Consciousness of disinformation (e.g.)

[Robert J Tiess]

How timely--this just in (9:45PM/EST, 6/26/97) via the mecury news
server:

>*** Internet bad source for health news, doctors say
>
>People who use the Internet to look for self-help medical advice may
>simply "drown in a sea of poor-quality information," doctors warned
>Friday. A team of Italian doctors tested the web by looking for pages
>advising parents on how to treat a feverish child. But they found that
>very few pages offered all the up-to-date information that parents
>would need to properly assess and treat such a case. Dr. Maurizio
>Bonati and colleagues at the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacological
>Research in Milan checked 41 different web pages. For the full text
>story, see http://www.merc.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=3644253-122

This is a prime example of the dangerous nature of less-than-accurate
information.  It underscores, in bright red permanent ink, the
importance of promoting critical thinking skills and and instilling a
healthy skepticism in patrons toward Internet-based information.

						Robert