---
title: "Health Data Geeks’ Wisdom"
description: "Cancer \"weather maps,\" the age of biology, and how cell-only adults really are different from landline users."
date: "2007-05-22"
authors:
  - name: "Susannah Fox"
    job_title: "Former Researcher"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/susannah-fox/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2007/05/22/health-data-geeks-wisdom/"
categories:
  - "Health Policy"
  - "Healthcare Online"
  - "Medicine & Health"
  - "Online Search"
---

# Health Data Geeks’ Wisdom

I was lucky enough to be invited to a "Data Users Conference" sponsored by the [Health Information National Trends Survey](http://hints.cancer.gov/)/National Cancer Institute, which really should have been called Health Data Geeks Unite! If you have a moment, I highly recommend browsing through some of the [presentations](http://hints.cancer.gov/presentations.jsp), particularly the following:

- David Stinchcomb showed how isopleth maps can be used to smooth regional data into a lovely "weather map" connecting low belief in the risk of smoking with the reality of high lung cancer mortality rates. (If you like that kind of data mapping, check out [Social Explorer](http://www.socialexplorer.com/pub/home/home.aspx).)
-  [Jon Miller](http://polisci.msu.edu/people/miller.htm) argued for the need for "biological literacy" since the 20th century was the "age of physics" and the 21st century will be the "age of biology."
- Michael Link reminded us to watch out for the effect of cellphone-only households on classic phone survey results. A snail mail survey found that 52% of cell-only respondents had been recently tested for HIV vs. 35% of landline respondents, for example. 40% of cell-only respondents are binge drinkers vs. 23% of landliners. (This was news to me since my colleagues in the political end of the Pew Research Center had found that cell-only respondents were [politically akin](http://poq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/70/1/88) to landliners. Watch [this space](http://pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/politics/) for updates for the 2008 election cycle!)
-  [Tenbroeck Smith](http://www.cancer.org/docroot/RES/content/RES_9_1_BRC_Researchers.asp?sitearea=RES) said that the American Cancer Society call center handles about 1 million calls per year, while cancer.org handles about 20 million visitors.
-  [My presentation](https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/Presentations/2007/Future-of-Health-Communication.aspx) focused on how e-patients are using the latest participatory media (Flickr, MySpace, YouTube, etc.) to document, advocate, educate, and illuminate their own health journeys.