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.

soc_191-internet_project2_0

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.