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Share the flu online: 6 disease widgets from the CDC
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The latest CDC widgets.
Update: I've just discovered that five pregnant women in San Francisco have been diagnosed with Swine Flu. This makes the post very, very local, and a lot less humorous than I had planned. If you're of a mind, pass these widgets along. And wash your hands. Thanks to SFist for the update.
Folks, I know what you're thinking (all six of you): "Hey Ken, isn't the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA? What happened to your local SF focus?"
To which I respond, "But these are widgets from the US Government! Plus, they're about disease--which effects everyone! Also, I found out about this on Digg so that has to count for something."
Back to the point: ReadWriteWeb broke the initial story that the CDC had created a Social Media Center to help disseminate information during this year's peanut butter scare. Since then, the CDC has created new sets of widgets dedicated to your health, particularly in light of the recent flu outbreaks.
We'll discover two things in this post: The quality of CDC's social media, and whether or not I can crash Examiner.com with a post full of Flash and Javascript widgets. Onward!
FLU-SPECIFIC:
Your Flu IQ
Know how to install a widget but not sure what the flu is? Worry no longer, thanks to The Flu IQ Widget. The CDC calls it "An easy and fun way to learn what's true about flu." I tried this one out and actually learned a few things.
Swine Flu news & updates
A Javascript widget that provides regular swine flu news & updates via the scarily-named Pandemicflu.gov. It's a very handy widget that allows additional interaction, including sign-up for email updates.
FluView National Swine Flu Activity Map
Want to see swine flu outbreak areas across the US week-to-week? Put this too-big-to-be-a-widget map on your over-sized sidebar. You can also compare to previous weeks and see how we're doing as a country. Rollovers tell you how many people in each state have been diagnosed with swine flu...and how many have died. Cheery. And it's in Javascript, which for some browsers is a malady in & of itself.
H1N1 (Swine Flu)
This one sounds more helpful than it is. It's mostly facts on how to avoid catching the flu, swine or otherwise. but I imagine it's handy if you have an empty sidebar and tend to forget why you need to wash your hands.
H1N1 (Swine Flu)
GENERAL HEALTH WIDGETS:
CDC Data and Statistics
For health data trivia junkies, preferably with good eyesight, this widget "Provides an easy and convenient way to stay informed of CDC's featured data and statistics information," albeit crammed into the size of a Priority Mail stamp. And most of it is fascinating. How much sleep did Americans get in 2006 versus 1985? What's the breakdown of cancer cases by gender? The HIV breakdown-by-race is enough to at least page through this one.
CDC Emergency Text Messages
Those of you looking for reasons not to sleep should embed this one immediately. This widget displays the CDC's emergency SMS feed into a convenient little window. Learn about salmonella warnings, carbon monoxide poisoning, and other such household hazards. Great for playing "ways we're all eventually going to die" Bingo.
You can find these widgets and more on the CDC widget page and the HHS.gov widgets page.
Disease: the original social media?
According to ReadWriteWeb, the initial widgets resulted from the HHS, FDA, and CDC's mutual need to find ways to inform the public about the peanut butter scare earlier this year. Now that the U.S. Government has invested time, money, and code in social media outreach--and hopefully found it successful--I'm interested to see how our government further embraces social media and transparency. It's an idea I can't wait to go (wait for it) viral. Oh, like I wasn't going to go there.
Ken Grobe welcomes your comments, topic ideas, pitches, etc. Bring 'em on. |
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