By Monica Blake. This is the final section of the article.
This article appears in both the print and web versions of Ariadne.
The range of information on the Internet is so vast, it is impossible to go into any depth on the resources available. A keyword search using a search engine will generally lead to a wealth of material. Some of the sites given above are useful gateways to other sites (eg SeniorNet, Third Age).
Increasingly books are written in specific areas to guide people through the maze of information available. Howells, for example, describes how to do genealogical research on the Internet [5]. Before describing how to use mailing lists, news groups and the Web for this specific purpose, she provides a beginner's introduction to getting online. Her book grew out of experiences of her own site: Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet (http://www.oz.net/~cyndihow/sites.htm)
The Internet contains a huge amount of information on health and medicine. Kiley has produced a book on medical information on the Internet [6], while Wood and Delozier have devoted an entire book to just one illness: cancer [7].
Whyte reports that patients are turning up at the doctor's surgery with 'folders bulging with printouts on their diagnosis, treatments and their side effects, clinical trials and even a second opinion - all through the Internet' [8]. Not all doctors are enthusiastic, some worrying about the quality of the information, others concerned that patients can misinterpret information intended for doctors. In general, however, doctors are growing used to the idea that patients are better informed than once was the case.
Web sites designed for older people are often useful resources for medical information as they tend to be strong on the ailments likely to afflict older people. SeniorCom links to a health site (www.pueblo.gsa.gov/health.htm) that includes items on glaucoma and Alzheimer's disease as well as a guide warning older people not to be taken in by unproven medical treatements.
SeniorNet offers the facility to give and receive peer support and advice about health resources in its Health Matters and Healthy Habits discussion folders. In addition, it links to pages on 'Fitness facts for older Americans' and 'Aging and mental health'.
Third Age links to MedAccess (http://www.medaccess.com/seniors), which offers health and medical information from the National Institute on Aging. Focusing on fitness as well as illness, it contains:
One of the librarians interviewed during this study recommended the Wellcome trust for health information.
Kendall provides a librarians' guide to sources of information on the Web that are relevant to peoples' daily lives [9]. While not targetted specifically at older people, it is a useful resource for people of any age. It gives details of the Voluntary Organisations Internet Server (http://www.vois.org.uk), which hosts 25 sites including the Alzheimer's Disease Society and Help the Aged; government information pages (http://www.open.gov.uk/); and the UK Directory of Churches (http://www.ucsm.ac.uk/webmaster/ukcwww.html).
Kelly et al. point out that a Web site offers the public library a real opportunity for enhancing current services and developing new ones [10]. In 1995, 25% of library authorities were providing some sort of information over the Internet; in October 1997, Sheila and Robert Harden's UK Public Libraries Web page had links to about 90 sites (http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ac940/ukpublib.html).
Some of these sites offer local information as well as links to other sites.Age Concern: http://www.ace.org.uk/
Birmingham Disability Resource Centre: http://www.disability.co.uk/text.htm
Centre for Policy on Ageing: http://www.cpa.org.uk/cpa/cpa.html
Disabled Living Foundation: http://www.dlf.org.uk
Disabilities Access: http://www.healthworks.co.uk/daccess/DA.html
Disability Equipment Register: http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ae208/
Disability Net: http://www.disabilitynet.co.uk/
Government: http://www.open.gov.uk/
Hairnet: http://www.hairnet.org
Help the Aged: http://www.vois.org.uk/hta/
Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB): http://www.rnib.org.uk/
Age of Reason (formerly Seniors OnLine): http://www.ageofreason.com/
My Virtual Encyclopaedia - Seniors Online: http://www.refdesk.com/seniors.html
SCIP (Seniors Computer Information Project): http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/crm/
SeniorCom: http://www.senior.com/about.html
SeniorNet: http://www.seniornet.org/ Third Age: http://www.thirdage.com[5] Howells, C., 1997. Netting your ancestors: genealogical research on the Internet. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing
[6] Kiley, R., 1996. Medical information on the Internet: a guide for health professionals. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone
[7] Wood, M.S. and Delozier, E.P., 1997. Cancer resources on the Internet. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press
[8] Whyte, A., 1996. Does your doctor show Web feats? Guardian, 19 November, 14-15
[9] Kendall, M., 1997. Web for the community. Library Association Record, 99 (4), 212-214
[10] Kelly, B., Ormes, S. and Peacock, I., 1997. Robot seeks public library Web sites. Library Association Record, 99 (12), pp 648-649
Material on this page is copyright Ariadne/original authors. This article last updated/links checked on 20-Feb-1998