illness connections on the internet Explore the internet for idscussions about a specific illness, then research what people with the disorder are concerned about. further paper instructions are attached.

Sociology 191 Peter Conrad Fall 2011 Health, Community and Society

Illness Connections on the Internet: An Exploration The internet if full of information about illnesses, disabilities and disorders. It is also a place where people with the same specific disorders can connect with others for information, support and contact. The internet is a place where people can have a certain amount of anonymity and yet can communicate with others about their illness. I want you to explore the internet for discussions about a specific illness or disorder (your choice). I suggest you focus on a specific illness or disability (e.g., not cancer, but perhaps prostate cancer) or a relatively uncommon or contested disorder (e.g., Marfan’s syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome). For this project I am less interested in what information is available about the illness than I am in what people with the disorder are concerned about. I want you to pay attention to the concerns people with illness have and what they share with each other, as manifested in internet postings. In some cases, such as Alzheimer’s or children’s illnesses, it may be the families rather than the sufferer that uses the internet groups. This would be fine for analysis as well. The places to answer these questions are in the news groups, discussion groups, clubs, list serves, message and bulletin boards, etc. that exist on the net. Sometimes these are web pages, sometimes these are news groups. I want you to explore cyberspace and find a minimum of three different forums where you can get a sense about what concerns people have about the illness (you can use more). In some cases, this will mean looking at old messages, in other cases it will mean “listening” to conversations or checking in over time. I want you to be able to use quotes from your research in your paper, so you will need to know how to “harvest” data from the internet. What I want you to focus on is threefold:

1. What kind of forums exist and to the best of your knowledge, what types of discussions and information is exchanged in these forums? Who participates? How often? In what form? 2. Given your observations of the discussions on the sites, what concerns do the participants have about managing and living with their illness (or disability)? 3. What other interesting observations can you make and what role do you think the internet plays in these people’s lives related to their illness.

(over) Here are a few places to begin, but as you know, with the web it isn’t always clear where you will end up. Clubs or discussion groups related to: Yahoo.com Excite.com Directhit.com Google Facebook MySpace Some websites that may be useful: Medscape.com Drkoop.com WebMD And many other medically oriented websites Your analysis should focus on the experience and concerns on the people with the illness (or their families, if it is the parents or families of ill people whose discussions you are examining). Your paper should be both descriptive and analytical. I expect the papers to be approximately 7-10 typed pages in length. Be sure you are able to identify where you obtain your material and cite it by website in your references. The paper is due Friday, November 18 in class.