WHRN e-news

Vol. 30 - February 2010

Technology Corner

Following my presentation at the WHRN’s Summer Institute in May 2008 on Virtual Connections: Women’s Health Research and Technological Advances, many participants mentioned to me that they would like to better understand how to work in the virtual context, to learn more about how technologies can assist us as women’s health researchers. Since then, we have included a small “Technology Corner” in the WHRN newsletters to help demystify virtual technological supports. From webcasting to wiki-ing, blogging to tagging, and beyond, this is a forum for the exploration of all forms of virtual inquiry and collaboration. If you have particular questions, please send them in!

Nancy Poole, WHRN Co-Leader

Does ‘e’ stand for ‘End’— of Print Media as We Know it?

eBooks (electronic books) have become more and more popular and the number of specialized devices for viewing eBooks has grown in the past year. These devices include Amazon’s Kindle—one of the early entrants into this market, Sony’s Reader, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and, in the past week, Apple’s iPad (not exclusively an eReader but Steve Jobs is banking on this feature to make it a strong competitor in the electronic marketplace).

These eBook readers allow the user to connect to the Internet and access online eBook sellers where digital copies of books can be purchased and downloaded. Depending on the model and included features, these devices can also allow other document types (such as Word or PDF) to be loaded and viewed. In addition to eBooks users can also access subscriptions to newspapers and academic eJournals. These electronic files can be bookmarked, highlighted and notated.

Some may not like having to purchase yet another electronic device to access electronic books and journals. There are applications that can be installed on a MAC, PC, laptop or netbook (using free desktop eReading software such as Adobe Digital Editions), smartphones (versions available for Blackberry, iPhone, Google Android, Palm Prē) that allow these ‘e’ files to be used. An example of this application is Kobo, available online from Indigo Books and Borders Books. The key difference is the display: eBook readers use e-ink screen technology to better simulate the look of a printed page.

While printed books and journals may not disappear immediately, technology is certainly available to allow a much greener distribution of published materials. ‘e’ stands for ‘excellent’.

We have enjoyed covering these forms of virtual inquiry and collaboration in Technology Corner and hope you have found them enlightening. If you have particular questions, please send them in.

Hot Links

Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice Inquiries for Hope and Change is the inaugural book in "The Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice" series. The text will be published by Detselig/Temeron Books in 2010. Editor is Cheryl McLean, Publisher and Editor of The International Journal of the Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice, IJCAIP, Associate Editor, Robert Kelly, Associate Professor, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Calgary. This book will be followed by two additional research based texts in the series, "Creative Arts in Interdisciplinary Practice Across Cultures and Communities for Change" and "Story Technology and Transformation." Click here to visit the book blog for recent updates and news.

New links!

Minding the Gap: Building a Framework to Bridge Evidence, Policy, and Practice in Chronic Disease Self-Management is the meeting proceedings report of a forum that was held June 10-12, 2009, and supported by the WHRN. Click here to download the document (PDF).

ICARE (Immigrant older women - Care Accessibility Research Empowerment) Forum Report is the final report from the ICARE forum, held June 25th, 2009. Prepared by Melanie Spence, Sharon Koehn, and Karen Kobayashi on behalf of the ICARE team, the report draws attention to the health of older immigrant women, a population that has been underrepresented in health research overall.. Click here to download the report (PDF).

New Texts:

The Estrogen Errors: Why Progesterone is Better for Women’s Health by Susan Baxter and Jerilynn C. Prior

In this revealing work, Dr. Jerilynn Prior teams up with Susan Baxter, a medical writer, to explain the controversy over medicine prescribing estrogen for perimenopausal women in the United States, and to detail why progesterone is actually a far more effective, and a far less risk-ridden, approach. Citing long-standing and emerging research, patient vignettes, and personal experience, endocrinologist Jerilynn Prior and writer Susan Baxter tell us how false beliefs on estrogen became entrenched in U.S. medicine and culture, and why business and politics have played a role in this erroneous thinking. Click here for more...

Racialized Bodies, Disabling Worlds: Storied Lives of Immigrant Muslim Women by Parin Dossa

In Racialized Bodies, Disabling Worlds, Parin Dossa explores the lives of Canadian Muslim women who share their stories of social marginalization and disenfranchisement in a disabling world. She shows how these women, who are subjected to social erasure in policy and research, define their identities and claim their humanity using the language of everyday life.

Paradoxes and Contradictions in Health Policy Reform: Implications for First Nations Women by Jo-Anne Fiske and Annette J. Browne

When governments invite the public to participate in consultations to reform health care and other policies, they generally represent themselves as calling upon citizens to engage in a social, but apolitical process. This study questions this representation by rethinking how policy is formulated and enacted and by rethinking how Aboriginal women are regarded when they engage in the health care system. This report constitutes the second of two phases of research conducted in collaboration with a First Nation community in north central British Columbia. To download or to order a copy, please browse to publications on the BCCEWH website.

Better Science With Sex and Gender

Better Science With Sex and Gender survey

Highs & Lows: Canadian Perspectives on Women and Substance Use

Women's Health in Canada: Critical Perspectives on Theory and Policy

MSFHR Health of Population Networks

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