Reliable and efficient real-time tools for collecting and analyzing large health datasets

研究表明，越来越多的人依赖在线资源获取健康信息，包括症状、治疗和一般健康相关建议。此外，目前在社交媒体上活跃的数百万用户的用户行为表明，他们愿意分享与他们当前健康状况有关的事实。这些数据可用于实时跟踪和预测疾病和其他健康问题的传播，或提供关于诸如加拿大卫生部、疾病控制中心或世界卫生组织等卫生机构的公共卫生宣传战略有效性的重要信息。然而，我们目前对通过社交网络产生的在线健康数据的理解在许多重要方面是有限的：(a)现有数据库是针对项目的，数据收集机制有时间限制；(b)现有的健康跟踪工具依赖于单一界面，如Facebook、Twitter或Instagram； (c)缺乏实时绘制卫生保健问题地图的能力。

Research suggests that more and more people rely on online sources for health information including symptoms, treatments and general health-related advice. Moreover, the user behaviour of millions of users currently active on social media demonstrates an openness to share facts related to their current health status. Such data could be used to provide real-time tracking and prediction of the spread of disease and other health concerns, or provide vital information about the effectiveness of the public health awareness strategies of health agencies such as Health Canada, the Centre for Disease Control or the World Health Organization. However, our current understanding of online health data produced through social networks is limited in important ways: (a) existing databases are project specific and data gathering mechanisms are time-constrained; (b) existing health-tracking tools depend on single interfaces such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, and (c) there is a lack of capacity for real-time mapping of health care issues.