281801
Bridging that gap: Using web forums to bring together champions for community change
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
: 8:55 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Star Tiffany,
Dialogue4Health, Public Health Institute, Oakland, CA
Issues of climate change, economic deprivation, environmental degradation, and social injustice affect all corners of public health, but are rarely framed as public health issues or taken up by the public health community. Two large challenges in addressing these issues lie in how to bridge the gap between traditional and non-traditional public health fields, and how to disseminate knowledge to hard-to-reach populations. To address both of these issues, the Public Health Institute created Dialogue4Health (D4H - www.dialogue4health.org), an online conferencing forum and social network. Through this platform, the dissemination of knowledge to community activists and professionals across the globe has never been easier or more cost-effective. Since 2008, D4H has supported 174 highly-rated Web Forums to over 25,000 participants across the U.S. D4H Web Forums aim to stimulate thinking on current topics, spread ideas, and develop a new audience for community health improvement. The free Web Forums offer an accessible platform to bring speakers with different backgrounds together to discuss climate change, social justice, and sustainable economies as they relate to public health. The online platform allows speakers from around the world to present together, linking formerly disparate communities and effecting more productive knowledge sharing. D4H Web Forums on these topics have gathered thousands of participants who now take the knowledge learned and apply it to their work in local communities. This presentation will discuss how Web Forums can be used to create community change, and demonstrate how an online communications platform can enable information exchange around the globe.
Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Learning Objectives:
Discuss best practices in online training and information exchange to create effective community change; Demonstrate how an online communications platform can enable knowledge sharing on issues of climate change, social justice, and sustainable economies
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have over 30 years of experience as a public health practitioner, having served as the Director of Department of Health and Human Services and Health Officer, City of Berkeley, California, as well as in various clinical settings including Medical Director at La Clinica de la Raza. I am Past President of the American Public Health Association. My areas of expertise include women's health, community-based strategies for chronic disease prevention, and new media for 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.
