204411 Creating a Blog for your Public Health Organization

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Gillian Mayman, MLIS , Health Sciences Libraries, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Whitney Townsend, MLIS , Health Sciences Libraries, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Alison Grodzinski, MLIS , Prevention Research Center of Michigan, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
In the era of Web 2.0, a blog can help put your organization into the online stream of conversation. Blogging technology enables you to publish small amounts of information quickly and easy which can then be tagged by your readers, posted to individual's social networking sites, linked to from Twitter accounts, embedded in another organization's or individual's blog, and shared through email. Best of all, your readers can comment directly on your entry and begin a conversation with you. Creating a blog for your organization enables you to reach a wider population and engage your community in an open dialog.

In this session, we will discuss the various applications of a blog within a public health organization, how the technology can improve our outreach to your communities, and best practices for both content creation and marketing your blog to gain readers.

Learning Objectives:
Identify at least five ways that a blog can improve an organization's outreach to their community Evaluate the usefulness of maintaining a blog for their organization

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be an abstract Author on the content I am responsible for because I have extensive experience working with Web 2.0 technologies and public. I am currently working with two local health departments to provide training on social technologies as well as applying those technologies to health education and health promotion. I have taught a three credit course at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health on Social Technologies for Health Communications. I have also taught numerous courses for the Michigan Public Health Technology Conference, sponsored by the Michigan Association for Local Public Health, including Web 2.0 and Public Health, Health Marketing and Social Media, Creating a Blog for Your Health Department, and Second Life for Public Health. As the Public Health Informatics Librarian at the University of Michigan Health Sciences Libraries, I work on many projects involving the use of Web 2.0 technologies for public health and maintain a blog which covers issues surrounding public health and information technology. I have a master’s degree in Information and Library Science from the University of Michigan and have taken graduate level coursework in public health at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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See more of: Health Informatics Information Technology