Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

A webometric analysis of online health information: sponsorship, platform type and link structures

A webometric analysis of online health information: sponsorship, platform type and link structures Purpose – This study aims to map the information landscape as it unfolds to users when they search for health topics on general search engines. Website sponsorship, platform type and linking patterns were analysed in order to advance the understanding of the provision of health information online. Design/methodology/approach – The landscape was sampled by ten very different search queries and crawled with VOSON software. Drawing on Roger's framework of information politics on the web, the landscape is described on two levels. The front‐end is examined qualitatively by assessing website sponsorship and platform type. On the back‐end, linking patterns are analysed using hyperlink network analysis. Findings – A vast majority of the websites have commercial and organisational sponsorship. The analysis of the platform type shows that health information is provided mainly on static homepages, informational portals and general news sites. A comparison of ten different health domains revealed substantial differences in their landscapes, related to domain‐specific characteristics. Research limitations/implications – The size and properties of the web crawl were shaped by using third party software, and the generalisability of the results is limited by the selected search queries. Further research exploring how specific characteristics of different health domains shape provision of information online is suggested. Practical implications – The demonstrated method can be used by organisations to discern the characteristics of the online information landscape in which they operate and to inform their business strategies. Originality/value – The study examines health information landscapes on a large scale and makes an original contribution by comparing them across ten different health domains. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Online Information Review Emerald Publishing

A webometric analysis of online health information: sponsorship, platform type and link structures

Online Information Review , Volume 38 (2): 23 – Feb 25, 2014

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/a-webometric-analysis-of-online-health-information-sponsorship-Ikzp8wCszj

References (71)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1468-4527
DOI
10.1108/OIR-01-2013-0011
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – This study aims to map the information landscape as it unfolds to users when they search for health topics on general search engines. Website sponsorship, platform type and linking patterns were analysed in order to advance the understanding of the provision of health information online. Design/methodology/approach – The landscape was sampled by ten very different search queries and crawled with VOSON software. Drawing on Roger's framework of information politics on the web, the landscape is described on two levels. The front‐end is examined qualitatively by assessing website sponsorship and platform type. On the back‐end, linking patterns are analysed using hyperlink network analysis. Findings – A vast majority of the websites have commercial and organisational sponsorship. The analysis of the platform type shows that health information is provided mainly on static homepages, informational portals and general news sites. A comparison of ten different health domains revealed substantial differences in their landscapes, related to domain‐specific characteristics. Research limitations/implications – The size and properties of the web crawl were shaped by using third party software, and the generalisability of the results is limited by the selected search queries. Further research exploring how specific characteristics of different health domains shape provision of information online is suggested. Practical implications – The demonstrated method can be used by organisations to discern the characteristics of the online information landscape in which they operate and to inform their business strategies. Originality/value – The study examines health information landscapes on a large scale and makes an original contribution by comparing them across ten different health domains.

Journal

Online Information ReviewEmerald Publishing

Published: Feb 25, 2014

Keywords: Search engines; Sponsorship; Webometrics; Health information; Hyperlink analysis; Platform type

There are no references for this article.