Well, one might ask, “What does social networking have to do with the cure for cancer”? I’ve been wondering that myself…I think that the kind of information that is shared in health-related social networks, especially as they become more and more refined in the data they collect (e.g. www.patientslikeme.com) are going to be very revealing in terms of patterns once the data is mined and visualized. Let’s not forget the pioneering work by John Snow, who used mapping to determine the origin of a cholera outbreak in London during the 1850s. I’m sure his colleagues thought he was crazy, running up and down the street, pen and paper in hand, making note of the locations where the deceased resided! Sure research on a cellular and biomedical level in relation to cancer treatments is necessary. Hopefully though one day Tak Mak will come out from under the fume hood and see what the social scientists are doing…
