reformulation of the Pakistani IT Policy
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
Date: Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 9:08 PM

Dear Friends and Community Members,

Though I have been very quiet on this list, I have been advocating the
process of ICT4D change with similar minded colleagues in Pakistan. We
have had great success in this area and the Government of Pakistan has
included our team on the working groups for the new IT Policy
forumlation activties.

More information on the IT Policy formulation activity in Pakistan can
be regularly monitored on the Pakistan ICT Policy Monitor, an
initiative we established to encourage debate on ICT4D, Internet
Governance, IPR, Human Rights etc. The community comprises of Civil
Society, Academia, Researchers, Legislators, Government Heads of
Departments, International and Local Media and so forth. The forum is
open for anyone to join at:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/pakistanictpolicy/

--
Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with
the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.



      

From leo at howehutton.com  Wed Aug  6 11:15:36 2008
From: leo at howehutton.com (Layton E. Olson)
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 10:15:36 -0500
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <22026388.1218026018956.JavaMail.root@elwamui-chisos.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <E169577975468B42A9E85F30D528D4DC01E0F1A1@hh-chi-exc.howehutton.com>

Access to health information is vital through ICT and people-ICT
connections.   For examples of Benefits of Broadband in health care in
Illinois, see link below to Consumer Demand committee report of Illinois
Broadband Deployment Council released in graphic-text form on July 24 in
Chicago at Illinois house of representatives committee hearing on
Digital Government.

Note Illinois rural healthnet project has been awarded 3 year FCC $21
million grant for rural ICT infrastructure connections among hospitals,
health institutions and clinics, and with potential for connection with
urban areas, as part of over $400 million in national Universal Service
commitments (from phone user fees) pilot program in many states
announced last December.   

The need now in all states is to generate matching funds to launch major
ICT infrastructure efforts, including to provide fiber and wireless
access to lower the costs of data intensive communications (e.g.
radiology, cardiology, pediatrics, psychiatry) as well as to work with
community health information outreach and health fair networks in
underinvested areas.   Many state departments of aging and health
services work in annual online November-December signups for Medicare
prescription insurance programs, and many persons go to senior centers
and health outreach programs for online signups for this complex
process.

http://illinoisbroadbanddeployment.pbwiki.com/f/BDC_08_Committee_Reports
.pdf 

Layton Olson
 

Layton E. Olson, Esq.

Howe & Hutton, Ltd.

20 N. Wacker Dr., Suite 4200

Chicago, IL 60606

312-263-3001 Fax: 312-372-6685

leo at howehutton.com

www.howehutton.com



-----Original Message-----
From: digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net
[mailto:digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net] On Behalf Of Stephen
Snow
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 7:34 AM
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health

Access to information is essential to health -- planting information,
weather information, straight-up health information (115 million people
use the web in the US to get health information, according to Pew). In
addition, most physical ailments (as shown in visits to primary care
clinics) do not have an organic basis but have an emotional base --
making human connections and relationships vitally important as an
aspect of human health.

--Steve Snow
shsnow at mindspring.com

-----Original Message-----
>From: Taran Rampersad <cnd at knowprose.com>
>Sent: Aug 1, 2008 9:38 PM
>To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
<digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
>Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
>
>It is difficult to say that the digital divide and human health are 
>linked, in my opinion. Socioeconomic status affects both the digital 
>divide and human health. That said, sitting around on one's posterior 
>most of the day while eating fast food or microwaveable food most 
>certainly could be seen to demonstrate how decreasing the divide can be

>linked to poor health. Improper equipment - and sometimes even proper 
>equipment - can lead to repetitive stress injuries such as the infamous

>metacarpal tunnel syndrome.
>
>There are some that believe that human health can be increased through 
>empowering users. I tend to agree on the bunny slope. But on the 
>steeper, more slippery slopes this type of thinking can itself be 
>dangerous to one's health. Even Twain quipped that reading health 
>magazines could cause one to die of a misprint - on the Internet, that 
>is an even more serious issue since not only can anyone publish -
anyone 
>does. While it is all well and good that people may read information on

>the internet that can be helpful, this does not and should not replace 
>properly educated and trained members of the medical community. Reading

>about placing a chest tube is quite different than doing it; diagnosing

>a disease is something that people take years and years to learn how to

>do - and these people, Medical Doctors, still sometimes make honest 
>mistakes despite their training. Should we expect better from those 
>without training?
>
>Technology, properly used, can facilitate health and quality of life. 
>Improperly used, it can do quite the opposite.
>
>And I haven't even really touched on the issue of children... a large 
>topic, indeed.
>
>
>Ilan Tsekhman wrote:
>> As promised here is the suggested conversation topic for August (a
few
>> days early!).
>>
>> That a myriad of socio-economic factors influence human health is
well
>> known. But how about the digital divide in particular? Are there
>> implications on human health resulting from the digital divide?
>>
>> Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences on the
subject
>
>-- 
>Taran Rampersad
>Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
>cnd at knowprose.com
>
>http://www.knowprose.com
>http://www.your2ndplace.com
>
>Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/
>
>"Criticize by creating." - Michelangelo
>"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is
mine." - Nikola Tesla
>
>_______________________________________________
>DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
>DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
>http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
>To unsubscribe, send a message to
digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the
body of the message.


Stephen Snow, PhD, LPC
Executive Director
Collaborative Family Health Association
www.cfha.net
shsnow at mindspring.com
828-689-3615
828-689-5066 (c)
"Nearly 70% of all health care visits have primarily a psychosocial
basis." (Fries, et. Al 1993, Shapiro et al., 1985)
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to
digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the
body of the message.

From cnd at knowprose.com  Wed Aug  6 18:17:57 2008
From: cnd at knowprose.com (Taran Rampersad)
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:17:57 -0400
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <22026388.1218026018956.JavaMail.root@elwamui-chisos.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
References: <22026388.1218026018956.JavaMail.root@elwamui-chisos.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <489A2315.6070708@knowprose.com>

Stephen Snow wrote:
> Access to information is essential to health -- planting information, weather information, straight-up health information (115 million people use the web in the US to get health information, according to Pew). In addition, most physical ailments (as shown in visits to primary care clinics) do not have an organic basis but have an emotional base -- making human connections and relationships vitally important as an aspect of human health.
>
> --Steve Snow
>   
Human connections and relationships should not be confused with 
technology offering a replacement; people have yet to figure out how to 
transmit a hug.

That said, I have met people within Second Life who are quite happy that 
they can do some of the things that they can. That said, it is a poor 
replacement for human contact and interaction and will continue to be 
until somehow we reinvent our own world. Technology is a crutch, not a 
replacement - it can help with healing, yes, but if improperly used can 
create further complications.

At the end of the day, people are people. Machines and technology only 
go so far - and, if we think it through, they should only go so far in 
most cases. If we must have a heaven of technology, let us not forget 
that heaven comes with hell.

-- 
Taran Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
cnd at knowprose.com

http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.your2ndplace.com

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/

"Criticize by creating." ? Michelangelo
"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla


From cnd at knowprose.com  Wed Aug  6 18:33:13 2008
From: cnd at knowprose.com (Taran Rampersad)
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:33:13 -0400
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <E169577975468B42A9E85F30D528D4DC01E0F1A1@hh-chi-exc.howehutton.com>
References: <E169577975468B42A9E85F30D528D4DC01E0F1A1@hh-chi-exc.howehutton.com>
Message-ID: <489A26A9.7040703@knowprose.com>

Good stuff, Layton. Some comments and queries:

Layton E. Olson wrote:
> Note Illinois rural healthnet project has been awarded 3 year FCC $21
> million grant for rural ICT infrastructure connections among hospitals,
> health institutions and clinics, and with potential for connection with
> urban areas, as part of over $400 million in national Universal Service
> commitments (from phone user fees) pilot program in many states
> announced last December.   
>   
$400 million could buy a lot of health anywhere in the world - that is 
certainly a lot to spend. It is a pilot program, though - what metrics 
are they using to assess whether the pilot project is a success? I ask 
because those metrics would certainly be useful for this discussion and 
others; such data would be worth it's weight in gold.
> The need now in all states is to generate matching funds to launch major
> ICT infrastructure efforts, including to provide fiber and wireless
> access to lower the costs of data intensive communications (e.g.
> radiology, cardiology, pediatrics, psychiatry) as well as to work with
> community health information outreach and health fair networks in
> underinvested areas.   Many state departments of aging and health
> services work in annual online November-December signups for Medicare
> prescription insurance programs, and many persons go to senior centers
> and health outreach programs for online signups for this complex
> process.
>   
Interesting - I keep forgetting that in some places of the world, health 
care and paying for health care are synonymous (when did that happen?).

I do believe that medical facilities should have better interconnections 
within themselves and without. When in Guyana in 2005, I was shocked to 
learn that a local hospital (St. Joseph Mercy) had been offered 
networking by IBM for $50,000 US equivalent - a ridiculous amount of 
Guyanese dollars (in the millions). I ordered some pizza and got some of 
the IT folk to help run the wire on a Saturday. This, of course, was not 
an official project done by a non-profit... instead, just some good 
people trying to improve things. Whether that network is in use now - I 
do not know (and somehow doubt it due to inertia).

But - are interconnections between medical facilities and within 
themselves... do they constitute a part of the digital divide? I think 
that they are, after some thought, and I think that the digital divide 
within and surrounding medical facilities is certainly something that 
should be explored more. If there is one place that I would say suffers 
a divide, it would be medical practitioners in the developing world... 
and if they don't have access - they who can interpret medical 
information and communicate it to their patients - well, that has a 
direct impact. As it is, any hypochondriac can find new and interesting 
things to go to their doctor with...

In the Caribbean, specifically Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago (where I 
have some contacts and experience), I do know that such divides exist. 
What is being done about them? I can't tell you anything concrete, but 
what I can tell you is that the inertia of staff and administration 
seems to pose more of a threat than an ebola outbreak...

-- 
Taran Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
cnd at knowprose.com

http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.your2ndplace.com

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/

"Criticize by creating." ? Michelangelo
"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla


From michael.thomas at gmx.co.uk  Wed Aug  6 20:27:46 2008
From: michael.thomas at gmx.co.uk (Michael Thomas)
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 09:27:46 +0900
Subject: [DDN] Contribute to a contracted book on Interactive Whiteboards
Message-ID: <6F5D401A-E4E3-42D8-8046-9980C521C9DF@gmx.co.uk>

Contribute to a contracted book on Interactive Whiteboards in education


CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR CHAPTERS AND CASE STUDIES


Title

Interactive Whiteboards for Education and Training:
Emerging Technologies and Applications

Co-editors

Michael Thomas Ph.D.
Nagoya University of Commerce & Business, Japan

Euline Cutrim Schmid Ph.D
University of Education Heidelberg, Germany


INTRODUCTION

Interactive Whiteboards for Education and Training combines content- 
based chapters on the main pedagogical issues associated with  
Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) along with practical case studies  
exploring their use in actual learning environments. The focus of the  
book is on the use of IWBs in schools, colleges, universities and  
training contexts, across all disciplines.

The substantial investment in digital or Interactive Whiteboards  
around the world is set to continue over the next five years. This is  
especially true of the USA and the UK. Currently, nearly 80% of high  
schools and 90% of primary schools in the UK have Interactive  
Whiteboards installed in their classrooms. Interactive Whiteboards  
have been adopted around the world, in the UK, Europe, USA, Asia and  
South America. They are an emerging technology that will continue to  
reach out beyond the school system and into further and higher  
education.

Interactive Whiteboards for Education and Training aims to be one of  
the first high quality collections by a recognized international  
press on this major subject of relevance to instructors across the  
educational spectrum, from schools to universities and training  
organizations.


CHAPTER PROPOSALS

Chapter proposals are being sought for the first section of the book  
(6-10 chapters). Chapters should focus on a substantive area of  
pedagogy related to the use of IWB technology. Completed chapters  
should be between 6,000 - 8,500 words in length, and fully referenced  
following APA style guidelines. Possible subject areas to be  
addressed by the chapters include:

(i). Enhanced interactivity

(ii). Multimedia in the classroom

(iii). The use of wireless remote devices (slates, clickers etc.)

(iv). Teacher training and professional development

(v). Task-based teaching and learning

(vi). IWB and Web 2.0

(vii). Web-based learning

(viii). IWB and learner motivation

(ix). Classroom interaction and collaboration

(x). Resources for IWB

Proposals on other topics in addition to those listed are welcomed.


CASE STUDIES PROPOSALS

The second section includes 12-20 case studies which develop and  
complement the themes of the first section of the book by exploring  
instructors? practical experiences.

All of the case studies are organized according to a similar format  
thus enabling comparison. Case studies represent first-hand accounts  
from those involved directly in the projects described. The case  
studies should be based on research done with IWB or related  
technology in the last five years. Each case study should address the  
following sections:

(i). the context of the project

(ii). the rationale of the project

(iii). the teaching and learning aims and objectives of the project

(iv). the technology infrastructure

(v). the evaluation and assessment criteria used

(vi). the learning outcomes and findings of the project

(vii). future implications of the project (institutional, for  
teaching, for learning, for professional development)

The final word-length of each case study is expected to be in the  
range of 3,500 ? 6,000 words.


SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL

Please send a 1-2 page proposal outlining the main features of your  
proposed chapter or case study and how it is relevant for the  
collection. Proposals and submission enquiries should be sent as MS  
Word documents by email to: Dr Michael Thomas, at:

<michael.thomas at nucba.ac.jp>

The deadline for the receipt of a proposal is October, 30, 2008.

The subject line of the email should read, ?IWB Chapter/Case Study  
Proposal.?

All proposals should include the following information:

(i). Full name and title of the author(s)

(ii). Professional status (Teacher, Lecturer, Professor etc.)

(iii). Professional affiliation (Name of your educational institution)
(iv). Professional address

- Department
- Employer
- City & Postal/Zip code
- Country
- Phone/Fax
- Email addresses (home/work)

(v). Please attach a short biographical statement of each author (ca.  
50-100 words).

All proposals will be vetted and returned to the authors within 2  
weeks of receipt with appropriate feedback.

The first draft of the chapters and case studies is due on or before  
February 15, 2009. All submitted work will be subject to a double- 
blind refereed process.

Authors of accepted proposals will be sent further guidelines for the  
development of their chapter or case study in due course. Prospective  
authors may submit more than one chapter and/or case study proposal.  
However, only one chapter and case study can be accepted per author.

The book is under contract with IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.)  
and tentatively scheduled for publication in 2010. For additional  
information regarding the publisher, please visit <www.igi-global.com>.

Further information available from: <http://wirelessready.nucba.ac.jp/ 
IWBbook.html>







Dr. Michael Thomas BA (Hons) M.Ed. MBA Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Faculty of Foreign Languages & International Studies
Nagoya University of Commerce and Business
4-4 Sagamine, Komenoki-cho
Nisshin-shi, Aichi-ken
Japan 470-0193

Tel.: +81 (0)5617 32111 (Ex. 26310)
Fax:  +81 (0)56174 0341
skype: michaelthomas2006
michael.thomas at nucba.ac.jp (office)
michael.thomas at gmx.co.uk (private)



From shsnow at mindspring.com  Thu Aug  7 06:22:12 2008
From: shsnow at mindspring.com (Stephen Snow)
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2008 06:22:12 -0400
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <489A2315.6070708@knowprose.com>
Message-ID: <C4C04514.3AA%shsnow@mindspring.com>

Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people, electronic
connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways and,
because of that, they are healing. I think it is oversimplifying to call it
merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a crutch and
anything improperly used can create further complications. A doctor friend
of mine told me just last evening of a human error she made that cost a
person her life; has she put that woman on an ultrasound machine, she very
well might not be dying of cancer right now. I don't think of the world in
such starkly dualistic terms, generally, Taran -- heaven/hell, right/wrong.
Certainly there are moral absolutes (we all have our favorites) and the
blind affection for technology is no exception, but I tend to think we live
in the world of 'gray,' mostly, technology included.

Steve Snow


On 8/6/08 6:17 PM, "Taran Rampersad" <cnd at knowprose.com> wrote:

> Stephen Snow wrote:
> <stuff snipped>
-- making human 
> connections and relationships vitally important as an aspect of human
> health.
>
> --Steve Snow
>

Human connections and relationships should not
> be confused with 
technology offering a replacement; people have yet to figure
> out how to 
transmit a hug.

That said, I have met people within Second Life
> who are quite happy that 
they can do some of the things that they can. That
> said, it is a poor 
replacement for human contact and interaction and will
> continue to be 
until somehow we reinvent our own world. Technology is a
> crutch, not a 
replacement - it can help with healing, yes, but if improperly
> used can 
create further complications.

At the end of the day, people are
> people. Machines and technology only 
go so far - and, if we think it through,
> they should only go so far in 
most cases. If we must have a heaven of
> technology, let us not forget 
that heaven comes with hell.

-- 
Taran
> Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, 



From FRoehm at skokielibrary.info  Thu Aug  7 16:40:35 2008
From: FRoehm at skokielibrary.info (Frances Roehm)
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 15:40:35 -0500
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <C4C04514.3AA%shsnow@mindspring.com>
Message-ID: <A114961D625BD64F9DC27B34B6225AA202C86F63@memoir.skokie.lib.il.us>

While you're discussing health and the Divide, you should know about
MedlinePlus.gov and the GoLocal
project. It takes resources collected by the National Library of
Medicine and adds on the support groups,
clinics, and other local entities folks would want to know about for
their specific health issue. For
example, select a health topic such as diabetes, then scroll down to
GoLocal on the right and select 
your state. From there you can get to specific areas of your state or
region. 

The site is easy to navigate and the resources include one or two page
fact sheets from highly regarded
institutions that are easy for a patient or family member to understand.

Frances E. Roehm
SkokieNet Librarian
Skokie Public Library
phone: 847.324.3173  fax: 847.673.7797
email: froehm at skokielibrary.info 


**** SkokieNet : Making Connections and Building Community in Skokie,
Illinois since 1995! ****
                                      ********   SkokieNet
http://www.skokienet.org  ********


  



-----Original Message-----
From: digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net
[mailto:digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net] On Behalf Of Stephen
Snow
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 5:22 AM
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health


Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people, electronic
connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways
and, because of that, they are healing. I think it is oversimplifying to
call it merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a
crutch and anything improperly used can create further complications. A
doctor friend of mine told me just last evening of a human error she
made that cost a person her life; has she put that woman on an
ultrasound machine, she very well might not be dying of cancer right
now. I don't think of the world in such starkly dualistic terms,
generally, Taran -- heaven/hell, right/wrong. Certainly there are moral
absolutes (we all have our favorites) and the blind affection for
technology is no exception, but I tend to think we live in the world of
'gray,' mostly, technology included.

Steve Snow


On 8/6/08 6:17 PM, "Taran Rampersad" <cnd at knowprose.com> wrote:

> Stephen Snow wrote:
> <stuff snipped>
-- making human 
> connections and relationships vitally important as an aspect of human 
> health.
>
> --Steve Snow
>

Human connections and relationships should not
> be confused with
technology offering a replacement; people have yet to figure
> out how to
transmit a hug.

That said, I have met people within Second Life
> who are quite happy that 
they can do some of the things that they can. That
> said, it is a poor 
replacement for human contact and interaction and will
> continue to be 
until somehow we reinvent our own world. Technology is a
> crutch, not a 
replacement - it can help with healing, yes, but if improperly
> used can 
create further complications.

At the end of the day, people are
> people. Machines and technology only 
go so far - and, if we think it through,
> they should only go so far in 
most cases. If we must have a heaven of
> technology, let us not forget 
that heaven comes with hell.

-- 
Taran
> Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, 


_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to
digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the
body of the message.

From mary.dawson at solihull.ac.uk  Thu Aug  7 17:33:47 2008
From: mary.dawson at solihull.ac.uk (Mary Dawson)
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2008 22:33:47 +0100
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
Message-ID: <FB41BA6AF0409642AD3C7E5ADA172709030CB2CB@exchange-2.solihull.ac.uk>

I am getting concerned about the conversations taking place here on technology and health.  The terms are becoming too simplistic and yet crossing paths - there seem to be conversations on the physical aspect of technology and doctoring and conversations on the 'intellectual' sustainment of health care.  Can we separate please?
 
Cheers
 
Mary

________________________________

From: digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net on behalf of Frances Roehm
Sent: Thu 8/7/2008 21:40
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health



While you're discussing health and the Divide, you should know about
MedlinePlus.gov and the GoLocal
project. It takes resources collected by the National Library of
Medicine and adds on the support groups,
clinics, and other local entities folks would want to know about for
their specific health issue. For
example, select a health topic such as diabetes, then scroll down to
GoLocal on the right and select
your state. From there you can get to specific areas of your state or
region.

The site is easy to navigate and the resources include one or two page
fact sheets from highly regarded
institutions that are easy for a patient or family member to understand.

Frances E. Roehm
SkokieNet Librarian
Skokie Public Library
phone: 847.324.3173  fax: 847.673.7797
email: froehm at skokielibrary.info


**** SkokieNet : Making Connections and Building Community in Skokie,
Illinois since 1995! ****
                                      ********   SkokieNet
http://www.skokienet.org  ********


 



-----Original Message-----
From: digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net
[mailto:digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net] On Behalf Of Stephen
Snow
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 5:22 AM
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health


Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people, electronic
connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways
and, because of that, they are healing. I think it is oversimplifying to
call it merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a
crutch and anything improperly used can create further complications. A
doctor friend of mine told me just last evening of a human error she
made that cost a person her life; has she put that woman on an
ultrasound machine, she very well might not be dying of cancer right
now. I don't think of the world in such starkly dualistic terms,
generally, Taran -- heaven/hell, right/wrong. Certainly there are moral
absolutes (we all have our favorites) and the blind affection for
technology is no exception, but I tend to think we live in the world of
'gray,' mostly, technology included.

Steve Snow


On 8/6/08 6:17 PM, "Taran Rampersad" <cnd at knowprose.com> wrote:

> Stephen Snow wrote:
> <stuff snipped>
-- making human
> connections and relationships vitally important as an aspect of human
> health.
>
> --Steve Snow
>

Human connections and relationships should not
> be confused with
technology offering a replacement; people have yet to figure
> out how to
transmit a hug.

That said, I have met people within Second Life
> who are quite happy that
they can do some of the things that they can. That
> said, it is a poor
replacement for human contact and interaction and will
> continue to be
until somehow we reinvent our own world. Technology is a
> crutch, not a
replacement - it can help with healing, yes, but if improperly
> used can
create further complications.

At the end of the day, people are
> people. Machines and technology only
go so far - and, if we think it through,
> they should only go so far in
most cases. If we must have a heaven of
> technology, let us not forget
that heaven comes with hell.

--
Taran
> Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando,


_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to
digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the
body of the message.
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.

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From cnd at knowprose.com  Fri Aug  8 08:37:52 2008
From: cnd at knowprose.com (Taran Rampersad)
Date: Fri, 08 Aug 2008 08:37:52 -0400
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <C4C04514.3AA%shsnow@mindspring.com>
References: <C4C04514.3AA%shsnow@mindspring.com>
Message-ID: <489C3E20.4010008@knowprose.com>

I am not disagreeing with you, but I do have some questions and comments.

Stephen Snow wrote:
> Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people, electronic
> connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways and,
> because of that, they are healing.
I'd like to think that you are right, but more accurately I *feel* that 
you are right. Whether this feeling is correct or not would require 
empirical data to substantiate it, and that never seems to come to the 
fore. Realistically speaking, 20% of the humans held to this planet by 
gravity are online. Factor in mobile phones and that percentage can go 
up very high - but here's the issue: How do we *know* that? In the 
circles we operate in - we who participate in discussion lists, social 
networks, et al - how do we know that people we do not know see benefit 
in these? And how do we substantiate the value of electronic connections?

Kurt Vonnegut wrote this:

"...Electronic communities build nothing. You wind up with nothing. We 
are dancing animals. How beautiful it is to get up and go out and do 
something. We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell 
you any different..."

(Man Without a Country, Chapter 6, last paragraph)

I'm somewhere between Vonnegut and what 'many' people in electronic 
communities claim. One of the issues I find interesting is the 
telecenter, which is lauded as being one of the great things that works 
toward the digital divide decreasing - and yet, the success of 
telecenters is not necessarily in the electronic communities but the 
communities - the human communities - that get together in the 
telecenters and help each other out. Rarely do you hear of telecenters 
being an integral aspect of social networking sites, etc - and that is 
because their real asset is bring people together in a physical manner 
while using technology.

In essence, telecenters are an interesting success and their failure 
comes when internet access at residences has a cost decrease which 
permits people to stay at home. Yet is there a benefit to staying home 
and working on one's computer, away from other human beings? Is it... 
better? Or does it isolate us? Where is the balance? How much is good, 
how much is bad? How do we know?

We don't really. 'Many' people believe that we 'know', but we really 
don't. Everyone is different. The people around us tend to support what 
we believe because... those are the people we surround ourselves with.

So, I understand what you mean and I agree with it. But I cannot 
substantiate my agreement, and that is troubling. Maybe we're wrong. I 
know we're all really smart and everything, but we could be wrong. When 
a statement ends in 'because I said so', the 'I' has lost.
>  I think it is oversimplifying to call it
> merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a crutch and
> anything improperly used can create further complications.
Anything is a crutch. I agree. But we were discussing technology and 
human health, not being human. :-)
>  A doctor friend
> of mine told me just last evening of a human error she made that cost a
> person her life; has she put that woman on an ultrasound machine, she very
> well might not be dying of cancer right now. I don't think of the world in
> such starkly dualistic terms, generally, Taran -- heaven/hell, right/wrong.
> Certainly there are moral absolutes (we all have our favorites) and the
> blind affection for technology is no exception, but I tend to think we live
> in the world of 'gray,' mostly, technology included.
>   
We agree. But even in agreeing, I question why we agree and I question 
my own thoughts on this as I would like to believe that recent advances 
in communication technology can have a positive impact on humanity as a 
whole - but I have no data to support it and even have data to say that 
it isn't so. My question is - and this will be unpopular for many, but I 
think it is important - how can we justify ourselves other than saying 
we 'feel' we are doing the right thing? Where is the data that supports 
our position?

The faith in the idea that technology can help in any context, including 
human health, is good and I think it is important as being a core. But I 
also believe that we need to really do a bit of technocultural 
introspection and see what it is we are actually trying to achieve and 
how we are trying to achieve it. My best offer for a metric is one I 
bring up from time to time - counting smiles - but that is impractical.

Again, I might sound pessimistic but I am not trying to be. I want to 
know - *know* - how we are impacting, who we are impacting, and whether 
the positives and negatives for individuals balance or not. I do not 
know, and 'many' people say that they do know but they then refer to 
'many' other people... we have to have harder data than that somewhere. 
We should. Medicine is still run on statistics, though the human genome 
project should have thrown at least part of that out the window by now. 
The human genome project certainly can and has helped with health, and 
in that way has allowed technology to help medicine... but has it 
reached it's potential? I would like to think we can do better.

I just cannot tell you with any accuracy or margin of error whether we 
are actually doing anything of value. We need more data. At least I do.

-- 
Taran Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
cnd at knowprose.com

http://www.knowprose.com
http://www.your2ndplace.com

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/

"Criticize by creating." ? Michelangelo
"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla


From shsnow at mindspring.com  Fri Aug  8 16:10:31 2008
From: shsnow at mindspring.com (Stephen Snow)
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 16:10:31 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
Message-ID: <18439174.1218226231368.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net>

Taran,

Data is not a bad thing; it also is not every thing. Empiricism does not make for truth anymore than feeling makes for empiricism. [Was Decartes correct of did he just have it backward? Maybe instead of I think therefore I am, it is I am, therefore I think...and because I think I *know* that I am!] 

It takes a combination. Just as you say you need data, you cite a quixotic novelist as your own "data". That's not a criticism, it is merely a reflection fo the way we all are -- needing both "facts" and "knowing," the latter of which often is other than or beyond facts or empirical data.

Now, of course, data matter. And there is a dearth of solid data in many areas of the electronic world. And from a data perspective, then, we can't really "know" what works or to what depth. (It raises a huge question about the actual validity of ANY online mechanisms, doesbn't it? About all we truly know is that a lot of people [20% of 6 billion is still quite a bunch in my limited thinking] use the heck out of this stuff and they use it in their own ways and for their own purposes, which often aren't OUR purposes or even purposes we believe are "useful" or "valuable" or, even, "right."

What was it Sam Clemmens once wrote? There are three kinds of lies: "lies, damned lies and statistics." So it isn't just data but also the quality of the data -- how it was gathered, how it was conceived (!), how it was interpreted -- that matters, as well.

As long as I have been actively involved in the online world, and I'd put that right at about 20 years, I have believed (felt, sensed -- not known) that no one really knows what is going on with all of the online "things." As soon as someone says he/she does know, I am immediately skeptical. Companies often do this: they love to prognosticate value or usage or some certain future because it might benefit them in some way. The truth -- or better yet, my belief -- is that we all are still touching separate parts of the elephant and describing it as the whole.

--Steve Snow
shsnow at mindspring.com

-----Original Message-----
>From: Taran Rampersad <cnd at knowprose.com>
>Sent: Aug 8, 2008 8:37 AM
>To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
>Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
>
>I am not disagreeing with you, but I do have some questions and comments.
>
>Stephen Snow wrote:
>> Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people, electronic
>> connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways and,
>> because of that, they are healing.
>I'd like to think that you are right, but more accurately I *feel* that 
>you are right. Whether this feeling is correct or not would require 
>empirical data to substantiate it, and that never seems to come to the 
>fore. Realistically speaking, 20% of the humans held to this planet by 
>gravity are online. Factor in mobile phones and that percentage can go 
>up very high - but here's the issue: How do we *know* that? In the 
>circles we operate in - we who participate in discussion lists, social 
>networks, et al - how do we know that people we do not know see benefit 
>in these? And how do we substantiate the value of electronic connections?
>
>Kurt Vonnegut wrote this:
>
>"...Electronic communities build nothing. You wind up with nothing. We 
>are dancing animals. How beautiful it is to get up and go out and do 
>something. We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell 
>you any different..."
>
>(Man Without a Country, Chapter 6, last paragraph)
>
>I'm somewhere between Vonnegut and what 'many' people in electronic 
>communities claim. One of the issues I find interesting is the 
>telecenter, which is lauded as being one of the great things that works 
>toward the digital divide decreasing - and yet, the success of 
>telecenters is not necessarily in the electronic communities but the 
>communities - the human communities - that get together in the 
>telecenters and help each other out. Rarely do you hear of telecenters 
>being an integral aspect of social networking sites, etc - and that is 
>because their real asset is bring people together in a physical manner 
>while using technology.
>
>In essence, telecenters are an interesting success and their failure 
>comes when internet access at residences has a cost decrease which 
>permits people to stay at home. Yet is there a benefit to staying home 
>and working on one's computer, away from other human beings? Is it... 
>better? Or does it isolate us? Where is the balance? How much is good, 
>how much is bad? How do we know?
>
>We don't really. 'Many' people believe that we 'know', but we really 
>don't. Everyone is different. The people around us tend to support what 
>we believe because... those are the people we surround ourselves with.
>
>So, I understand what you mean and I agree with it. But I cannot 
>substantiate my agreement, and that is troubling. Maybe we're wrong. I 
>know we're all really smart and everything, but we could be wrong. When 
>a statement ends in 'because I said so', the 'I' has lost.
>>  I think it is oversimplifying to call it
>> merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a crutch and
>> anything improperly used can create further complications.
>Anything is a crutch. I agree. But we were discussing technology and 
>human health, not being human. :-)
>>  A doctor friend
>> of mine told me just last evening of a human error she made that cost a
>> person her life; has she put that woman on an ultrasound machine, she very
>> well might not be dying of cancer right now. I don't think of the world in
>> such starkly dualistic terms, generally, Taran -- heaven/hell, right/wrong.
>> Certainly there are moral absolutes (we all have our favorites) and the
>> blind affection for technology is no exception, but I tend to think we live
>> in the world of 'gray,' mostly, technology included.
>>   
>We agree. But even in agreeing, I question why we agree and I question 
>my own thoughts on this as I would like to believe that recent advances 
>in communication technology can have a positive impact on humanity as a 
>whole - but I have no data to support it and even have data to say that 
>it isn't so. My question is - and this will be unpopular for many, but I 
>think it is important - how can we justify ourselves other than saying 
>we 'feel' we are doing the right thing? Where is the data that supports 
>our position?
>
>The faith in the idea that technology can help in any context, including 
>human health, is good and I think it is important as being a core. But I 
>also believe that we need to really do a bit of technocultural 
>introspection and see what it is we are actually trying to achieve and 
>how we are trying to achieve it. My best offer for a metric is one I 
>bring up from time to time - counting smiles - but that is impractical.
>
>Again, I might sound pessimistic but I am not trying to be. I want to 
>know - *know* - how we are impacting, who we are impacting, and whether 
>the positives and negatives for individuals balance or not. I do not 
>know, and 'many' people say that they do know but they then refer to 
>'many' other people... we have to have harder data than that somewhere. 
>We should. Medicine is still run on statistics, though the human genome 
>project should have thrown at least part of that out the window by now. 
>The human genome project certainly can and has helped with health, and 
>in that way has allowed technology to help medicine... but has it 
>reached it's potential? I would like to think we can do better.
>
>I just cannot tell you with any accuracy or margin of error whether we 
>are actually doing anything of value. We need more data. At least I do.
>
>-- 
>Taran Rampersad
>Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
>cnd at knowprose.com
>
>http://www.knowprose.com
>http://www.your2ndplace.com
>
>Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/
>
>"Criticize by creating." ? Michelangelo
>"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine." - Nikola Tesla
>
>_______________________________________________
>DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
>DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
>http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
>To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.


Stephen Snow, PhD, LPC
Executive Director
Collaborative Family Health Association
www.cfha.net
shsnow at mindspring.com
828-689-3615
828-689-5066 (c)
"Nearly 70% of all health care visits have primarily a psychosocial basis." (Fries, et. Al 1993, Shapiro et al., 1985)

From jgallardo515 at yahoo.com  Sat Aug  9 11:11:24 2008
From: jgallardo515 at yahoo.com (Jorge Gallardo Rius)
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 08:11:24 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <18439174.1218226231368.JavaMail.root@mswamui-andean.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
Message-ID: <132314.71364.qm@web50502.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

Hey guys,
? What does all this have to do with Health and the Digital Divide?

--- On Fri, 8/8/08, Stephen Snow <shsnow at mindspring.com> wrote:

From: Stephen Snow <shsnow at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
Date: Friday, August 8, 2008, 3:10 PM

Taran,

Data is not a bad thing; it also is not every thing. Empiricism does not make
for truth anymore than feeling makes for empiricism. [Was Decartes correct of
did he just have it backward? Maybe instead of I think therefore I am, it is I
am, therefore I think...and because I think I *know* that I am!] 

It takes a combination. Just as you say you need data, you cite a quixotic
novelist as your own "data". That's not a criticism, it is merely
a reflection fo the way we all are -- needing both "facts" and
"knowing," the latter of which often is other than or beyond facts or
empirical data.

Now, of course, data matter. And there is a dearth of solid data in many areas
of the electronic world. And from a data perspective, then, we can't really
"know" what works or to what depth. (It raises a huge question about
the actual validity of ANY online mechanisms, doesbn't it? About all we
truly know is that a lot of people [20% of 6 billion is still quite a bunch in
my limited thinking] use the heck out of this stuff and they use it in their own
ways and for their own purposes, which often aren't OUR purposes or even
purposes we believe are "useful" or "valuable" or, even,
"right."

What was it Sam Clemmens once wrote? There are three kinds of lies: "lies,
damned lies and statistics." So it isn't just data but also the quality
of the data -- how it was gathered, how it was conceived (!), how it was
interpreted -- that matters, as well.

As long as I have been actively involved in the online world, and I'd put
that right at about 20 years, I have believed (felt, sensed -- not known) that
no one really knows what is going on with all of the online "things."
As soon as someone says he/she does know, I am immediately skeptical. Companies
often do this: they love to prognosticate value or usage or some certain future
because it might benefit them in some way. The truth -- or better yet, my belief
-- is that we all are still touching separate parts of the elephant and
describing it as the whole.

--Steve Snow
shsnow at mindspring.com

-----Original Message-----
>From: Taran Rampersad <cnd at knowprose.com>
>Sent: Aug 8, 2008 8:37 AM
>To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
<digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
>Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
>
>I am not disagreeing with you, but I do have some questions and comments.
>
>Stephen Snow wrote:
>> Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people,
electronic
>> connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways
and,
>> because of that, they are healing.
>I'd like to think that you are right, but more accurately I *feel* that

>you are right. Whether this feeling is correct or not would require 
>empirical data to substantiate it, and that never seems to come to the 
>fore. Realistically speaking, 20% of the humans held to this planet by 
>gravity are online. Factor in mobile phones and that percentage can go 
>up very high - but here's the issue: How do we *know* that? In the 
>circles we operate in - we who participate in discussion lists, social 
>networks, et al - how do we know that people we do not know see benefit 
>in these? And how do we substantiate the value of electronic connections?
>
>Kurt Vonnegut wrote this:
>
>"...Electronic communities build nothing. You wind up with nothing. We

>are dancing animals. How beautiful it is to get up and go out and do 
>something. We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell 
>you any different..."
>
>(Man Without a Country, Chapter 6, last paragraph)
>
>I'm somewhere between Vonnegut and what 'many' people in
electronic 
>communities claim. One of the issues I find interesting is the 
>telecenter, which is lauded as being one of the great things that works 
>toward the digital divide decreasing - and yet, the success of 
>telecenters is not necessarily in the electronic communities but the 
>communities - the human communities - that get together in the 
>telecenters and help each other out. Rarely do you hear of telecenters 
>being an integral aspect of social networking sites, etc - and that is 
>because their real asset is bring people together in a physical manner 
>while using technology.
>
>In essence, telecenters are an interesting success and their failure 
>comes when internet access at residences has a cost decrease which 
>permits people to stay at home. Yet is there a benefit to staying home 
>and working on one's computer, away from other human beings? Is it... 
>better? Or does it isolate us? Where is the balance? How much is good, 
>how much is bad? How do we know?
>
>We don't really. 'Many' people believe that we 'know',
but we really 
>don't. Everyone is different. The people around us tend to support what

>we believe because... those are the people we surround ourselves with.
>
>So, I understand what you mean and I agree with it. But I cannot 
>substantiate my agreement, and that is troubling. Maybe we're wrong. I 
>know we're all really smart and everything, but we could be wrong. When

>a statement ends in 'because I said so', the 'I' has lost.
>>  I think it is oversimplifying to call it
>> merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a crutch
and
>> anything improperly used can create further complications.
>Anything is a crutch. I agree. But we were discussing technology and 
>human health, not being human. :-)
>>  A doctor friend
>> of mine told me just last evening of a human error she made that cost
a
>> person her life; has she put that woman on an ultrasound machine, she
very
>> well might not be dying of cancer right now. I don't think of the
world in
>> such starkly dualistic terms, generally, Taran -- heaven/hell,
right/wrong.
>> Certainly there are moral absolutes (we all have our favorites) and
the
>> blind affection for technology is no exception, but I tend to think we
live
>> in the world of 'gray,' mostly, technology included.
>>   
>We agree. But even in agreeing, I question why we agree and I question 
>my own thoughts on this as I would like to believe that recent advances 
>in communication technology can have a positive impact on humanity as a 
>whole - but I have no data to support it and even have data to say that 
>it isn't so. My question is - and this will be unpopular for many, but
I 
>think it is important - how can we justify ourselves other than saying 
>we 'feel' we are doing the right thing? Where is the data that
supports 
>our position?
>
>The faith in the idea that technology can help in any context, including 
>human health, is good and I think it is important as being a core. But I 
>also believe that we need to really do a bit of technocultural 
>introspection and see what it is we are actually trying to achieve and 
>how we are trying to achieve it. My best offer for a metric is one I 
>bring up from time to time - counting smiles - but that is impractical.
>
>Again, I might sound pessimistic but I am not trying to be. I want to 
>know - *know* - how we are impacting, who we are impacting, and whether 
>the positives and negatives for individuals balance or not. I do not 
>know, and 'many' people say that they do know but they then refer
to 
>'many' other people... we have to have harder data than that
somewhere. 
>We should. Medicine is still run on statistics, though the human genome 
>project should have thrown at least part of that out the window by now. 
>The human genome project certainly can and has helped with health, and 
>in that way has allowed technology to help medicine... but has it 
>reached it's potential? I would like to think we can do better.
>
>I just cannot tell you with any accuracy or margin of error whether we 
>are actually doing anything of value. We need more data. At least I do.
>
>-- 
>Taran Rampersad
>Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
>cnd at knowprose.com
>
>http://www.knowprose.com
>http://www.your2ndplace.com
>
>Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/
>
>"Criticize by creating." ? Michelangelo
>"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is
mine." - Nikola Tesla
>
>_______________________________________________
>DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
>DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
>http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
>To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net
with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.


Stephen Snow, PhD, LPC
Executive Director
Collaborative Family Health Association
www.cfha.net
shsnow at mindspring.com
828-689-3615
828-689-5066 (c)
"Nearly 70% of all health care visits have primarily a psychosocial
basis." (Fries, et. Al 1993, Shapiro et al., 1985)
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with
the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.


      

From jgallardo515 at yahoo.com  Sat Aug  9 12:17:25 2008
From: jgallardo515 at yahoo.com (Jorge Gallardo Rius)
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 09:17:25 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <A114961D625BD64F9DC27B34B6225AA202C86F63@memoir.skokie.lib.il.us>
Message-ID: <360312.18347.qm@web50502.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

Dear Frances,
? Thank you for showing me the tip about Medline.? I found it also had information and videos in Spanish.? This is interesting to us because I work with the Social Security Institute of Honduras, in Central America.
? Specifically I work with the Occupational Safety and Health Division and we do alot of training in businesses where we don?t always have access to internet while training.? Is there a way I can download these videos and run them from a laptop computer using a datashow.? For instance, we talk about stress related problems at work and the video on Heart attacks would be really useful to us.
? Thank you very much for your assistance.
?
Jorge Gallardo Rius
Gerente de Riesgos Profesionales
Instituto Hondure?o de Seguridad Social?

--- On Thu, 8/7/08, Frances Roehm <FRoehm at skokielibrary.info> wrote:

From: Frances Roehm <FRoehm at skokielibrary.info>
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
Date: Thursday, August 7, 2008, 3:40 PM

While you're discussing health and the Divide, you should know about
MedlinePlus.gov and the GoLocal
project. It takes resources collected by the National Library of
Medicine and adds on the support groups,
clinics, and other local entities folks would want to know about for
their specific health issue. For
example, select a health topic such as diabetes, then scroll down to
GoLocal on the right and select 
your state. From there you can get to specific areas of your state or
region. 

The site is easy to navigate and the resources include one or two page
fact sheets from highly regarded
institutions that are easy for a patient or family member to understand.

Frances E. Roehm
SkokieNet Librarian
Skokie Public Library
phone: 847.324.3173  fax: 847.673.7797
email: froehm at skokielibrary.info 


**** SkokieNet : Making Connections and Building Community in Skokie,
Illinois since 1995! ****
                                      ********   SkokieNet
http://www.skokienet.org  ********


  



-----Original Message-----
From: digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net
[mailto:digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net] On Behalf Of Stephen
Snow
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 5:22 AM
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health


Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people,
electronic
connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways
and, because of that, they are healing. I think it is oversimplifying to
call it merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a
crutch and anything improperly used can create further complications. A
doctor friend of mine told me just last evening of a human error she
made that cost a person her life; has she put that woman on an
ultrasound machine, she very well might not be dying of cancer right
now. I don't think of the world in such starkly dualistic terms,
generally, Taran -- heaven/hell, right/wrong. Certainly there are moral
absolutes (we all have our favorites) and the blind affection for
technology is no exception, but I tend to think we live in the world of
'gray,' mostly, technology included.

Steve Snow


On 8/6/08 6:17 PM, "Taran Rampersad" <cnd at knowprose.com> wrote:

> Stephen Snow wrote:
> <stuff snipped>
-- making human 
> connections and relationships vitally important as an aspect of human 
> health.
>
> --Steve Snow
>

Human connections and relationships should not
> be confused with
technology offering a replacement; people have yet to figure
> out how to
transmit a hug.

That said, I have met people within Second Life
> who are quite happy that 
they can do some of the things that they can. That
> said, it is a poor 
replacement for human contact and interaction and will
> continue to be 
until somehow we reinvent our own world. Technology is a
> crutch, not a 
replacement - it can help with healing, yes, but if improperly
> used can 
create further complications.

At the end of the day, people are
> people. Machines and technology only 
go so far - and, if we think it through,
> they should only go so far in 
most cases. If we must have a heaven of
> technology, let us not forget 
that heaven comes with hell.

-- 
Taran
> Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, 


_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to
digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the
body of the message.
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with
the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.



      

From carlwebb at gmail.com  Sat Aug  9 11:42:04 2008
From: carlwebb at gmail.com (Carl Webb)
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 10:42:04 -0500
Subject: [DDN] South by Southwest (SXSW,
	Inc.) panel proposal: Can Social Media End Racism?
Message-ID: <b2dbe5170808090842x64513edbi164ae6540370b609@mail.gmail.com>

Source: http://www.angryasianman.com

Check it out. Blogger pal Carmen Van Kerckhove of Racialicious has
proposed a panel idea for next year's SXSW Interactive conference, and
it looks like it could be pretty cool, but it needs your votes ...
Please vote! From Angry Asian Man:

"The panel, titled Can Social Media End Racism?, aims to examine "the
ideas of race in the digital environment with a specific focus on
social media." I'm tentatively committed to participate in the panel,
so if everything works out, I could be there alongside Carmen, Jay
Smooth of Ill Doctrine and other cool bloggers next March at SXSW."

http://www.angryasianman.com/2008/08/vote-for-our-sxsw-panel.html

Other panelists may include Jay Smooth and Phil Yu. Jay Smooth vlogs
at Ill Doctrine (http://www.illdoctrine.com), blogs at
hiphopmusic.com, and founded New York's longest running hip-hop radio
show, WBAI's Underground Railroad. Phil Yu blogs at Angry Asian Man
(http://www.angryasianman.com), a blog about Asian-American news,
politics, and pop culture. Here's a little bit more about myself: I'm
co-founder and president of New Demographic
(http://www.newdemographic.com), a consulting firm that helps people
learn about the real issues behind race and racism without having to
endure the misery of diversity training. I publish Racialicious
(http://www.racialicious.com), an award-winning, influential blog
about race and pop culture. I also host the podcast Addicted to Race
(http://www.addictedtorace.com) and blog at Anti-Racist Parent
(http://www.antiracistparent.com) and Race in the Workplace
(http://www.raceintheworkplace.com).

From shsnow at mindspring.com  Sat Aug  9 13:05:41 2008
From: shsnow at mindspring.com (Stephen Snow)
Date: Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:05:41 -0400
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <132314.71364.qm@web50502.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <C4C346A5.419%shsnow@mindspring.com>

The thread was about "knowing" the impact of the digital world on
health/healthcare. We just went down a little side road about knowing. It's
a healthy thing to do from time to time. ;-)
Steve snow 


On 8/9/08 11:11 AM, "Jorge Gallardo Rius" <jgallardo515 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Hey guys,
> ? What does all this have to do with Health and the Digital Divide?
> 
> --- On Fri, 8/8/08, Stephen Snow <shsnow at mindspring.com> wrote:
> 
> From: Stephen Snow <shsnow at mindspring.com>
> Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
> To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group"
> <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
> Date: Friday, August 8, 2008, 3:10 PM
> 
> Taran,
> 
> Data is not a bad thing; it also is not every thing. Empiricism does not make
> for truth anymore than feeling makes for empiricism. [Was Decartes correct of
> did he just have it backward? Maybe instead of I think therefore I am, it is I
> am, therefore I think...and because I think I *know* that I am!]
> 
> It takes a combination. Just as you say you need data, you cite a quixotic
> novelist as your own "data". That's not a criticism, it is merely
> a reflection fo the way we all are -- needing both "facts" and
> "knowing," the latter of which often is other than or beyond facts or
> empirical data.
> 
> Now, of course, data matter. And there is a dearth of solid data in many areas
> of the electronic world. And from a data perspective, then, we can't really
> "know" what works or to what depth. (It raises a huge question about
> the actual validity of ANY online mechanisms, doesbn't it? About all we
> truly know is that a lot of people [20% of 6 billion is still quite a bunch in
> my limited thinking] use the heck out of this stuff and they use it in their
> own
> ways and for their own purposes, which often aren't OUR purposes or even
> purposes we believe are "useful" or "valuable" or, even,
> "right."
> 
> What was it Sam Clemmens once wrote? There are three kinds of lies: "lies,
> damned lies and statistics." So it isn't just data but also the quality
> of the data -- how it was gathered, how it was conceived (!), how it was
> interpreted -- that matters, as well.
> 
> As long as I have been actively involved in the online world, and I'd put
> that right at about 20 years, I have believed (felt, sensed -- not known) that
> no one really knows what is going on with all of the online "things."
> As soon as someone says he/she does know, I am immediately skeptical.
> Companies
> often do this: they love to prognosticate value or usage or some certain
> future
> because it might benefit them in some way. The truth -- or better yet, my
> belief
> -- is that we all are still touching separate parts of the elephant and
> describing it as the whole.
> 
> --Steve Snow
> shsnow at mindspring.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Taran Rampersad <cnd at knowprose.com>
>> Sent: Aug 8, 2008 8:37 AM
>> To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
> <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
>> Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
>> 
>> I am not disagreeing with you, but I do have some questions and comments.
>> 
>> Stephen Snow wrote:
>>> Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people,
> electronic
>>> connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways
> and,
>>> because of that, they are healing.
>> I'd like to think that you are right, but more accurately I *feel* that
> 
>> you are right. Whether this feeling is correct or not would require
>> empirical data to substantiate it, and that never seems to come to the
>> fore. Realistically speaking, 20% of the humans held to this planet by
>> gravity are online. Factor in mobile phones and that percentage can go
>> up very high - but here's the issue: How do we *know* that? In the
>> circles we operate in - we who participate in discussion lists, social
>> networks, et al - how do we know that people we do not know see benefit
>> in these? And how do we substantiate the value of electronic connections?
>> 
>> Kurt Vonnegut wrote this:
>> 
>> "...Electronic communities build nothing. You wind up with nothing. We
> 
>> are dancing animals. How beautiful it is to get up and go out and do
>> something. We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell
>> you any different..."
>> 
>> (Man Without a Country, Chapter 6, last paragraph)
>> 
>> I'm somewhere between Vonnegut and what 'many' people in
> electronic 
>> communities claim. One of the issues I find interesting is the
>> telecenter, which is lauded as being one of the great things that works
>> toward the digital divide decreasing - and yet, the success of
>> telecenters is not necessarily in the electronic communities but the
>> communities - the human communities - that get together in the
>> telecenters and help each other out. Rarely do you hear of telecenters
>> being an integral aspect of social networking sites, etc - and that is
>> because their real asset is bring people together in a physical manner
>> while using technology.
>> 
>> In essence, telecenters are an interesting success and their failure
>> comes when internet access at residences has a cost decrease which
>> permits people to stay at home. Yet is there a benefit to staying home
>> and working on one's computer, away from other human beings? Is it...
>> better? Or does it isolate us? Where is the balance? How much is good,
>> how much is bad? How do we know?
>> 
>> We don't really. 'Many' people believe that we 'know',
> but we really 
>> don't. Everyone is different. The people around us tend to support what
> 
>> we believe because... those are the people we surround ourselves with.
>> 
>> So, I understand what you mean and I agree with it. But I cannot
>> substantiate my agreement, and that is troubling. Maybe we're wrong. I
>> know we're all really smart and everything, but we could be wrong. When
> 
>> a statement ends in 'because I said so', the 'I' has lost.
>>>  I think it is oversimplifying to call it
>>> merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a crutch
> and
>>> anything improperly used can create further complications.
>> Anything is a crutch. I agree. But we were discussing technology and
>> human health, not being human. :-)
>>>  A doctor friend
>>> of mine told me just last evening of a human error she made that cost
> a
>>> person her life; has she put that woman on an ultrasound machine, she
> very
>>> well might not be dying of cancer right now. I don't think of the
> world in
>>> such starkly dualistic terms, generally, Taran -- heaven/hell,
> right/wrong.
>>> Certainly there are moral absolutes (we all have our favorites) and
> the
>>> blind affection for technology is no exception, but I tend to think we
> live
>>> in the world of 'gray,' mostly, technology included.
>>>   
>> We agree. But even in agreeing, I question why we agree and I question
>> my own thoughts on this as I would like to believe that recent advances
>> in communication technology can have a positive impact on humanity as a
>> whole - but I have no data to support it and even have data to say that
>> it isn't so. My question is - and this will be unpopular for many, but
> I 
>> think it is important - how can we justify ourselves other than saying
>> we 'feel' we are doing the right thing? Where is the data that
> supports 
>> our position?
>> 
>> The faith in the idea that technology can help in any context, including
>> human health, is good and I think it is important as being a core. But I
>> also believe that we need to really do a bit of technocultural
>> introspection and see what it is we are actually trying to achieve and
>> how we are trying to achieve it. My best offer for a metric is one I
>> bring up from time to time - counting smiles - but that is impractical.
>> 
>> Again, I might sound pessimistic but I am not trying to be. I want to
>> know - *know* - how we are impacting, who we are impacting, and whether
>> the positives and negatives for individuals balance or not. I do not
>> know, and 'many' people say that they do know but they then refer
> to 
>> 'many' other people... we have to have harder data than that
> somewhere. 
>> We should. Medicine is still run on statistics, though the human genome
>> project should have thrown at least part of that out the window by now.
>> The human genome project certainly can and has helped with health, and
>> in that way has allowed technology to help medicine... but has it
>> reached it's potential? I would like to think we can do better.
>> 
>> I just cannot tell you with any accuracy or margin of error whether we
>> are actually doing anything of value. We need more data. At least I do.
>> 
>> -- 
>> Taran Rampersad
>> Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
>> cnd at knowprose.com
>> 
>> http://www.knowprose.com
>> http://www.your2ndplace.com
>> 
>> Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/
>> 
>> "Criticize by creating." ? Michelangelo
>> "The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is
> mine." - Nikola Tesla
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
>> DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
>> http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
>> To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net
> with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
> 
> 
> Stephen Snow, PhD, LPC
> Executive Director
> Collaborative Family Health Association
> www.cfha.net
> shsnow at mindspring.com
> 828-689-3615
> 828-689-5066 (c)
> "Nearly 70% of all health care visits have primarily a psychosocial
> basis." (Fries, et. Al 1993, Shapiro et al., 1985)
> _______________________________________________
> DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
> DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
> http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
> To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with
> the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
> 
> 
>       
> _______________________________________________
> DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
> DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
> http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
> To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with
> the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.



From mary.dawson at solihull.ac.uk  Sat Aug  9 13:05:48 2008
From: mary.dawson at solihull.ac.uk (Mary Dawson)
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 18:05:48 +0100
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
Message-ID: <FB41BA6AF0409642AD3C7E5ADA172709030CB2CC@exchange-2.solihull.ac.uk>

Hi there
I think I asked the same question myself earlier??????
 
Mary

________________________________

From: digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net on behalf of Jorge Gallardo Rius
Sent: Sat 8/9/2008 16:11
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health



Hey guys,
  What does all this have to do with Health and the Digital Divide?

--- On Fri, 8/8/08, Stephen Snow <shsnow at mindspring.com> wrote:

From: Stephen Snow <shsnow at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
Date: Friday, August 8, 2008, 3:10 PM

Taran,

Data is not a bad thing; it also is not every thing. Empiricism does not make
for truth anymore than feeling makes for empiricism. [Was Decartes correct of
did he just have it backward? Maybe instead of I think therefore I am, it is I
am, therefore I think...and because I think I *know* that I am!]

It takes a combination. Just as you say you need data, you cite a quixotic
novelist as your own "data". That's not a criticism, it is merely
a reflection fo the way we all are -- needing both "facts" and
"knowing," the latter of which often is other than or beyond facts or
empirical data.

Now, of course, data matter. And there is a dearth of solid data in many areas
of the electronic world. And from a data perspective, then, we can't really
"know" what works or to what depth. (It raises a huge question about
the actual validity of ANY online mechanisms, doesbn't it? About all we
truly know is that a lot of people [20% of 6 billion is still quite a bunch in
my limited thinking] use the heck out of this stuff and they use it in their own
ways and for their own purposes, which often aren't OUR purposes or even
purposes we believe are "useful" or "valuable" or, even,
"right."

What was it Sam Clemmens once wrote? There are three kinds of lies: "lies,
damned lies and statistics." So it isn't just data but also the quality
of the data -- how it was gathered, how it was conceived (!), how it was
interpreted -- that matters, as well.

As long as I have been actively involved in the online world, and I'd put
that right at about 20 years, I have believed (felt, sensed -- not known) that
no one really knows what is going on with all of the online "things."
As soon as someone says he/she does know, I am immediately skeptical. Companies
often do this: they love to prognosticate value or usage or some certain future
because it might benefit them in some way. The truth -- or better yet, my belief
-- is that we all are still touching separate parts of the elephant and
describing it as the whole.

--Steve Snow
shsnow at mindspring.com

-----Original Message-----
>From: Taran Rampersad <cnd at knowprose.com>
>Sent: Aug 8, 2008 8:37 AM
>To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
<digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
>Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
>
>I am not disagreeing with you, but I do have some questions and comments.
>
>Stephen Snow wrote:
>> Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people,
electronic
>> connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways
and,
>> because of that, they are healing.
>I'd like to think that you are right, but more accurately I *feel* that

>you are right. Whether this feeling is correct or not would require
>empirical data to substantiate it, and that never seems to come to the
>fore. Realistically speaking, 20% of the humans held to this planet by
>gravity are online. Factor in mobile phones and that percentage can go
>up very high - but here's the issue: How do we *know* that? In the
>circles we operate in - we who participate in discussion lists, social
>networks, et al - how do we know that people we do not know see benefit
>in these? And how do we substantiate the value of electronic connections?
>
>Kurt Vonnegut wrote this:
>
>"...Electronic communities build nothing. You wind up with nothing. We

>are dancing animals. How beautiful it is to get up and go out and do
>something. We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell
>you any different..."
>
>(Man Without a Country, Chapter 6, last paragraph)
>
>I'm somewhere between Vonnegut and what 'many' people in
electronic
>communities claim. One of the issues I find interesting is the
>telecenter, which is lauded as being one of the great things that works
>toward the digital divide decreasing - and yet, the success of
>telecenters is not necessarily in the electronic communities but the
>communities - the human communities - that get together in the
>telecenters and help each other out. Rarely do you hear of telecenters
>being an integral aspect of social networking sites, etc - and that is
>because their real asset is bring people together in a physical manner
>while using technology.
>
>In essence, telecenters are an interesting success and their failure
>comes when internet access at residences has a cost decrease which
>permits people to stay at home. Yet is there a benefit to staying home
>and working on one's computer, away from other human beings? Is it...
>better? Or does it isolate us? Where is the balance? How much is good,
>how much is bad? How do we know?
>
>We don't really. 'Many' people believe that we 'know',
but we really
>don't. Everyone is different. The people around us tend to support what

>we believe because... those are the people we surround ourselves with.
>
>So, I understand what you mean and I agree with it. But I cannot
>substantiate my agreement, and that is troubling. Maybe we're wrong. I
>know we're all really smart and everything, but we could be wrong. When

>a statement ends in 'because I said so', the 'I' has lost.
>>  I think it is oversimplifying to call it
>> merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a crutch
and
>> anything improperly used can create further complications.
>Anything is a crutch. I agree. But we were discussing technology and
>human health, not being human. :-)
>>  A doctor friend
>> of mine told me just last evening of a human error she made that cost
a
>> person her life; has she put that woman on an ultrasound machine, she
very
>> well might not be dying of cancer right now. I don't think of the
world in
>> such starkly dualistic terms, generally, Taran -- heaven/hell,
right/wrong.
>> Certainly there are moral absolutes (we all have our favorites) and
the
>> blind affection for technology is no exception, but I tend to think we
live
>> in the world of 'gray,' mostly, technology included.
>>  
>We agree. But even in agreeing, I question why we agree and I question
>my own thoughts on this as I would like to believe that recent advances
>in communication technology can have a positive impact on humanity as a
>whole - but I have no data to support it and even have data to say that
>it isn't so. My question is - and this will be unpopular for many, but
I
>think it is important - how can we justify ourselves other than saying
>we 'feel' we are doing the right thing? Where is the data that
supports
>our position?
>
>The faith in the idea that technology can help in any context, including
>human health, is good and I think it is important as being a core. But I
>also believe that we need to really do a bit of technocultural
>introspection and see what it is we are actually trying to achieve and
>how we are trying to achieve it. My best offer for a metric is one I
>bring up from time to time - counting smiles - but that is impractical.
>
>Again, I might sound pessimistic but I am not trying to be. I want to
>know - *know* - how we are impacting, who we are impacting, and whether
>the positives and negatives for individuals balance or not. I do not
>know, and 'many' people say that they do know but they then refer
to
>'many' other people... we have to have harder data than that
somewhere.
>We should. Medicine is still run on statistics, though the human genome
>project should have thrown at least part of that out the window by now.
>The human genome project certainly can and has helped with health, and
>in that way has allowed technology to help medicine... but has it
>reached it's potential? I would like to think we can do better.
>
>I just cannot tell you with any accuracy or margin of error whether we
>are actually doing anything of value. We need more data. At least I do.
>
>--
>Taran Rampersad
>Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
>cnd at knowprose.com
>
>http://www.knowprose.com
>http://www.your2ndplace.com
>
>Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/
>
>"Criticize by creating." - Michelangelo
>"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is
mine." - Nikola Tesla
>
>_______________________________________________
>DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
>DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
>http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
>To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net
with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.


Stephen Snow, PhD, LPC
Executive Director
Collaborative Family Health Association
www.cfha.net
shsnow at mindspring.com
828-689-3615
828-689-5066 (c)
"Nearly 70% of all health care visits have primarily a psychosocial
basis." (Fries, et. Al 1993, Shapiro et al., 1985)
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with
the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.


     
_______________________________________________
DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.

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From paperlesshomework at yahoo.com  Sat Aug  9 14:05:30 2008
From: paperlesshomework at yahoo.com (Paperless Homework)
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 11:05:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <FB41BA6AF0409642AD3C7E5ADA172709030CB2CC@exchange-2.solihull.ac.uk>
Message-ID: <970935.77243.qm@web62305.mail.re1.yahoo.com>

Just wondering ... all these talks. Where are they leading to?

Lots of theories but would love to hear more about actual actions.

Anyone here actually improving digital divide and Human Health activities? And how?

Alan 

--- On Sun, 8/10/08, Mary Dawson <mary.dawson at solihull.ac.uk> wrote:
From: Mary Dawson <mary.dawson at solihull.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
Date: Sunday, August 10, 2008, 1:05 AM

Hi there
I think I asked the same question myself earlier??????
 
Mary

________________________________

From: digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net on behalf of Jorge Gallardo Rius
Sent: Sat 8/9/2008 16:11
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health



Hey guys,
  What does all this have to do with Health and the Digital Divide?

--- On Fri, 8/8/08, Stephen Snow <shsnow at mindspring.com> wrote:

From: Stephen Snow <shsnow at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group"
<digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
Date: Friday, August 8, 2008, 3:10 PM

Taran,

Data is not a bad thing; it also is not every thing. Empiricism does not make
for truth anymore than feeling makes for empiricism. [Was Decartes correct of
did he just have it backward? Maybe instead of I think therefore I am, it is I
am, therefore I think...and because I think I *know* that I am!]

It takes a combination. Just as you say you need data, you cite a quixotic
novelist as your own "data". That's not a criticism, it is merely
a reflection fo the way we all are -- needing both "facts" and
"knowing," the latter of which often is other than or beyond facts or
empirical data.

Now, of course, data matter. And there is a dearth of solid data in many areas
of the electronic world. And from a data perspective, then, we can't really
"know" what works or to what depth. (It raises a huge question about
the actual validity of ANY online mechanisms, doesbn't it? About all we
truly know is that a lot of people [20% of 6 billion is still quite a bunch in
my limited thinking] use the heck out of this stuff and they use it in their
own
ways and for their own purposes, which often aren't OUR purposes or even
purposes we believe are "useful" or "valuable" or, even,
"right."

What was it Sam Clemmens once wrote? There are three kinds of lies: "lies,
damned lies and statistics." So it isn't just data but also the
quality
of the data -- how it was gathered, how it was conceived (!), how it was
interpreted -- that matters, as well.

As long as I have been actively involved in the online world, and I'd put
that right at about 20 years, I have believed (felt, sensed -- not known) that
no one really knows what is going on with all of the online "things."
As soon as someone says he/she does know, I am immediately skeptical. Companies
often do this: they love to prognosticate value or usage or some certain future
because it might benefit them in some way. The truth -- or better yet, my
belief
-- is that we all are still touching separate parts of the elephant and
describing it as the whole.

--Steve Snow
shsnow at mindspring.com

-----Original Message-----
>From: Taran Rampersad <cnd at knowprose.com>
>Sent: Aug 8, 2008 8:37 AM
>To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
<digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
>Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
>
>I am not disagreeing with you, but I do have some questions and comments.
>
>Stephen Snow wrote:
>> Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people,
electronic
>> connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways
and,
>> because of that, they are healing.
>I'd like to think that you are right, but more accurately I *feel* that

>you are right. Whether this feeling is correct or not would require
>empirical data to substantiate it, and that never seems to come to the
>fore. Realistically speaking, 20% of the humans held to this planet by
>gravity are online. Factor in mobile phones and that percentage can go
>up very high - but here's the issue: How do we *know* that? In the
>circles we operate in - we who participate in discussion lists, social
>networks, et al - how do we know that people we do not know see benefit
>in these? And how do we substantiate the value of electronic connections?
>
>Kurt Vonnegut wrote this:
>
>"...Electronic communities build nothing. You wind up with nothing. We

>are dancing animals. How beautiful it is to get up and go out and do
>something. We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell
>you any different..."
>
>(Man Without a Country, Chapter 6, last paragraph)
>
>I'm somewhere between Vonnegut and what 'many' people in
electronic
>communities claim. One of the issues I find interesting is the
>telecenter, which is lauded as being one of the great things that works
>toward the digital divide decreasing - and yet, the success of
>telecenters is not necessarily in the electronic communities but the
>communities - the human communities - that get together in the
>telecenters and help each other out. Rarely do you hear of telecenters
>being an integral aspect of social networking sites, etc - and that is
>because their real asset is bring people together in a physical manner
>while using technology.
>
>In essence, telecenters are an interesting success and their failure
>comes when internet access at residences has a cost decrease which
>permits people to stay at home. Yet is there a benefit to staying home
>and working on one's computer, away from other human beings? Is it...
>better? Or does it isolate us? Where is the balance? How much is good,
>how much is bad? How do we know?
>
>We don't really. 'Many' people believe that we 'know',
but we really
>don't. Everyone is different. The people around us tend to support what

>we believe because... those are the people we surround ourselves with.
>
>So, I understand what you mean and I agree with it. But I cannot
>substantiate my agreement, and that is troubling. Maybe we're wrong. I
>know we're all really smart and everything, but we could be wrong. When

>a statement ends in 'because I said so', the 'I' has lost.
>>  I think it is oversimplifying to call it
>> merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a crutch
and
>> anything improperly used can create further complications.
>Anything is a crutch. I agree. But we were discussing technology and
>human health, not being human. :-)
>>  A doctor friend
>> of mine told me just last evening of a human error she made that cost
a
>> person her life; has she put that woman on an ultrasound machine, she
very
>> well might not be dying of cancer right now. I don't think of the
world in
>> such starkly dualistic terms, generally, Taran -- heaven/hell,
right/wrong.
>> Certainly there are moral absolutes (we all have our favorites) and
the
>> blind affection for technology is no exception, but I tend to think we
live
>> in the world of 'gray,' mostly, technology included.
>>  
>We agree. But even in agreeing, I question why we agree and I question
>my own thoughts on this as I would like to believe that recent advances
>in communication technology can have a positive impact on humanity as a
>whole - but I have no data to support it and even have data to say that
>it isn't so. My question is - and this will be unpopular for many, but
I
>think it is important - how can we justify ourselves other than saying
>we 'feel' we are doing the right thing? Where is the data that
supports
>our position?
>
>The faith in the idea that technology can help in any context, including
>human health, is good and I think it is important as being a core. But I
>also believe that we need to really do a bit of technocultural
>introspection and see what it is we are actually trying to achieve and
>how we are trying to achieve it. My best offer for a metric is one I
>bring up from time to time - counting smiles - but that is impractical.
>
>Again, I might sound pessimistic but I am not trying to be. I want to
>know - *know* - how we are impacting, who we are impacting, and whether
>the positives and negatives for individuals balance or not. I do not
>know, and 'many' people say that they do know but they then refer
to
>'many' other people... we have to have harder data than that
somewhere.
>We should. Medicine is still run on statistics, though the human genome
>project should have thrown at least part of that out the window by now.
>The human genome project certainly can and has helped with health, and
>in that way has allowed technology to help medicine... but has it
>reached it's potential? I would like to think we can do better.
>
>I just cannot tell you with any accuracy or margin of error whether we
>are actually doing anything of value. We need more data. At least I do.
>
>--
>Taran Rampersad
>Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad
>cnd at knowprose.com
>
>http://www.knowprose.com
>http://www.your2ndplace.com
>
>Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowprose/
>
>"Criticize by creating." - Michelangelo
>"The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is
mine." - Nikola Tesla
>
>_______________________________________________
>DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list
>DIGITALDIVIDE at digitaldivide.net
>http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide
>To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request at digitaldivide.net
with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.


Stephen Snow, PhD, LPC
Executive Director
Collaborative Family Health Association
www.cfha.net
shsnow at mindspring.com
828-689-3615
828-689-5066 (c)
"Nearly 70% of all health care visits have primarily a psychosocial
basis." (Fries, et. Al 1993, Shapiro et al., 1985)
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From SiobhanChamp-Blackwell at creighton.edu  Sat Aug  9 18:00:29 2008
From: SiobhanChamp-Blackwell at creighton.edu (Champ-Blackwell, Siobhan)
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 17:00:29 -0500
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <360312.18347.qm@web50502.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
References: <A114961D625BD64F9DC27B34B6225AA202C86F63@memoir.skokie.lib.il.us>
	<360312.18347.qm@web50502.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <BB3EEC584579204DB6E2CA0F6DB7566F0EF17EB7@exbe01.blue.jays.creighton.edu>

I was really pleased to see this posted by Frances as well. The National Library of Medicine was not able to get a contract that allows the downloading of these training materials. However, you can find material in Spanish (and other languages) to download at Healthy Roads Media http://www.healthyroadsmedia.org/ and Twenty Four Languages http://library.med.utah.edu/24languages/spanish.html Frances, do you know of other resources that have downloadable materials? 

The National Network of Libraries of Medicine has put together this searchable resource of materials in other languages http://nnlm.gov/outreach/consumer/multi.html Most are print materials, but the two resources above are in this list. 

Siobhan

Siobhan Champ-Blackwell
Community Outreach Liaison
National Network of Libraries of Medicine MidContinental Region
Creighton University Health Sciences Library
2500 California Plaza
Omaha, NE 68178
402.280.4156/800.338.7657 option#1,#2, then #1
siobhan at creighton.edu
http://nnlm.gov/mcr 
http://nnlm.gov/mcr/bhic/
http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/siobhanchamp-blackwell  
-----Original Message-----
From: digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net [mailto:digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net] On Behalf Of Jorge Gallardo Rius
Sent: Saturday, August 09, 2008 11:17 AM
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Cc: Frances Roehm
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health

Dear Frances,
? Thank you for showing me the tip about Medline.? I found it also had information and videos in Spanish.? This is interesting to us because I work with the Social Security Institute of Honduras, in Central America.
? Specifically I work with the Occupational Safety and Health Division and we do alot of training in businesses where we don?t always have access to internet while training.? Is there a way I can download these videos and run them from a laptop computer using a datashow.? For instance, we talk about stress related problems at work and the video on Heart attacks would be really useful to us.
? Thank you very much for your assistance.
?
Jorge Gallardo Rius
Gerente de Riesgos Profesionales
Instituto Hondure?o de Seguridad Social?

--- On Thu, 8/7/08, Frances Roehm <FRoehm at skokielibrary.info> wrote:

From: Frances Roehm <FRoehm at skokielibrary.info>
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
Date: Thursday, August 7, 2008, 3:40 PM

While you're discussing health and the Divide, you should know about
MedlinePlus.gov and the GoLocal
project. It takes resources collected by the National Library of
Medicine and adds on the support groups,
clinics, and other local entities folks would want to know about for
their specific health issue. For
example, select a health topic such as diabetes, then scroll down to
GoLocal on the right and select 
your state. From there you can get to specific areas of your state or
region. 

The site is easy to navigate and the resources include one or two page
fact sheets from highly regarded
institutions that are easy for a patient or family member to understand.

Frances E. Roehm
SkokieNet Librarian
Skokie Public Library
phone: 847.324.3173  fax: 847.673.7797
email: froehm at skokielibrary.info 


**** SkokieNet : Making Connections and Building Community in Skokie,
Illinois since 1995! ****
                                      ********   SkokieNet
http://www.skokienet.org  ********


  



-----Original Message-----
From: digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net
[mailto:digitaldivide-bounces at digitaldivide.net] On Behalf Of Stephen
Snow
Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 5:22 AM
To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health


Don't think that I confuse the two; I don't. For many people,
electronic
connections are very important aspects of their lives in positive ways
and, because of that, they are healing. I think it is oversimplifying to
call it merely a crutch. The truth is *anything* can be considered a
crutch and anything improperly used can create further complications. A
doctor friend of mine told me just last evening of a human error she
made that cost a person her life; has she put that woman on an
ultrasound machine, she very well might not be dying of cancer right
now. I don't think of the world in such starkly dualistic terms,
generally, Taran -- heaven/hell, right/wrong. Certainly there are moral
absolutes (we all have our favorites) and the blind affection for
technology is no exception, but I tend to think we live in the world of
'gray,' mostly, technology included.

Steve Snow


On 8/6/08 6:17 PM, "Taran Rampersad" <cnd at knowprose.com> wrote:

> Stephen Snow wrote:
> <stuff snipped>
-- making human 
> connections and relationships vitally important as an aspect of human 
> health.
>
> --Steve Snow
>

Human connections and relationships should not
> be confused with
technology offering a replacement; people have yet to figure
> out how to
transmit a hug.

That said, I have met people within Second Life
> who are quite happy that 
they can do some of the things that they can. That
> said, it is a poor 
replacement for human contact and interaction and will
> continue to be 
until somehow we reinvent our own world. Technology is a
> crutch, not a 
replacement - it can help with healing, yes, but if improperly
> used can 
create further complications.

At the end of the day, people are
> people. Machines and technology only 
go so far - and, if we think it through,
> they should only go so far in 
most cases. If we must have a heaven of
> technology, let us not forget 
that heaven comes with hell.

-- 
Taran
> Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, 


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From green at education.ucsb.edu  Sat Aug  9 20:23:21 2008
From: green at education.ucsb.edu (Judith Green)
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 17:23:21 -0700
Subject: [DDN]  The Digital Divide and Human Health
In-Reply-To: <3d02a8ca0808091719t76b14dd4y1f79232efea6b67f@mail.gmail.com>
References: <mailman.0.1218310317.13945.digitaldivide@digitaldivide.net>
	<3d02a8ca0808091719t76b14dd4y1f79232efea6b67f@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <3d02a8ca0808091723y11c0deb9p1d73dcb34f5e509a@mail.gmail.com>

Greetings,

The question of health care and the digital divide issues that are being
raised about "knowing" and "data" are central to discussions that are
happening in medical education and diagnosis communities.  A recent book

<http://www.amazon.com/Interprofessional-Family-Discourses-Knowledge-Processes/dp/1572734027/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218309980&sr=1-3>
Interprofessional and Family Discourses: Voices, Knowledge and
Practice
(Language and Social Processes)
<http://www.amazon.com/Interprofessional-Family-Discourses-Knowledge-Processes/dp/1572734027/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218309980&sr=1-3>by
Marleen Iannucci McClelland and Roberta G. Sands, Hampton Press.

raises questions about how different disciplines within healthcare diagnose
patients and how voices are missing.  This volume raises questions about
dialogues in a face2face and digital world that are central to understanding
areas of the digital divide that are often not visible.  They also raise
questions about how parents are engaged in the dialogues and thus how
patients are able to access or enter information.  This volume also proposes
a biosocial model that might be of interest to those involved in discussion
about health care and the digital divide.

This volume also address questions about what counts as knowing, research
and health care and how these are constructed through different lenses used
by different actors.

I see the questions that were raised, therefore, as interdependent with the
broader concern of this community.

Judith

From arden at halenet.com.au  Sat Aug  9 23:40:06 2008
From: arden at halenet.com.au (Catherine Arden)
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:40:06 +1000
Subject: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
References: <132314.71364.qm@web50502.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <001201c8fa9a$cacc8dd0$0a00a8c0@cath>

Who cares?  I'm loving this...

These are the questions that trouble me on a daily basis in my work with 
community informatics.

Catherine Arden
Stanthorpe, Queensland

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jorge Gallardo Rius" <jgallardo515 at yahoo.com>
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" 
<digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2008 1:11 AM
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health


Hey guys,
What does all this have to do with Health and the Digital Divide?

--- On Fri, 8/8/08, Stephen Snow <shsnow at mindspring.com> wrote:

From: Stephen Snow <shsnow at mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: [DDN] The Digital Divide and Human Health
To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" 
<digitaldivide at digitaldivide.net>
Date: Friday, August 8, 2008, 3:10 PM

Taran,

Data is not a bad thing; it also is not every thing. Empiricism does not 
make
for truth anymore than feeling makes for empiricism. [Was Decartes correct 
of
did he just have it backward? Maybe instead of I think therefore I am, it is 
I
am, therefore I think...and because