Charles and others,
 
Try the LINCS Health & Literacy Special Collection at
www.worlded.org/us/health/lincs.  The site is designed to supports the
integration of health and literary education.  
 
You'll find links to the "easy-to-read" health sites others have
mentioned.  You'll also find links to health literary lessons developed
by literacy teachers for a variety of literacy levels.   
 
We've been working on our collection of non-print resources, and
playing with multi-media approaches for English literacy classes.  
 
I hope you find the site helpful.  
 
- Sabrina
 
-------------------------------------------------
Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi
World Education
44 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA  02210
617-482-9485
skurtz at worlded.org


>>> JLocke at OSOPHS.DHHS.GOV 12/29 11:48 AM >>>



Charles - I found this e-mail trail from a few months ago that might be
useful.  You might want to try the health section of site.
http://firstfind.info/
 Also, I agree with Audrey's view below that there are many aspects of
a document or website that affect how easy it is to understand. Reading
levels tell only a small part of the story.  The only true way to tell
if something is understandable is to test it with the intended
audience.
Joanne Locke 
Plain Language Advisor 
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 
240-453-6113 
 
Hello Eugenio,
I was involved as a consultant in the first stage of developing
firstfind.info. Just to clarify, firstfind.info is not a single web
site. It is a portal to web sites. The New York City and Westchester
County librarians -- all experts in web searching, and trained in how to
recognize well-designed web sites for low-literate adults which have
high-interest content -- chose web pages which most closely met the
firstfind criteria. Note that firstfind.info is not a literacy web site,
as such, not designed to provide instruction for low-literate adults.
Instead, it is for library patrons who want to use the web to get
information, but whose reading skills may not be high enough to access
many web sites. firstfind.info makes it easier for them to find web
sites which have the information they want and which have relatively
accessible text and a simple, straightforward design.
I would agree that many of the sites chosen are at an intermediate
reading level, not a low literacy level, but that is because not enough
web sites yet exist which fit the criteria (high interest, informative,
plain English) for all the topics.
As Audrey pointed out in her message of February 4th, there is still a
lot to be done, but firstfind.info is a good step in the right
direction.
David J. Rosen
djrosen at comcast.net
On Feb 8, 2005, at 10:32 AM, Eugenio Longoria wrote:

> Although this seems to be a good website, it is still not very good 

for people with low levels of literacy. It is not as plain and simple as
they advertise it is.

> Eu-

 
 ----- Original Message -----
 From: "Bruce Carmel" bcarmel at rocketmail.com
 To: "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-health at literacy.nifl.gov>
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 7:18 PM
Subject: [NIFL-HEALTH:4633] Re: "Easy-to-read" resources on the web
firstfind.info is probably worth a look for anyone looking for 
"easy-to-read" web info. It's a library of non-commercial web sites
selected by librarians. David Rosen, Susan Cowles, Maura  Donnelly,
Robin Osborne, and I helped train them to use more than  grade level as
a selection criterion. In fact we did not use  grade level, but were
more holistic.
Bruce Carmel
http://firstfind.info
 
 Audrey Riffenburgh <ar at plainlanguageworks.com wrote:
Greetings, all,
 In my ten years working in health literacy, I have seen a huge
increase in materials on the web which are labeled as easy.
There are SOME easy-to-read health resources on the web but many of the
materials labeled 
 as easy-to-read are still far too difficult for most of the  general
public. As you probably know, the average U.S. adult 
 reads at about 8th "grade" level.Much of the material on the web that
is labeled "easy" or  "plain language"
 is written at much higher levels. (There are inherent problems  in
using grade levels to label adult readers but this gives you 
 a general idea of the level of functioning vs. the literacy  demands
of printed materials.)

>

 I recently analyzed the reading level of seven materials on, or 
linked to, MedlinePlus' "Easy-to-Read" area. The average 
reading level was 11 and the range was from 8 to 16. The results were
similar for the FDA's website where they offer "easy"  resources.


>


The problem is in defining "easy." What is easy to an average or lower
skilled reader is entirely different from what is easy 
for those doing the labeling. So I suggest great caution in  using
materials labeled this way. They may not achieve what you are hoping for
or assuming they will achieve.
 
 Plus, keep in mind that there are dozens of factors beyond reading
level that affect a document's appropriateness. These 
 include organization, amount of information, whether the information
is what the reader is looking for, approach, tone, 
design, layout, cultural appropriateness, and more. So even if  the
reading level is at 7th or 8th "grade" level, you cannot 
automatically assume the piece is going to work for the general public
or readers with limited literacy skills.
 Yours for better health in the U.S.,
 
Audrey Riffenburgh, M.A.
President, Riffenburgh & Associates P.O. Box 6670, Albuquerque,  NM
87197
Phone: (505) 345-1107 Fax: (505) 345-1104
 E-mail: ar at plainlanguageworks.com Specialists in Plain Language 
and Health Literacy since 1994 and Principal & Founding, The Clear
Language Group www.clearlanguagegroup.com

From: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Charles Jackson
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005 8:48 AM
To: healthliteracy at nifl.gov
Subject: [HealthLiteracy] Do health websites at 8th-grade level exist?




Is there a health information website like WebMD that is at an
8th-grade level? 

I know 6th-grade printed materials on specific health topics are
available at some health websites, and some health websites have
"Easy-To-Read" sections.   

I have contacted several literacy groups, but no one is aware of such a
site. 

Charles Jackson

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