Further user comments regarding usage of an interactive educational diabetes simulator (AIDA).

This "Diabetes Information Technology & WebWatch" column continues the diabetes simulation theme from previous issues and overviews various user experience with the AIDA v4 interactive educational freeware diabetes simulator. AIDA is a diabetes computer program that permits the interactive simulation of plasma insulin and blood glucose (BG) profiles for educational, demonstration, and self-learning purposes. It has been made freely available, without charge, via the Web as a noncommercial contribution to continuing diabetes education. Since its Internet launch in 1996, over 145,000 visits have been logged at the AIDA Website--www.2aida.org--and over 29,000 copies of the program have been downloaded, free of charge. While these statistics may appear impressive, they do not tell the personal story of how people have been making use of the software, and what they actually think about the program. In this respect, this column documents some of the independent user comments about AIDA sent in spontaneously via electronic mail (email) by patients with diabetes and their relatives, as well as by health-care professionals. Comments posted to diabetes newsgroups and diabetes email lists, as well as a selection of those which have been found at other, linked, diabetes Websites are also highlighted.