Online community management is a growing profession, as the benefits of digital communities are increasingly recognised by companies and organisations across a wide range of sectors. In the medical and public health sector, there has been some adoption of digital communities, with websites like diabetes.co.uk championing the potential of digital community building for driving changes in public health.
Offline, well-known communities like Alcoholics Anonymous and Weight Watchers have for decades developed tools to promote changes to behaviour and attitudes for the benefit of their members, but have not so far made the transition to the online space.
Exploring The Use Of Digital Communities
Partner Organisations: University of Sunderland
Researchers or Experts: Jenny Wotherspoon
Co/Lab Curator: Dr Suzy O’Hara
Exploring The Use Of Digital Communities
This project explores the extent to which digital communities are being used to develop attitudinal and behavioural change in a medical and public health context and will aim to define the characteristics of the digital communities that already exist in this sector. It will look to identify a space to launch a new digital community to support behavioural or attitudinal change in a public health and medical context, through which to continue to explore the potential impact of digital communities in the sector and identify best practices.
Useful Links
Reflections
