Projects

Newsgroups as a forum for the decision of health risks

Aims

This research will examine the use of electronic Usenet newsgroups for online dialog about health risk issues such as the danger of brain cancer from the use of mobile phones.
To find out whether and how this medium facilitates communication between expert and non-experts on these subjects.
How expertise is negotiated on line: how contributors demonstrate their credentials and how those demonstrations are received.

Methodology

Using methods of applied linguistics the information collected will allow some assessment of the value of newsgroups in processes of risk communication. The data collection should be completed within two months of commencement of the project, and subsequent analysis and writing up will occupy a further eight months.

Keywords

discourse, newsgroups, experts

Publications

‘Health risks and the Internet: establishing credibility online'. Health, risk and society vol. 5 no. 2, 171-184 Peer reviewed journal article, 7000 words.

Kay Richardson, Internet Discourse and Health Debates. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005