Ah… the internet:
Image credit: Snazzy llama pic by complicated combination of Laurie Pink, Lispencie and others… [Creative Commons]
I have one friend’s Mum who keeps trying to friend me on facebook. It started even before I met her in person, and even then, I’ve met her maybe twice.* Now, thankfully, it will be a cold day on Venus before I have to deal with my own mother on facebook … but yet parents and elder extra-generational family members on social networks is a bit creepy.
Not only does it feel as if a bit of your privacy is being invaded – but it also means you have a bunch of adults interacting with children in unfamiliar territory without clear guidelines. Adults do not play nice when there are no rules.
In an attempt to win a prize for Lori Drew of 2009, when Margery Tannenbaum’s daughter started arguing with another girl at school – she decided to list the other girls mobile number on Craigslist as a phone sex chat line. The girls were nine years old.
According to Suffolk County authorities, the mother of the girl intercepted calls before her daughter answered. She said she received 22 calls in one day, in all around 40 calls from various men who saw the ad, including some seeking an escort service. After Craigslist was issued a subpoena, authorities said they were able to track the account to Tannenbaum.
…
She said, “This is her mother. Can I help you?” The male replied, “Oh. Hot lady lives with foxy mamma?”
There are actually several groups dedicated to getting parents of facebook altogether. I can’t bring myself to actually fan that movement, I do find facebook a useful tool for keeping in touch with my Dad and Canadian relatives (or at least theoretically useful for this purpose).
Image credit: unknown – somewhere on teh interwebz
*Ye knoweth who thou art
Rather good UK children’s animated production explains the current swine flu novel Mexican A/H1N1 influenza outbreak.
Some innacuracies, but its hard to tell exactly how dated this might be. Still, definitely good enough at explaining key concepts effectively for schoolchildren
Hattip: Malaysia SMS
At the start of the month, Google announced it was expanding its search-engine-based epidemiology surveillance tool, Flu Trends, to process information originating from Australia and New Zealand (previously it was processing U.S. statistics and a beta Mexico version).
The tool is based on there being a correlation between the number of people typing in influenza-related keywords into Google and the actual number of cases of influenza in the country. Google claims it is supported by historical data. The concept does make sense: when you are your family are sick with flu-like symptoms, that would be the time you are more likely to search for information on possible causes - Thus people searching for “flu” could reflect the cases across the country.
But I was skeptical at how well it would work in a pandemic. Google’s data might hold up for its recorded history, but that does not extend back to 1968-9 – the last influenza pandemic. A pandemic not only involves the potential for an increased number of influenza cases and increased severity of those cases, it also means an increased amount of media coverage and public awareness. When I last looked at Google Trends and health searches, I saw a possible link between media coverage of Kylie Minogue and Australian searches for breast cancer. There is a good reason to suspect that the statistical relationship between search terms and disease cases will not hold up during pandemic conditions. This concern is not addressed appropriately in the Flu Trends FAQ.
Google Flu Trends Data, as of 20 June, 2009. Click for larger image. A - US 2008/09 search data c.f. historical B - Australia 2008/2009 data c.f. historical (2008/09 dark blue, historical light blue). C - Australia historical search data (blue) compared with official historical epidemiological seasonal ILI (infleunza-like-illness) data (orange)
Looking at the U.S data, for this past season, it looks like it could be an accurate reflection. And if anything, rather than seeing a spike of search term activity this year, there was not much difference than previous years. In fact, the historic data contains several search spikes that do not exist in this years trends. All this information could either accurately reflect that the influenza pandemic thus far has been little more than out-of-season seasonal flu, or, just maybe, that the increased media activity and awareness have actually actively decreased usage of Google for health information.
Were people being directly channeled towards non-search websites, like flupandemic.gov.au? Were they getting enough influenza information from other websites they frequent, like news websites? Was there enough offline influenza resources that people did not feel the need to Google to find out more? Or were people just overloaded and desensitized by the mass media hysteria?
I still prefer the Rhiza Labs case-mapping tool. It is much more informative and accurate.
Whiz Kids: Alec & Shanna and The Computer That Said NO To Drugs!
Computers and drugs, do they mix?
So the last post didn’t quite Pharm me all out as it was supposed to, so here’s a few remaining links in my medical marketing and related sturf I’d like to purge from my chest before they become totally irrelevant:
Google Wave looks like the OCD nightmare of social networking and privacy invasion – but some of the minor features are pretty cool, like live-keystroke messaging, simultaneous wiki editing, and the intuitive spell-check-corrector.
The Scientist has a piece about “asthma” becoming your friend on facebook.
It reminded me about an Australian Prescriber that has been sitting in “to post” box. Melissa Sweet (who also does Croakey) wrote about how Pharma is/can capitalise on new digital media.
The big issue with the internet and health marketing is lack of regulation. I mentioned in my previous post how marketing drugs is *very serious business* – encouraging the innapropriate drugs and treatments can hurt and kill people (that’s why we hate CAM, but that’s a story for another day).
While in Australia, it’s illegal to promote prescription products to patients and consumers, there aren’t such laws in the USA – so Pharma just needs to put information on their US website. They can’t be blamed if someone googles their options, can they?
It’s also sometimes difficult to work out where drug information is actually coming from. Melissa points in particular to a youtube account that has been accused of being a sock-puppet for a sleeping pill manufacturer.
Making it more difficult can be outdated guidelines that have yet to address modern internet communication tools (namely social media like facebook/myspace/twitter) – hopefully the 16th MA Code will expand on what is and isn’t permitted.
Photo: Team Puppet by o2b (Creative Commons)
My internet is being really narcoleptic lately. So if I conk out completely, please accept my apologies.
I have been subscribing like mad to feeds using iGoogle and Google Reader (I take advice!) and that’s also been sapping my internet time as well.
You can check out my shared reader items here. Which means I may actually have to start providing better content here. Hmmm….
I’ve also created an icanhascheezburger account. So gaze into my awesome lol powers:
moar funny pictures
Well with farmyard afficiandos galore, is it no wonder that social networking websites are now overtaking porn for internet usage.
I do wonder though if adult networking sites like Adult FriendFinder, or even less blatantly “adult” matchmaker websites like eHarmony.
I do like this guys rationalization for the trend though:
“My theory is that young users spend so much time on social networks that they don’t have time to look at adult sites.” – Bill Tancer, self-described “data geek”
Kids these days, not even enough time to look up porn these days.
hattip and image credit Social Media + CIA
I’m trying to avoid shameless link-whoring, but still trying to promote my website.
How do you go about it?
One way is obvious, to join genuine social networks.
As I’m trying to be science-orientated online, the Nature Blog Network, seemed a logical network to join.
Not to be confused with another different Nature Network, the Nature Blog Network is a connection of Nature/Biology related blogs that have agreed to network. All it involves is hosting a button. NBN gets a person to check your site is okay. Then aproved webistes are ranked and categorized. You can read further in a review by The Canberra Times.
Currently around 440 blogs are involved in the NBN project. The top ten is unsurprising dominated by the unwavering sciborg creation, but three freedom fighters remain amidst the ranks of 5-10 – the anti-cute Ugly Overload, the colourful 10,000 Birds, and Julie Zickefoose.
**UPDATE**
Kevin reminds me that Deep Sea News has been de-assimilated from the sci-borg nexus. They are part of Discovery Blogs now, which is like totally different lah. Be sure to update feeds and sidebar links, I have now. Thanks Kevin!
**END UPDATE**
Currently I am sitting at no. 88. Whoop! Hottest 100 material.
And no. 2 for the “Mammals” category (I chose this category, because you can only pick one, and I generally post more about mammals and marsupials than any other animal group). The best in Mammals is an Italian blog about bears (google auto translate).
If anyone has any further suggestions of other good, social and non-link-whoring social websites for blogs on science, education, biology, Australiana, youth and writing let me know.
So I arrived in one piece.
I think an irate taxi driver ran up my car’s ass last night as I stopped at traffic lights too long trying to work out where I was. More fool him, my tow bar has undoubted done worse to him then he did to me.
My room number is room 13, floor 13, which I think was rather ominous.
I spent this morning on hold with optus for over an hour trying to work out why my internet wasn’t connecting. Yes, my internet worked fine in Yeppoon, but in almost down town Sydney, not a chance. After being on hold for an hour, I was told to visit the local optus store, which not only took another hour to find (“it’s on the corner of Miller Street and the Highway” — there are FIVE corners there) – but the friendly staff there couldn’t help me either.
Thankfully whatever temporary tower crash was affecting them this morning is over and I have my internet back. It ahs however disrupted much of my expeted househunting I was aiming to get done today. Looks like I’ll have to get right back on that and less of this tippety tap.
At least that’s what I can tell from “the most comprehensive online source of crime information“.
A stabbing Sydney’s West, and a shooting in Cairns (by the police…) are the only crimes to have happened in Australia in the past 8 years (We were on a roll until this month…)
SpotCrime fails the international test. But looks like it could be of interest to those in major North American cities.
via Mission Mission.
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