Mon 12 Dec 2005
Ethics for Science and Health Bloggers: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
Posted by Miguel under Health , TechnologyWith health blogs being something of a Wild West phenomenon in the blogosphere (still relatively few of them out there!), this set of ethical guidelines will help assure that new bloggers in this field understand the implications of writing about health.
More material is needed on the topic though: bite-size lessons on why making any kind of health claim should be done responsibly.
December 12th, 2005 at 4:07 pm
You got that right. So who’s going to write up the lessons? You or me?
It’s a consumer-beware culture we’ve got now and doesn’t get more so than in healthcare. Scoping out the validity of online and offline information is time consuming and confusing, but to avoid doing so can be dangerous to our health.
December 12th, 2005 at 8:59 pm
It’s a monumental task, I agree. Perhaps a first step would be to raise awareness on the reality of caveat emptor when seeking out health info, online and offline.
Unfortunately there’s no shortcut available at the moment, and the only way I can think of to lessen misinformation is to build communities whose members are accountable to each other, and have these communities be more proactive about educating their members.
The risk may not be eliminated, but at least it could be lessened.
Thanks for your feedback!