Internet Access And The Consumer

Internet Access and the Consumer

Consumer Management in the Internet Age

Consumer Management in the Internet Age: How Customers Became Managers in the Modern Workplace analyzes online consumer management, a practice in which customers monitor, report on, and—sometimes unwittingly—discipline workers through writing and posting online reviews. Based on case studies of the websites Yelp and Rate My Professors (RMP), Joshua Sperber analyzes how online reviewing, a popular contemporary hobby, tells us much about the collapse of the barriers separating work and leisure as well as our need for collective purpose and community wherever we can find it. This book explores the economic implications of online reviews, as reviews provide both valuable free content for websites and surveillance of, respectively, restaurant servers and college instructors.

Evidence-based Patient Choice

This book's focus is on the decisions taken in consultations between health care patients and professionals. Clinician- patient partnerships in health care decisions are increasingly advocated. Evidence- based patient choice describes a model of health care in which the evidence-based approach can integrate with the promotion of consumer choice. The book examines the traditional approach and the changing experience and expectations of consumers. It describes with many clinical examples and patient narratives how to practice evidence-based patient choice, and explores the ethical, sociological and economic issues raised. It also addresses the future modifications to professional training and organisational change which are required if evidence-based patient choice is to become the norm and speculates about what is likely to be achieved in the next few years. The book provides a summary of current perspectives in this area, which will be of interest to consumers, their representative groups, and to professionals in practice and training alike. From the foreword by Richard Grol: 'An enormous challenge lies before us. In this new and challenging field Evidence-based patient choice is manna from heaven. It summarises the current state of knowledge about these new patient involvement approaches. It is by far the most comprehensive account of scientific and ethical thinking about patient choice at this moment. And, it manages to show us the way to a potential future: health care provision where patients and professionals operate as real partners with shared goals...'