An Ontology of Quality Initiatives and a Model for Decentralized, Collaborative Quality Management on the (Semantic) World Wide Web

Abstract

This editorial provides a model of how quality initiatives concerned with health information on the World Wide Web may in the future interact with each other. This vision fits into the evolving "Semantic Web" architecture - ie, the prospective that the World Wide Web may evolve from a mess of unstructured, human-readable information sources into a global knowledge base with an additional layer providing richer and more meaningful relationships between resources. One first prerequisite for forming such a "Semantic Web" or "web of trust" among the players active in quality management of health information is that these initiatives make statements about themselves and about each other in a machine-processable language. I present a concrete model on how this collaboration could look, and provide some recommendations on what the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other policy makers in this framework could be.

Correlates of Consumer Trust in Online Health Information: Findings From the Health Information National Trends Survey

“…Health information from traditional mass media is often closely related to that offered on the Web, because most mass media cover health issues and make that information available on their Web sites. Just like e-commerce consumers adopt a bank's online service because of the bank's offline reputation (Lee, Kang, & McKnight, 2007), health consumers also tend to trust health information on a government health agency's Web site because of the established reputation and credibility of the agency (Eysenbach, 2001). Meanwhile, this study shows generational effects in trust transfer.…”

Krankheitsbezogene Internetnutzung bei Patienten mit entz�ndlich-rheumatischen Systemerkrankungen

“…Krankheitsspezifische qualifizierte Linksammlungen werden nicht nur erfolgreich in der Rheumatologie, sondern auch in anderen Fachbereichen, wie in der Diabetologie oder der (Neuro-)Psychiatrie angeboten [25,37]. In diesem Zusammenhang ist die Forderung nach der Schaffung von Qualitätskriterien für medizinische Websites und dabei insbesondere für Patienteninformationen von enormer Wichtigkeit [5, [14][15][16][17][18]41].…”

“You’re dealing with an emotionally charged individual…”: an industry perspective on the challenges posed by medical tourists’ informal caregiver-companions

“…The provision of education in particular may assist with overcoming what is often reported to be the lack of reliable information available to those engaging in medical tourism [57,58]. Although information being shared by an IPC as an educational strategy to meet caregiver-companions’ needs and avoid the onset of stress is unlikely to be neutral, a concern raised about the commonness of industry-generated information being used to inform decisions about medical tourism [46,58,59], the reportedly trusting relationship built between the companion and coordinator may enhance its perceived trustworthiness.…”