ABSTRACT
A freely accessible, automated electronic information system, HealthMap was developed in 2006 for organizing data on outbreaks according to geography, time, and infectious disease agent (Brownstein et al. 2008). This organization of data provides a structure to information ow that would otherwise be overwhelming or would obscure important elements of a disease outbreak (Keller et al. 2009). HealthMap relies on a variety of electronic media sources, including online news sources through aggregators such as Google News, expert-curated discussion such as ProMED-mail, and validated ofcial reports from organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) (Brownstein et al. 2008).
