BuyMedication.info sent out a press release on the 6th of May stating that although stocks of Tamiflu(the recommended medication for Swine Flu)are running low in pharmacies and hospitals, it can be easily obtained without prescription from their website. Next day delivery is guaranteed.

“There is no need to go through the standard process of visiting your doctor to obtain a prescription. Don’t suffer during the waiting process, buy medication at BuyMedication.info and get quick relief.”

“If you or anyone you know requires treatment for swine flu, recommend purchasing Tamiflu at BuyMedication.info.”

Doctor’s fees add a significant amount on to the cost of treatment of this virus and therefore, self diagnosis and buying medication online seems like a more attractive option. However, this can lead to people taking unnecessary medication and cause them to build up a tolerance to properly prescribed medication in the future. This raises the question of whether or not the Internet is a help or a hindrance when it comes to the Swine Flu situation.

'Pro-ana' image

There is no way of screening who has access to these sites. A disclaimer appears on the home page of some sites warning users of the dangers associated with ‘pro-ana’ but the fact is that it shouldn’t be so easy to access these homepages to begin with. Blogs play a huge role in the pro-anorexia movement and they give peolpe suffering from anorexia a simple and effective way to communicate. It is understandable that people suffering from the disease find ’pro-ana’ blogs supportive but it can’t be denied that the fact that these blogs are so easily accessible is very dangerous. They often offer tips and tricks for losing weight in the most unhealthy manner and they promote anorexic behaviour.

These ‘pro ana’ websites and blogs have existed for a long time but the use of social networking sites such as Facebook as an outlet for pro anorexia is relatively new and becoming increasingly more popular. On one Facebook group, a user asks: “How can I convince myself not to be hungry?! I want to be thinner, a lot thinner!!”

It seems as though there is no way to regulate pro anorexia online and with the current trend for blogging and social networking on the rise, the problem is only going to get worse.

ITV recently aired a documentary about online anorexia in which Fearne Cotton immerses herself in the worrying world of pro-ana websites. The video below features the first part of this documentary.

The survey took approximately 2minutes to complete. The information requested was as follows:

• Age
• Gender
• Type of employment undertaken by the chief income earner in household e.g. Full or part-time
• Class of profession held by the chief income earner in household e.g. Skilled manual or professional

There were no questions relating to user satisfaction with the website or an option for users to comment or give suggestions. How is answering the questions above going to benefit users of RTE.ie?

The survey was conducted by Survey Interactive.

When it comes to State exams, the web provides an unlimited amount of information for students – study notes, exam tips, podcasts etc. The information is provided in a more interesting manner than it is in conventional classrooms and this draws young people in. Blogging makes it easy for students to communicate with one another and for those doing exams, the Internet becomes a place of comfort and support.

Scoilnet.ie and Skoool.ie are two of the most popular websites that students, both primary and secondary, turn to for information.

Low-fare airline Ryanair has equipped 20 of its fleet with an in-flight mobile service. The airline is using OnAir’ssystem to allow passengers to make and receive calls, send and receive text messages and use the Internet facilities on their mobile phones while in flight. At present, the service is only available on the O2 network. Passengers using the service will pay the roaming charges as set by their operator, meaning €0.50 for text messages and between €2.00 and €3.00 per minute to make and receive calls. It’s free to switch on your mobile and receive text messages and thats about as much as passengers will be doing. The cost definitely outweighs the novelty of making calls while in the air.

Michael O’ Leary doesn’t agree. “We expect customer demand for this service to grow rapidly and hope that customers of all UK mobile operators will soon be able to call or text home from 30,000 feet to tell loved ones of yet another on time Ryanair flight.”

Madeleine McCann

FindMadeleine.com allows Kate and Gerry to communicate with Internet users across the globe and provide them with the most up to date information regarding their search. The site also provides an informal place for anybody with information on Madeleine’s whereabouts to come and they have the option to remain anonymous if they wish. Through this site, donations can be made to a fund that was set up to help finance the McCanns’ campaign. The Internet reaches huge volumes of people and so a website is the greatest tool that this campaign has. It can be linked to social networking sites and many of these sites also have their own dedicated Madeleine McCann pages. The Internet kept the ‘Find Madeleine’ campaign alive long after print media lost interest. Obviously the story is still featured frequently in British newspapers but without the Internet, the campaign would not have reached as many people worldwide.

Online news sites also play a key role in  the search for Madeleine. They provide dedicated pages where all the related articles ever printed on the case can be found. This is a great source for those wanting to research the topic and the fact that all the information available can be found in one place may ultimately help find Madeleine.

SkyNews.com is one such website to have a dedicated Madeleine McCann topic page.

Following the success of Focal.ie, Fiontar and The Placenames Branch set about creating a database of Irish placenames called Logainm.ie. The site was launched in October 2008.

“The principal objective of the project is to make available through the Internet, Irish placenames that have been approved by the Placenames Branch, searchable under both Irish and English versions.”

The second phase of the development of the database has now commenced and additional features, such as an interactive system so that members of the public can submit information on placenames, will now be developed.

The video below shows footage of the presentation and gives an insight into how the search engine works. For example, when asked for the GDP of France, the search engine comprehends the question in the same way that a human would and gives a direct answer to the question.

As well as giving a direct answer to a question, WolframAlpha will generate a page of related information that the user may be interested to know. The search engine is based on Dr Wolfram’s best selling Mathematica software and all information is assessed by experts meaning that uncertainty regarding credibility of the information is ruled out. WolframAlpha will be free to use.

Click hereto read Dr Wolfram’s blog on WolframAlpha.

Although the Foinse.ie website exists and it posts the latest stories for users to read, they are made available online in the exact same format as they would be in the printed version of the newspaper. Website users are not given the option to comment on stories and there is no hypertext used within the articles. This gives the website an unprofessional and substandard appearence in comparison to its English language counterparts.

Blogging ‘as Gaeilge’ does exist but not to the same extent as English language blogging. Blogs ‘as Gaeilge’ are more likely to focus on Irish language issues alone than on a broad range of topics and they are used more often than not by frustrated Gaeilgeoirs looking for an outlet rather than by online journalists hoping to make information available online ‘as Gaeilge’.

The Mexican public are taking precautions to prevent the spread of swine flu

The Veratect Corporation, a Seattle-based biosurveillance startup, is claiming that they alerted the Centers for Disease Control to the situation in Mexico before the health authorities had declared a problem.

“Veratect provides the earliest detection of emerging threats to human, animal and plant life while empowering corporations, government organizations, NGOs and global citizens with trusted, timely and actionable information.”

The company monitors and analyses the flow of social media traffic along with more official reports. Multi-lingual experts look for very early indicators of emerging risk. They do research both off the Internet and on it and blogs and social networking sites are key sources of information. By tracking what average people, professionals in public health and journalists write about an illness, they can spot a potentially serious outbreak before it occurs.

“We started picking up the early indicators of social disruption, whether it shows up on blogs or Twitter,” said Bob Hart, the CEO of Veratect. “We can pick up the first indicators of behavioral changes.”

In the short video clip below, Hart provides an insight into how his company works.

Healthmap is another internet resource which can be used to follow the development of the swine flu situation across the globe. It is a freely available website which integrates outbreak data from various sources. Healthmap is directly funded by Google.org. Click here to see the latest recorded Swine Flu data on Healthmap.

Ultimately, these sites combine information regarding  health related queries typed into online search engines with expert opinion and analysis to detect the outbreak of a disease at it’s very early stages. Therefore, the internet and the way in which internet activity can be tracked and sourced provides a detailed look at the general health of a community in a given place at a given time.