Why was the Seahorse Healthcare Information Exchange developed?
Part of the response to  AIDS has been the establishment of the formation of community groups and NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations), offering information, emotional and practical support to those living with HIV+/AIDS.

With information available from all around the world, it became apparent that these support groups would need to develop new ways of passing on information. SEAHORSE aims to simplify access to this information through the World Wide Web.

How is the information composed and accessed?
Documents can be annotated by users in the form of personal notes, responses to other documents or reviews. It is possible to read (and add to) other users’ annotations, thereby building up an ever-increasing bank of information and user responses. More immediate contact is available through access to discussion groups deal with the subject from a variety of perspectives.

When connecting to the system, the front page will have links to all local sites, so that if travelling across Europe, for example, a user will be able to have simple access to the system they are used to. This will allow people living with HIV+/AIDS - both patients and carers - access to information sources available through the WWW. They will also be able to read local language expert information, in addition to translations and abstracts of global sources, reading lists and annotations.

The infrastructure: Sites on the World Wide Web
These are created by local community groups or NGOs. They make electronic communication services available to its users, such as drop in centres that have computers linked to the network. A site's users usually have gender, linguistic, social or cultural factors in common and are interested in information that is ordered and presented in a way relevant to them.

SEAHORSE not only gives these users access to a wealth of information, but also the chance to have a say in both the type of information available and how it is ordered. They can produce translations and reviews of existing items and classify them in terms of relevance, as well as submitting their own articles for inclusion into the SEAHORSE body of work.

OCC's Role in the SEAHORSE Project
OCC was responsible for providing the technological expertise to allow individual users to connect to those organisations providing information. The SEAHORSE model and applications have strong potential for transfer of information into other healthcare sectors. Similar work is being done in the areas of cancer, lupus and multiple sclerosis.

Our partners for SEAHORSE:
Apoyo Positivo (Spain)
Lewisham Borough Council (UK)
London Lighthouse (UK)
National School of Public Health (Greece)
Romanian Angel Appeal (Romania)
Regione Emilia-Romagna (Italy)