While health records are increasingly stored
electronically, we, as citizens, have little access to this
data about ourselves. We are not used to thinking of
these official records either as ours or as useful to us.
We increasingly turn to the Web, however, to query
any ache, pain or health goal we may have before
consulting with health care professionals. Likewise, for
proactive health care such as nutrition or fitness, or to
find fellow-sufferers for post diagnosis support, we turn
to online resources. There is a potential disconnect
between points at which professional and lay eHealth
data and resources intersect for preventative or
proactive health care. Such gaps in information sharing
may have direct impact on practices we decide to take
up, the care we seek, or the support professionals
offer. In this panel, we consider several places within
proactive, preventative health care in particular HCI
has a role towards enhancing health knowledge
discovery and health support interaction. Our goal is to
demonstrate how now is the time for eHealth to come
to the forefront of the HCI research agenda