Innerbody

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Interactive Journey Through
the Innerbody Web Site
ARTICLE in JOURNAL OF CONSUMER HEALTH ON THE INTERNET ·
SEPTEMBER 2008
DOI: 10.1080/15398280802451688
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Caralee Witteveen-Lane
Van Andel Research Institute
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Interactive Journey Through
the Innerbody Web Site
<http://www.Innerbody.com>
a
a
Information Science Program at Wayne State
University , Detroit, MI
Published online: 16 Aug 2010.
To cite this article: Caralee Witteveen-Lane (2008) Interactive Journey Through the
Innerbody Web Site <http://www.Innerbody.com>, Journal of Consumer Health on the
Internet, 12:4, 361-371, DOI: 10.1080/15398280802451688
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HEALTH SITINGS
Lynda M. Baker, Column Editor
Interactive Journey Through the
Innerbody Web Site
<http://www.Innerbody.com>
ABSTRACT. Innerbody.com is a commercial, educational Web site
designed for anyone interested in learning the intricacies of the human
anatomy. It provides an interactive journey through the ten systems of
the human body using tutorials, animations, diagrams, and descriptive
links.
KEYWORDS. Human anatomy, Innerbody, interactive Web sites
Caralee Witteveen-Lane (wittevec@cooley@edu) is the Head of
Circulation at Thomas M. Cooley Law School and a recent graduate of
the Library and Information Science Program at Wayne State University,
106 Kresge, Detroit, MI 48202. She has worked in libraries for over ten
years and currently lives and works in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Comments and suggestions should be sent to the Column Editor, Lynda
M. Baker (aao838@wayne.edu).
Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, Vol. 12(4) 2008
# 2008 by The Haworth Press. All rights reserved.
doi: 10.1080/15398280802451688 361

INTRODUCTION
Learning anatomy can be a daunting task. One product that can aid
in the process is Innerbody.com <http://www.innderbody.com>, a
commercial, educational Web site designed to engage students of all
ages in the intricacies of the human anatomy. It allows the user to pur-
sue an interactive journey through the ten systems of the human body:
skeletal, digestives, muscular, lymphatic, endocrine, nervous, cardio-
vascular, male and female reproductive, and urinary. Users can learn
about each system through tutorials, animations, diagrams, and
descriptive links. The graphics used on Innerbody are visually appeal-
ing, colorful, and load easily in comparison to other similar Web sites
(more on this later in the Limitations section).
ABOUT INNERBODY
In 1999, INTELLIMED International, Corporation purchased
Innerbody.com ‘‘to extend a portion of its health care information
and education resources to the public.’’1
The Web site is currently
maintained by MyHealthScore.com, a company ‘‘that was formed
as a division of INTELLIMED International, Corporation in
1997.’’1
According to information on the About Us link, ‘‘more than
4,000 sites have links to Innerbody, and it serves approximately
500,000 people with about 12,000,000 page impressions per month.
The ‘‘Inner Sites’’ have become part of the curriculum at many
schools around the world.’’1
According to Quantcast, an Internet rating service, the most
frequent users are females, Caucasians, people in the age range of
35–44 years, and from a variety of economic backgrounds. Of interest
is the finding that 55% of the households that frequently use the Web
site do not have children 6–17 years of age,2
thus indicating that this
Web site is not just for middle and high school students, as one might
suspect.
GETTING STARTED
The first page users will see when entering the site is a picture of six
systems and instructions to ‘‘Enter Here.’’ Clicking on Enter Here
362 JOURNAL OF CONSUMER HEALTH ON THE INTERNET

will result in a page that shows the ten systems (see Figure 1), each
represented by unique diagrams. Above the diagrams, users are
instructed to ‘‘Begin your tour by choosing a system.’’
Choosing any system brings users to a screen that can be con-
sidered the main screen for accessing all the systems. In other words,
the overall format of each system screen is the same, only the picture
of the individual system and its relevant information change. At the
top of the page, users will see a black banner with the title ‘‘Inner-
body.com, Human Anatomy Online.’’ In the center of this banner
FIGURE 1. Innerbody Home Page
Health Sitings 363

are additional links to help information, a feedback page, sponsor
links, and more information about the site, as well as advertisements.
Located on the left side of the screen is a blue sidebar where all ten
systems are listed, as well as animations, tutorials, descriptions, and
products. There is a search box in the top left-hand corner, right above
the blue sidebar, but it functions through Google, not directly within
the Web site. This means when users search a topic, they are sent back
to Google, but all the hits retrieved are on the Innerbody Web site. It
basically adds a click to every search and is not that convenient.
Before users get started on the individual systems, there is a link at
the top of the blue sidebar entitled ‘‘Systems.’’ This tab can either
send the user back to the main page via the ‘‘All Systems’’ link or
to what is called the ‘‘Organ View.’’ Once the latter view is displayed
(see Figure 2), users will see the ‘‘Gutsy View’’ in the center of the
page. This option allows users to see an overview of all the organs
as they interact and relate to each other in areas of proximity and
function. This feature is designed, as is the entire Web site, to ‘‘pro-
vide instant logical flow between all of its related images.’’
To navigate through the ten systems, Innerbody gives users helpful
instructions on how to view the images it provides. These
FIGURE 2. Organ View

instructions, which can be found in a beige box to the left of the dia-
gram, explain how to maneuver through the system. For example, by
moving the mouse over the image, diamonds (called pick points) will
appear distributed over various parts of the body. Selecting one of the
pick points will reveal the name of that part of the body and the
information in the beige sidebar will change accordingly. In some
cases, ‘‘an eye glass icon will appear along with the name of the item
next to your pointer. Selecting the eye glass will display a new image.
Selecting the text icon will provide information on the image you are
viewing. To back up to the previous image, you will need to select the
back command on your browser.’’ In the center of the screen, users
will see the diagram and on the right, a list of definitions, pick points,
and eyeglasses for close-up views. When users drag their mouse over
these definitions, the pick points will point out the location of that
organ on the diagram. If there is an eyeglass to the right of the defi-
nition, users can zoom in on the organ and learn more of its specific
components. If there is no eyeglass, then the view users are seeing is
as detailed as it gets.
When users select a pick point or a definition, the information in
the beige box to the left changes. Now, users can read about the parti-
cular point they selected. Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade level on
MicrosoftTM
Word, the author tested a number of the definitions
and found them to be at the tenth- or eleventh-grade reading level,
which is considerably higher than the average reading level for most
consumer health literature that strives to be around the fifth-grade
reading level.3
SYSTEMS
The ten system links on the left (in the beige box) work the same as
the Systems link, but users can go many layers deeper into the topic at
hand. For example, the Skeletal System (see Figure 3) offers 19 dia-
grams to choose from, including three of the skull alone (side, above,
and inside views). Many topics also have a cut view option as well.
The Muscular and Skeletal Systems offer a front and back complete
view that is a very useful starting point when studying this part of the
anatomy.
In all of the system sections, below the name of the specified system
in the middle of the page, there are ‘‘See Also’’ links to other views
Health Sitings 365

related to the system. At first these links might not appear to be live,
but if users move the mouse over them, they turn blue. By clicking on
them, users are linked to the topic at hand. For example, below the
Cardiovascular heading, there are links to ten ‘‘see also’’ topics,
such as Artery & Vein Tissue, Cardiovascular System Overview,
and Bronchial Alveolus, to name a few. For each system there are
anywhere from one to twelve ‘‘see also’’ links. These are wonderfully
useful navigational tools. Finally, there is a disclaimer at the bottom
of the site that states that the information contained on this site is for
educational purposes only and should not be taken as expert advice.
ANIMATIONS
Innerbody also provides animations, which are basically live
versions of some of the diagrams, including fields of vision, as well
as cut views of the mouth and throat, capillary, cardiovascular, ear,
heart, lungs, nasal passage, and the nerve muscle connection.
Figure 4 shows the Cardiovascular System animation that illus-
trates which direction the blood is flowing. There is a run-time bar
at the bottom of the animation that indicates the beginning and
FIGURE 3. Skeletal System

end. Users can drag the icon to go directly to the end or back to the
beginning. The beige box contains an explanation of how the cardio-
vascular system works.
TUTORIALS
Another useful feature of Innerbody is its three interactive tuto-
rials. Two are on the Skeletal System and one is on the Cardiovascu-
lar and Nervous Systems (Cardio & Nervous). Figure 5 is an example
of the latter tutorial.
After clicking the link for the tutorial, users will find themselves on
page one. When they are done reading the caption on the left and
viewing the corresponding image, they simply click the forward-
pointing arrow to view the next page. When they are on the last page
of the tutorial, it will say ‘‘END OF LESSON,’’ and there will be
only a back arrow remaining. However, there is no way to skip to
the end of the tutorial, which may be problematic in the case of
lengthy ones such as Tutorial 3 (Skeletal System-Front View).
FIGURE 4. Cardiovascular System Animation
Health Sitings 367

INDEX OF DESCRIPTIONS
The Index of Descriptions feature (see Figure 6) allows users to
look up terms independent of the diagrams. This option basically
functions as a thesaurus for many anatomical terms. It also lists some
frequently asked questions, such as ways to help child development,
what is AIDS, and a huge list of ‘‘Did you Know?’’ questions that
offer fascinating medical tidbits. An example of the latter is, ‘‘did
you know that earwax comes from a combination of oil and sweat?’’
If users are looking for particular information on a topic, they might
also scroll through this list to see if their question is referenced. If
users click on the links titled ‘‘An Overview,’’ they will find links,
once again, to overviews of the ten systems.
LIMITATIONS
If users have navigational problems, there is a help feature at
the bottom of the ‘‘Instruction for Viewing Images’’ bar which, at the
time of writing, is unfortunately a broken link. But if they use the
FIGURE 5. Cardio and Nervous Tutorial

‘‘help’’ link at the top of the page, they can find brief help infor-
mation. The Innerbody Web site uses Java to navigate, so the user’s
browser must also use Java and it must be enabled in order to view
the images. Innerbody does post advertisements, or sponsor links,
so at times the page views can feel a bit jumbled. Most of these adver-
tisers appear to be medical in nature.
There are several other similar Web sites that work with interactive
anatomy, but none of them function in quite the way Innerbody does.
The KidsHealth Web site, ‘‘developed by the Nemours Foundation
Center for Children’s Health Media,’’4
offers interactive journeys
through the body with quizzes, word finds, activities, and articles.
This Web site is geared toward a much younger audience, as well
as the parents and teachers of elementary and middle school students.
Also, the graphics on this Web site take much longer to load, and are
not as clean in their detailed presentation as the images on Inner-
body.
Another Web site that is similar in nature to Innerbody is EHC.
com’s The Virtual Body, which is not as thorough an overview of
FIGURE 6. Index of Descriptions
Health Sitings 369

all the systems because it only covers the heart, digestive system,
brain, and skeleton.5
This Web site seems to dabble almost fully in
animations and not as much in quick anatomical lists and graphics
of the parts of the body. Hence, navigating this Web site requires a
lot more clicking and much more loading time. The audience for this
Web site might be students of all ages, as well as the general public.
Finally, the National Library of Medicine’s Visible Human Project
is another potential competitor to Innerbody, especially for medical
students, as it features ‘‘graphics that are actual transverse CT, MR
and cryosection images of representative male and female cadavers.’’6
They are not simple diagrams as on Innerbody and the others. One of
the difficulties with this database is that it is subscription-based, so
users must be affiliated with a university who subscribes to it to uti-
lize it in its entirety. It also takes longer to load these images than
Innerbody’s graphics and does not have the simple navigational
features and descriptive terms of Innerbody.
CONCLUSION
Innerbody offers a one-of-a-kind product for students and others
who are interested in learning human anatomy. As well as being
fun and interactive, it is an invaluable resource for hands-on learners
and an ideal reference site for students of all ages. Its greatest
strengths are its usability, ease of navigation, and thoroughness of
all ten systems it covers. Librarians and health care professionals
can feel comfortable referring health consumers to this unique online
resource.
REFERENCES
1. Innerbody.com. ‘‘About Us.’’ Available: <http://www.innerbody.com>.
Accessed: March 9, 2008.
2. Quantcast. Innerbody.com. ‘‘Demographics.’’ Available: <http://www.
quantcast.com/innerbody.com/demographics>. Accessed: March 9, 2008.
3. Doak, C.C.; Doak, L.G.; and Root, J. (1996). Teaching Patients with Low
Literacy Skills (2nd ed). Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott.
4. Kids Health. Available: <http://kidshealth.org/kid/body/mybody.html>.

5. EHC.com’s The Virtual Body. Available: <http://www.ehc.com/vbody.asp>.
6. NLM’s Visible Human Project. Available: <http://www.nlm.nih.gov/
research/visible/visible_human.html>. Accessed: March 9, 2008.
Health Sitings 371

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