Hold onto your hats folks, this is the first blog post from me since 1st October! I’ll try to follow-up with a little explanation for the absence.
As some of you know, I work as a solo librarian supporting health research from the MSc level to full on university research. Usually this involves assisting with or creating and running search strategies for a wide range of health topics. I’ve learned about things (in a very superficial way) that I never thought I’d know about. But the other end of the spectrum is the layperson who Googles for health information.
Snake Oil supplements from Information is Beautiful
One of my favourite things to do when I’m ill is to self-diagnose using the internet. I have managed to diagnose myself with various tropical diseases, rare diseases, and bog standard things. Now, I’m well-educated and can generally distinguish credible information from the not-so credible, but this isn’t the case for most people who use the internet as we know. So I’ve been asked to think about how we might enhance this experience. What could we do so that when people do use search engines they are sure to get credible health information back?
As an example, I’ve put into Google gluten allergy symptoms. Here are the sites that come up first (not including any ads):
- http://gluten-intolerance-symptoms.com/ (at no.1 and no.2)
- http://www.allergy-details.com/gluten-free-diet/gluten-allergy-symptoms/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten_sensitivity
- http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/glutenallergy.htm
- http://www.mysensitiveskincare.com/gluten-allergy-symptoms.html
- http://www.topglutenfreediet.com/gluten-allergy/gluten-allergy-symptoms/
- http://glutenallergysymptomsx.com/
- http://www.glutenfreelife.co.uk/what-are-minor-symptoms-gluten-intolerance.html
- http://www.bestallergysites.com/2011/05/gluten-allergy-symptoms-diagnosis/
As is probably obvious to information professionals, most of these sites probably aren’t credible sources. They are trying to sell something, and not hiding it, or don’t tell you anything about who is actually behind the site. It’s not that some of these sites might not have accurate information, but we go to the GP when we’re ill, not to a random person in the street because the GP is credible.
So if we had our way, what could we do to improve these results in search engines so people are getting good information? Some conditions do come up with a good list of credible sources on the first page (e.g. NHS, Mayo Clinic, Net Doctor), but what do we do when we’re presented with things trying to sell us miracle cures?
Would really be interested to hear what other health information professionals think, and if they’d be interested in potentially collaborating on something (lots of support from this end!).
