Using blogging tools to help individuals record their experiences: an exploration and review of two commercial web applications in the Netherlands

Abstract

Blogs, short for "web logs," together with podcasts and wikis are currently important foci of general internet research. These three applications are part of the larger body of next-generation communication applications that comprises "Web 2.0." Within the specific area of health care, however, little attention has been devoted to understanding these technologies and how they are being used by lay health publics. In this article, I will discuss the emergent findings from a new project that looks at blogging interfaces as potential tools for disease prevention and health promotion. I use a literature review combined with "front stage" web analyses of two cases and interviews with the supporting institutions for these sites to discuss the relevant informatics questions that arise with respect to these applications. I further introduce the idea of "goal-oriented" blogging that is found in the first case study. Because this research project is still in preliminary phases, this should be viewed as an exploration into the topic and work in progress. In addition to raising questions, I will outline the important subsequent research steps.