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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Healthcare, Internet |
| Founded | July 26, 1998 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Headquarters | El Segundo, California, U.S. |
| Key people | Charles Simmons, Founder and President (1998-2011) Robert Brisco, President and CEO, Internet Brands |
| Website | http://www.healthboards.com/ |
HealthBoards[1] is a long-running social networking support group website, consisting of over 280 Internet message boards for patient to patient health support (also referred to as a virtual community or an online health community). HealthBoards was one of the first stand alone health community websites. Health communities prior to it had generally been part of large web portals (WebMD, Yahoo, iVillage, etc.). The HealthBoards members post messages to share information and support on a wide range of health issues such as cancer, back pain, autism, and women's health. As of October 2013, the site had over 1 million registered members, 5 million posted messages, and over 10 million monthly visitors.
HealthBoards was founded in 1998 by Charles Simmons, a software engineer in Los Angeles, California. In 1997, after experiencing a variety of symptoms for which doctors had no explanation, Simmons turned to the Web for answers and support. When he did not find online support groups in the areas he needed, he realized that there was a need for a health support website covering a wide range of health topics. After a year of development, HealthBoards was launched on July 26, 1998, with 70 message boards. The original site was developed using custom Perl software written by Simmons. HealthBoards quickly gained popularity.[citation needed] In January 2001, the site began using an internet forum software package called UBB. By November 2003, HealthBoards had reached 100,000 members. Due to considerable growth in traffic and problems with UBB, the site was transitioned to VBulletin 3.0, a more robust internet forum software system. After 2003 HealthBoards experienced its most rapid growth and became one of the largest health communities on the Web. In 2005 HealthBoards was rated as one of the top 20 health websites by Consumer Reports Health WebWatch. [2] Selection for inclusion as a "Top 20" site was based solely on web traffic volume. These sites were then evaluated using criteria developed by Consumers Union in partnership with Health Improvement Institute. Areas of evaluation included ease of use, accessibility, transparency, editorial adequacy, advertising, and information reliability among others. The site was among eight that received an overall good rating though its evaluation at the time noted its content ”...has no authoritative information, anyone can post any claim”.[3] In 2011 the site was acquired by Internet Brands.
On HealthBoards, health topics are given individual message boards. Each message board topic typically contains thousands of discussion threads, each relating to a specific question, comment, or response initiated by a HealthBoards member. Participation on HealthBoards is free and requires registration and agreement and adherence to the Posting Policy, enforced by volunteer member moderators. An anonymous login username and an email address are required. Unregistered guests may still view and search the contents of the message boards, but cannot post messages.
The support group is limited to registered member's own experience and opinion though members who are healthcare professionals may not disclose their backgrounds or credentials. All professional advice or opinion is discouraged per Healthboards.com posting policy.[4] Excerpts from members' own posts may be shared on the boards or blogs. The boards and blogs are moderated to keep them free of spam, inappropriate comments, unverifiable information, and unapproved links. Copying and pasting from other than the member's own posts is restricted. Links to research sites are not allowed "for any reason" nor links to outside health related sites without express approval of healthboards.com. United States .gov URLs are allowed "ONLY IF specifically requested by the thread originator" as stated in the healthboard.com posting policy.[4]
HealthBoards's business model is advertisement based which provides free access to registered members. Only paid advertising is allowed. Advertising posted by members is not permitted on the message boards or blogs and will be removed by moderators. Advertisers may buy ads directly from HealthBoards or through partners such as Google.
Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
HealthBoards is a long-running social networking support group website, consisting of over 280 Internet message boards for patient to patient health support (also referred to as a virtual community or an online health community). HealthBoards was one of the first stand alone health community websites. Health communities prior to it had generally been part of large web portals (WebMD, Yahoo, iVillage, etc.). The HealthBoards members post messages to share information and support on a wide range of health issues such as cancer, back pain, autism, and women's health. As of October 2013, the site had over 1 million registered members, 5 million posted messages, and over 10 million monthly visitors.
Healthcare in Wales is mainly provided by the Welsh public health service, NHS Wales. NHS Wales provides healthcare to all permanent residents that is free at the point of need and paid for from general taxation. Health is a matter that is devolved, and considerable differences are now developing between the public healthcare systems in the different countries of the United Kingdom, collectively the National Health Service (NHS). Though the public system dominates healthcare provision, private health care and a wide variety of alternative and complementary treatments are available for those willing to pay. The largest hospital in the country is usually the University Hospital of Wales hospital, however the temporary Dragon's Heart Hospital set up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales was larger, and is the second largest hospital in the United Kingdom. Unlike in England, NHS prescriptions are free to everyone registered with a GP in Wales (although those on low incomes, under 18, and under 60 do get prescriptions for free in England). Initially administered by the UK Government, since 1999 NHS Wales has been funded and managed by the Welsh Government.
Online health communities (OHCs) are a type of online social network focused on health-related topics. They enable patients, caregivers, and health professionals to exchange information, share experiences, and provide social support. Participants may include individuals living with specific illnesses, medical professionals with shared clinical interests, non-professional caregivers, or a combination of these groups. The term is primarily used in academic and health informatics literature. Increased internet access has coincided with greater use of online health information resources. Surveys of U.S. adults indicate that most internet users seek health-related information online, and that many individuals with medical conditions use online platforms to connect with others who share similar experiences. OHCs may operate as standalone platforms or as interactive features within larger health information websites, including discussion forums and peer-support networks. Depending on the structure of the community, participants may share personal illness experiences, exchange knowledge and information about treatments, and discuss disease-specific concerns. Research has examined the use of OHCs among individuals with conditions such as cancer, HIV/Aids, infertility, diabetes, and other rare diseases. Studies describe these communities as venues for the exchange of informational and emotional support. Research has also identified the presences highly active members in online health communities, sometimes referred to as 'superusers', who are associated with patterns of engagement within these communities . OHCs differ from static health information websites in that they facilitate interactive communication among users. They vary in scope, membership structure, and accessibility, ranging from open public forums to moderated or condition-specific networks.
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They are an element of social media technologies which take on many different forms including blogs, business networks, enterprise social networks, forums, microblogs, photo sharing, products/services review, social bookmarking, social gaming, social networks, video sharing, and virtual worlds. Forums act as centralized locations for topical discussion. The Forum format is derived from BBS and Usenet. This is a list of the most notable and significant Internet forums communities that have converged around topics ranging from medicine to technology, and vocations and hobbies.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker
