From: Dennis Roberts (droberts@netvectors.com)
Date: Sun Sep 27 1998 - 03:26:57 MDT
Spike Jones wrote:
> Ian Goddard wrote:
>
> > IAN: True enough, and there's no guarantee that
> > controlled laboratory research is immune from
> > disinformation, i.e., results that were rigged...
> > ...Also, gathering information from a wider population
> > has its advantages too...
>
> ya, huuuuge advantages. there is an unimaginable treasure
> chest of medical wisdom waiting just below the surface,
> waiting for us to find it. i mean some really true breakthroughs.
> i think we will find these thru web based health surveys and
> data mining. all we need, yes, ALL WE NEED friends, is
> some way to allow a large population to download a lot of
> information about their lifestyle, health habits, health problems,
> etc, into a universally accessible database, while simultaneously
> protecting the database from vandalism (possibly by health
> product manufacturers) and guarding the privacy of those who
> contribute to the database.
>
> how, extropians? how how how how do we do it? spike
What is the size of your survey? Do you want anecdotal info from the
net at large to comprise the entire database or might multiple databases
that used different survey methods to obtain their data be both more
useful and be able to give you both privacy and highly valid data just
not simultaneously.
Example: Advertise ( through banner ads on the Internet Link Exchange
for example) for individuals to become members of a list of potential
survey recipients (email addresses) then choose from that list at
random. Mail each selected participant a form (an ordinary e-mail doc
with an embedded html doc that contains in its html code a validation
number perhaps) that they fill out and return by e-mail. No one can
submit more than one copy and by stripping out the html doc from the
e-mail there is no way to connect the data with the participant. That
system is admittedly imperfect since it requires that the participants
trust that the survey administrators actually divorce the html doc from
the e-mail address. That would however give you a one submission per
person database for those folks who did have enough trust. Make the
database size significant. That database could be used as a key to help
validate a larger ongoing database to which anyone could contribute
simply by filling out a form on a website.
-- Dennis Roberts http://netvectors.com/cnc/webguide.htm Boost your website with our start-up page! "Do not be deceived by...some false secondary power, by which, in weakness, we create distinctions, then deem that our puny boundaries are things which we percieve, and not which we have made." --- Wordsworth
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