I would like to comment further on some of the areas mentioned in the responses to the reposting. 1. Access Craig Silva emphasized the point tht although "the information has always been there if you went to look....there has been a qualitative change in its accessability". People can not only access information through this medium, they can also access people. I'm certainly not an expert in this area but I sense the accessability factor will only increase. There was some press recently that they are testing something that sits on top of the TV and provides access to the internet. Lot's of people have TV's and most have cable and people seem to find the money for things they want to get (hope that doesn't sound too insensitive). JM Dupont provided a brief overview of various theoretical perspectives in health promotion. Thanks, I am not up on health promotion theory so it is useful to get a flavour of the different paradigms out there and I also appreciated your comments that it's important for people to understand the world view of the people that are informing them. This medium seems to have the potential to promote health not only through information/education but also through changing power relations. In the particular health care system I worked in I noticed that the least powerful people in the hierarchy were put in charge of the partnership programs (which were "in"). These programs seemed to be helpful to people but they did not appear to have much impact on the status quo of the health care system. Somehow I think that this increased accessability to information will have an impact and will effect the status quo. Perhaps the people that partake are going to lead the way on this one. Which leads me to my next point: 2. The development of critical thinking skills. When I first got interested in the area of consumer health information a few years ago I was struck by how the literature talked about the difference between providing people with information to make their own decisions versus education that promotes a certain agenda. I agree with you Craig, Barbara, Nancy and JM that people need some education about information so that they can use it effectively. Sort of like the old "giving the man the tools" whatever the saying is. It somehow seems less intrusive to this whole process that will be taking place and less controlling. Thanks for the sites you mentioned Karen. I will try and borrow some PowerPoint Software to look at your slide show on interpreting studies. "Http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~kpomeran". The document form Purdue Univ Libraries contains some useful information as well on evaluating world wide web info. Are we talking about a couple of things here? The process of the development of critical thinking skills regarding information and the specific topics that need to be addressed regarding health information. For this discussion I'll stick to some specific topics that may need to be covered. Karen you mentioned the 2 above, about evaluating information and is your slide show about how to evaluate scientific research studies? In some of the recent medical literature there have been some very technical articles such as "Problems with MetaAnalysis" and How to make use of Medical Literature that I wonder if there are little nuggets that could be removed and simplified for the public to make use of. Understanding the medical world view, the world of probabilities and generalizability will also help people to critically assess the infomration they are receiving. "The Savvy Patient How to be an active participant in your medical care" (by David Stutz and Bernard Feder and the editors of consumer reports books) discuss this medical world view and other things as well eg the limits of certainty, the concept of normality etc. A new book 1996 "Infomedicine A consumer's guide to the latest medical research" by Fred Baldwin and Suzanne McInerney has a chapter on how to learn from medical journals. Health News December 1991 contained an article on How to Assess Medical News and general tips for evaluating health/medical stories. Also as Barabara mentioned peoples direct experience of "the vast and widely differentiated types of info available...is the first clue that there is no perfect truth in medeicine". So in developing meaningful critical skills about health information it may be helpful for people to do a practice search on a topic that interests them and to critically examine what they get back. In summary I guess it would be helpful to have topics that help to assess medical, alternative info and topics that inform people of the world view of the informers and to have a meaningful experiential component to this. Any other ideas? As there are books coming out that help people to access and make sense of information I wonder if a specific site on the internet for this would be useful as well. I believe library science and information providers have knowledge and literature that can be helpful to other professional groups in becoming more familiar with information providing, not only the technology and information but the human interface as well. Health care providers have direct experience with particular world views that need to be understood by those who partake. Thankyou Craig, Nancy, Barbara, and JM for your comments. I really appreciated them and felt they contained alot of valuable insights and information. Judi Quail <[log in to unmask]>