期刊名称：Bulletin of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
印刷版ISSN：1931-6550
出版年度：2010
卷号：36
期号：4
出版社：American Society for Information Science and Technology
摘要：How do we know when to trust online health information? Recently, a gynecologist’s newspaper column asserted that endometriosis, a disease that primarily affects women, could be diagnosed by an in-office exam and that ovarian cysts could be diagnosed by an ultrasound. These claims are not true; these conditions can only be diagnosed through a surgical procedure. After being informed about the article through social networking outlets, many outraged endometriosis patients – including me – posted comments online in reply to the doctor’s article (until the newspaper swiftly closed the comments) and wrote letters to the editor. They published one letter to the editor: mine. Lay endometriosis bloggers announced my letter's publication on their blogs, declaring a small but significant victory in the battle against endometriosis information, and other patients also reveled in the celebration by commenting on the blog posts. Inexperienced in this form of activism, I asked a blogger why she thought my letter was published, but not anybody else’s. I thought perhaps they chose it because the column was published in a Canadian newspaper, and I live in Canada. She said she thought it was because I had a PhD, which added authority to my correction. We will never know for sure why the editors chose my letter, but something about it must have captured their attention.
