Australian researchers believe online social networking could be used to improve the nation's health.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have begun a project that will combine social networking techniques with search engine technology specifically tailored to Australians.
"This will be like a Google search engine - but with a twist," UNSW's Centre for Health Informatics researcher, Professor Enrico Coiera, said.
"It is designed specifically for health in the Australian context, plus we will be incorporating ideas from social computing like Facebook and Wikipedia.
"People will be able to share knowledge with each other and there will be networks of people in specific groups - such as those interested in chronic fatigue, or breast cancer," Prof Coiera said.
He added that one of the areas that will generate significant interest is tracking disease outbreaks.
"At the moment the government has a hard time tracking diseases across the country, relying on health professionals to report in cases," Prof Coiera said.
"People who are interested in what's happening in their area, will be able to map these things, such as whooping cough, and see where they are occurring."
He believes Australia needs to develop its own online health tool, due to our unique range of health needs.
"We need an Australian-specific service because the drugs we have here are different, sometimes they are called different things and we have many diseases which are more common here, such as Ross River Fever, Q Fever and melanoma," he said.
The researchers hope the social computing aspect of the work will not only be a great resource for patients and their support networks, but as a tool for further research too.
"We will be able to learn about the distribution of diseases, how people use technology and how they share information," Prof Coiera said.
"That means we can further refine it and improve it for the next generation."
He believes a beta version of the website will available to the public within 12 months.
The two year project is a partnership between UNSW, HCF Health and Medical Research Foundation.
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