Hello, Last Friday Mike Nelson described a paper that he wrote for Health Canada in early 1996 called "Health Promotion and New Information Technologies". He said: >More than a year and a half ago I wrote a paper under contract for Health Canada, that, among other things, called for a national consultation on the role of new information technology in relation to health promotion and public health. The issue of the impact of centralizing information dissemination on the voluntary sector was also raised. ... the point is we need to have a full discussion of the new information technology and its implications for public health and health promotion. It can be wonderful or it can be a curse, it depends on how we put it to work This same paper was described by Michel O'Neill in this list in February in this year with an address for getting copies. Madeline Boscoe asked for an email copy of the paper - but that is not necessary. This fascinating paper is available on-line at Health Canada's web-site called Health Promotion On-Line in the HP Programs Development Resources section. For a direct access to the listing of the documents in this area, go to http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/healthpromotiondevelopment/resources.htm You will see a direct link to the document plus: Health Promotion and New Information Technologies... This paper deals with new and rapidly changing technologies and their potential impact on a relatively new and evolving field. The aim is to provide advice that may assist Health Canada and other key players in the field of health promotion to think through and strategically plan their involvement with the new technologies. Here the advice has taken the form of recommendations that for the most part, call on the health promotion community to consult and plan together to ensure that the positive potential of the new technologies to help promote health is realized, and to minimize the possible negative effects. Mike was concerned that the paper seemed to be lost at Health Canada; an unfortunate situation when it is actually available on Health Canada's web site along with a number of other useful documents, such as "Population Health Promotion: An Integrated Model of Population Health and Health Promotion". I hope that the significant points made in Mike's paper get widely discussed and shared, both within the federal government and more importantly, in international venues like this on health promotion. Alison * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Alison Stirling, health promotion consultant Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse 1(800) 263-2846 ext 226 OR (416) 408-2121 ext 226 E-Mail: [log in to unmask] Internet: http://www.web.net/~stirling/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *