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Health, Community knowledge and collective intelligence

Sara Wolcott | Thursday 30th April 2009

Today my friend called and said, 'I've got to cancel dinner. I think I have Swine Flu.' Knowing that she has a tendency to over-exaggerate, I didn't panic. 'Have you called a doctor?" I asked, remembering that potential flu-victims are not advised to physically go to a clinic. "No." "Have you been to Mexico since I saw you last week?" I asked. "No. But I was in London." "London is not exactly Mexico," I reminded her. "But you never know who you might be running up against!" she protested. We both sighed.

Our brief conversation could be teased out in many directions - the tendency of people to over-react and, simultaneously, to not seek 'real' medical advice, 'yet another pandemic coming from the global south', how quickly the stranger (and big cities) can become sources of fear - but what I want to share with you today is that in any kind of pandemic or health concern, people tend to get most if not all of their information from other people - not, necessarily, from health professionals. Sometimes they dont dare trust the professional. Sometimes, like my friend, they just don't
bother.

Which is part of why programs such as 'collective intelligent movements' for health, such as what MIT does at the Center for Collective Intelligence, so interesting. Most of it has to do with connecting doctors around the world together to share knowledge and information. It often requires a high level of technology. But there is also a growing interest in 'communities of patients' - finding ways for patients to learn and teach one another.

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