An Emerging Advocate for Women's Health: A Male Blogger's Perspective

My interest in the field of women's health developed during my undergraduate years as a result of working on several research projects. Our lab studied the impact of stress on preterm birth and other perinatal conditions. As a result of this work, I was fortunate enough to attend the conferences of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation and the Preterm Birth International Collaborative. It was here that I was exposed to the larger field of women's health and its many facets, which include ovarian and breast cancers, perinatolgy, menopause, and so on. Although I am a male and thus do not have first hand familiarity with many women's health issues, I recognize the importance of the field.

To gain a more firm understanding of this field, I scoured the internet to find reliable and relevant resources that would aid in my scholarly investigations. I have compiled and placed these resources in the linkroll on the right. My hope is that these links will not only keep me up-to-date in the field of women's health, but also be a valuable resource to visitors that want to delve further into the subject. To find these links, I utilized various web tools. I started with a very broad Google search, but also found pertinent blogs through the Technorati search tool. In addition, I found directory resources, such as the Librarians' Internet Index, USA.gov, and Google Directories to be very helpful in locating organizations and government institutions that are involved in the field of women's health. All in all, I located several blogs that comment on current news stories relevant to this field (Women's Health News, Our Bodies Our Blog); private organizations that fundraise for and promote research (The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Society for Women's Health Research); groups that advocate for women's health (American Medical Women's Association) and women's rights (Association for Women's Rights in Development); sites which serve to act as an educational resource for women (Childbirth Connection, Center for Young Women's Health); and various government-affiliated organizations that provide information about women's health and related programs (National Institutes of Health: Office of Research on Women's Health, World Health Organization: Women's Health). In choosing these web-based resources, I wanted to make sure that my choices were of the highest caliber. I employed the Webby Awards criteria to evaluate the quality of websites. According to this criteria, a website's content, navigation, visual design, functionality, and interactivity all contribute to the overall effectiveness. The websites that I have selected meet these criteria; they contain strong substance that is supported by appealing design and well-planned structure. The picture to the right shows the effective visual design and structured layout of the United Nation's Population Fund website. To evaluate weblogs, I utilized the IMSA criteria. According to this criteria, it is important to keep in mind whether the blog is active and influential, whether sources are reliable and cited, and whether the blogger is open about their identity.

I hope that the resources that I have collected will help me create a voice for myself in the field of women's health and look forward to becoming a regular member of the blogosphere.