I, too, have some misgivings about such a centre, along the lines that
Peter Elson has raised.  Many parts of the country have developed "virtual"
catalogues of health promotion resources, program outlines and so on--the
OPC shines as an example.  What would be gained by duplicating these in
some sort of a national centre, rather than simply cross-linking the
regional ones?  Ten or twenty years ago, I remember how we health promoters
would sometimes complain about the "real time" face-to-face networks we
participated in, the time they required, how much value they really
provided us, and so on.  It seems we now risk adding electronic networks
over top the human ones.  I do not intend this as a criticism of the
potential helpfulness of internet technologies, which I use often and
usually with positive effect.  But is the health promotion "community" in
Canada really that large that we need a superimposed national
clearinghouse/network?  Would the resources for such a
clearinghouse/network not be better spent in developing the regional ones
or, a radical idea, investing in more on the ground practitioners?

At the risk of sounding like a preachy neo-luddite, I remember some years
ago cancelling my newspaper subscriptions, paring down my magazine
subscriptions and generally reducing ten-fold my "information" inputs.  At
the time, I aphorized that knowledge was inversely proportional to
information.  The more information we consumed (or were fed) the less able
we were to ponder it for knowledge, and pondering is something that
requires face-to-face, real time dialogue with others.  Since then, my
mental health has improved and I don't believe I have become less
knowledgeable.

Just a thought or, rather, a ponder.

At 08:50 AM 4/22/98 -0400, you wrote:
> RE: Joan Feather's comments - I too have serious
>reservations about the
>> local/ provincial impact on agencies/ associations that
>participate in the
>> NPHC.  While there are considerable local and provincial
>consequences which
>> have not been addressed to date, there is a larger
>question in my mind about
>> what this new cyberstrategy is saying about the nature and
>value of health
>> promotion and community development.  If the nature of
>resources for health
>> promotion in Canada is in the process of being redefined
>by the Federal
>> Government, shouldn't we know it?  Put another way, if a
>National Population
>> Health Clearinghouse is the answer, what's the question?
>>
>
>
______________________________________________________________________________

Ronald Labonte, PhD
Communitas Consulting
29 Jorene Drive
Kingston, Ontario, Canada  K7M 3X5
(voice):  613-634-7396
(fax):    613-634-2384
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