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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Jordan A. Barab, MA, none, 55 Walnut Avenue, Takoma Park, MD 20912, 301-270-8466, jbarab@gmail.com, Rory O’Neill, Hazards Magazine, PO Box 199, Sheffield, United Kingdom, and Mr. Revere, MD, MPH, Effect Measure and Flu Wiki, phrevere@gmail.com, Boston, MA 00000.

Two development are leading to an increased dependence on the electronic media for workplace safety education and training: 1) the increasing sophistication and ease of use of a variety of electronic media, from webpages to wiki's to “e-tools” to blogs, combined with their potential for mass distribution 2) A shortage of funding for hands-on training, vs relatively inexpensive electronic forms of communication.

Blogs, including Confined Space, provide news, commentary and resources. Web pages such as Hazards provide not only technical information, but the tools needed for workers to organize around health and safety issues. There are also a growing number of web-based technical training resources.

Web based communication ranges from political news and political information to detailed instructions on developing effective safety programs and work procedures. It has the potential to reach a large audience with a wide variety of relevant materials and information. The downside is that most internet-based communication is one-way, making it difficult to evaluate its effectiveness.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Create an interest in new forms of communication with workers, academics and public health officials.
• Discuss the role of the webpages, blogs, “e-tools” and wikis in communicating workplace safety and public health information, and how to measure effectiveness.
• Analyze the effectiveness of electronic communication compared with hands-on models.

Keywords: Internet, Education

Related Web page: spewingforth.blogspot.com/

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation