ABSTRACT
Health information in cyberspace is not only produced by medical authorities or commercial organizations; it is also reconstructed through arenas of lay discourse. In this chapter, we explore how Internet users have ‘become significant providers of health information and advice’ (Hardey 2001: 388) and how medicalized cyberspace is variously negotiated in this process. As Hardey (2001) observes, the Internet is much more open than traditional media and provides a less regulated space for the production of material. Increasingly, online users are creating websites, email groups, electronic networks, online support groups, and so on (Jadad 1999) to share experiences of health and illness. The collation of this material is part of a wider process of ‘informational medicine’ whereby patients can become producers of health knowledge (Nettleton 2004).
