Page 49 - Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

Health Literacy, eHealth, and Communication: Putting the Consumer First: Workshop Summary

HeALtH LiteRACY, eHeALtH, AnD CoMMUniCAtion

TAbLE 3-2 Comparison of Principles of Web 2.0 and Web 1.0
Principle Web 2.0 Traditional (Web 1.0)
Power Decentralized (autonomy; Centralized (experts);
information self sufficiency) dependence
Priorities Guided by community Guided by technology
perspectives/norms, bottom up developers
Filtering Downstream (e.g., user ranking) Upstream
Nature of information Coproducers Passive receivers—
consumption consumption
Learning Collective—capacity building Exclusive
Content Credibility Based on understandable Based on science
language, experiential knowledge
Culture Enabling Compliance
SOURCE: Kukafka, 2008.

nologies with the more traditional Web 1.0. In moving from the Web 1.0
5
technology to Web 2.0 one moves from a centralized control situation to
one of decentralized priorities. This is consistent with participatory action
research methods, the methods used in the HHPC approach.
There are a number of mechanisms available in Web 2.0 by which the
community filters material, such as community ratings. With Web 2.0 the
receivers of information are coproducers of information as well, rather
than just passive recipients, so that eventually, if enough people use the
system, information is self-corrected. Content in Web 2.0 technologies
is based on the experiential model or knowledge, and the culture of the
technology moves from one of compliance to an enabling culture.
Web 2.0 structures facilitate social networking participation, collabo-
ration, and openness within and between user groups. Information in this
newer type of platform is liberated from the control of experts, which in
the Harlem community was a source of mistrust. Community members
will be able to create, assemble, organize, locate, and share content to meet
their own needs and the needs of their community.
In a Web 2.0 technology, information is perceived as direct or unme-
diated. Such information is more credible than mediated information
because the presence of mediation through a gatekeeper makes it pos-

5 Web 1.0 is “a general reference to the World Wide Web during its first few years of opera-
tion. The term is mostly used to contrast the earlier days of the Web before blogs, wikis, so-
cial networking sites and Web-based applications became commonplace” (http://dictionary.
zdnet.com/definition/Web+1.0.html). Accessed November 3, 2008.

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