International Information Transfer

LI 823 – Summer 2002

Case Study II – Dr. Xie, Shanghai, China

Presented by Jana Borchardt & Carmen Doering

Information Transfer Approach

Issues National/Local Cultural/Socio-Economic Technological Attitudinal Counseling Strategy

Transmitting Filtering Advising Networking

Tobacco use in China is rapidly becoming a national public health crisis

World’s highest number of smoker’s per capita

Currently, 2/3 of Chinese men smoke

Rapid rate of increase among youth

By 2025, an annual 2 million tobacco-related deaths predicted

China

Shanghai

At the forefront of national &

international anti-tobacco campaigns

Prohibits smoking in manypublic places, including its prison

Its major medical school actively promotes

smoking cessation among students

Smoking has become engrained in the culture, with little public awareness about its dangers.

Culture

China produces 4 x as much tobacco as US

China’s tobacco industry employs millions of workers

10 million farmers

Over ½ million industrial workers 3 million in retail

China’s recent WTO accession opens its market to ever-increasing multinational competition

Economy

Technology

2.54 million internet connections *

33.7 million users *

Slow connection speed may make Internet searching frustrating

Government-filtering, including sites run by Taiwanese government (Franda, 2002)

* at the end of 2001, , 2002.

Professional Attitude

Recognize the complexity of the inquiryImportance of the reference interviewImportance of various informational roles

Respect Dr. Xie as an Information Gatekeeper

Xie has a significant sphere of influenceXie has specialized knowledge beyond your ability

Acknowledge limitations of IP IP can’t fully understand Xie’s culture nor need IP can’t expect to answer Xie’s inquiry quickly

Counseling Strategies

Information CounselingThe information transfer process involves stages in which the

IP may change roles to encompass the following:

Transmitting

Information filtering

Advising

Networking

See Marta Dosa, “From Informal Gatekeeper to Information Counselor: Emergence of a New Professional Role.”

Transmitting & FilteringFirst Level – Assumed Information Need

World Health Organization - http://www.who.int/home-page/FILTERING – A recent press release indicates the influence of this organization and the widespread adoption of their initiatives in the area of smoking http://www.who.int/inf/en/pr-2002-59.html World Federation of Public Health Associations - http://www.apha.org/wfpha/ FILTERING - An international organization promoting information sharing and facilitating partnerships among members. The American Public Health Association is a part of this umbrella group and their June issue is on smoking - http://www.ajph.org/content/vol92/issue6/cover.shtml Center for Advancement of Health – http://www.cfah.org FILTERING - Mentions other links like the Youth Tobacco Cessation Collaborative, and has a program initiative named the Tobacco Use Research Funders (NOTURF) http://www.noturf.org Harvard Univ. School of Public Health - http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ FILTERING - They have a journal and a world class program that has received grant money for tobacco research. See a recent article http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/review/rsbreath.html GLOBALink - http://www.globalink.org/ FILTERING - International Control Network which has a listing of 6400 contacts in the area of tobacco control and sponsors the World Conference on Tobacco and Health http://2000.wctoh.org/ From this site one can get streaming media, including a speaker from China.

Oxford University Report onEmerging Tobacco Hazards in China

Advising 2nd Level Clarified Information Need

2nd Level occurs if the information gathered at Level 1 is diffused and if Xie responds to the IP’s clarifying questions.

At this point the IP can more accurately access Xie's real need and advise him to either contact a local University with access to databases like Lexis/Nexis or PAIS, the Library of Congresses Virtual Reference Desk, an information broker or . .

The IP may take on a networking role in addition to the advising role and suggest Xie contact other entities & individuals that may be able to help him further. *This was our next step.*

Networking

International Organizations

National & Regional Organizations

Local Organizations

Individuals

InternationalInternational Tobacco Listserv

World Health Organization (WHO)

Send the message "subscribe intl-tobacco <your name>" to <listproc@essential.org>

National/Regional

Hou Peisen, MD, MPHDirector, Institute of Health Education, China CDCBuilding 12, Block 1, Anhuaxili, Beijing, 100011Tel: 8610 6424-8519 Fax: 8610-6426-0067Email: houpeisen@hotmail.com

John Tung Foundation 12F-3 #57 Fushin North Rd 10059 Taipei TAIWAN (ROC) Country/City Phone Code: 886 2 Phone#: 7734309 Fax#: 7522455

Local

Individuals GLOBALink’s website to find individual contacts - http://member.globalink.org/intdir/ would be an excellent resource.

Also the IP may selectively find other individual contacts at reputable institutions.

Dr. Ximming Deng, Professor of Medicine at University of Florida Shands Cancer Center, received a grant from the Tobacco Settlement Research Institute and may be a good link due to their shared cultural heritage since he is a foreign national.

ReferencesBelkin, N.J. (1980). “Anomalous states of knowledge as a basis for information

retrieval.” Canadian Journal of Information Science, 5:13, 133-143.

Dosa, M.L. Across all borders: International information flows and applications. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1997.

Franda, M.F. (2002). Launching into cyberspace: Internet development and politics in five world regions. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Levinson, H. (16 March 2000) “China lights up.” BBC News: Crossing continents. Retrieved July 17, 2002, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/audiovideo/programmes/crossing_continents/newsid_677000/677489.stm.

Mackerras, C., Taneja, P. & Young, G. (1998). China since 1978. 2nd ed. Sydney, Astralia: Addison Wesley Longman.

World Health Organization (2000). Country profiles: Tobacco or health 2000. Retrieved July 15, 2002, from www.wpro.who.int/pdf/tfi/TFI%20Country%20Profiles.pdf