Friday, June 20, 2008

Web 2.0 tools: www.revolutionhealth.com and its ambitious scope

This website was started by AOL founder Steve Case. I like it's thoughtfully worded, pro-activist mission statement. It talks about interceding in areas of American life that are dysfunctional, that are in "need of a better way." I am beginning to see that people use Web 2.0 to empower themselves, to fix things, and to make a difference.

This website incorporates Web 1.0 aspects as well -- things like information about medical conditions and drugs, or advice about buying health insurance. The Web 2.0 aspects are interwoven into the website. For instance you can search through a database of dentists (Web 1.0), and some of the records have comments posted by patients (Web 2.0). Other Web 2.0 features are: blogs about health conditions that you can search, or comment on, or add your own; a place to post your personal story of illness to share with others and where you can seek the support of others who have gone through the same recovery; and you can start your own health portfolio (which I did not try, since it required registration.)

All this is time consuming and requires a level of commitment that I personally would be reluctant to make -- unless I had a very strong interest in a subject. As I moved around this site, I noticed a lot of empty spaces that nobody has taken advantage of, such as there were no comments added to the dentists I randomly selected in their database. Searching blogs for a medical condition relating to "retinal tears" brought up only the most general information readily available elsewhere. The promise of this website is yet to be realized. It strives to be all things to all people as regards health issues, as probably do other similar Web 2.0 websites. Web 2.0 may turn out to be very repetitive.

No comments: