critical digital health studies: a research agenda
DESCRIPTION
Updated slides - presents a research agenda for critical digital health studies. Defines digital health, gives theoretical perspectives, outlines research questions and lists my current and future research projects in this area. Presented at the Australian National University, 14 May 2014.TRANSCRIPT
CRITICAL DIGITAL HEALTH STUDIES: A RESEARCH AGENDA
Deborah Lupton, News & Media Research Centre, Faculty of Arts & Design, University
of Canberra
Twitter: @DALupton
Web
1.0
• one-way website use, little user content creation, landline internet connections, desktop and laptop computers
Web
2.0
• user-created content or commentary, social networking sites, ubiquitous computing, mobile devices, media convergence
Web
3.0
• interconnected 'smart objects' that can communicate with each other, producing a single interlinked database
From Web 1.0 to Web 3.0
What is digital health?
eHealth mHealth
Health 2.0 Medicine 2.0
digital health
Digital health includes
digitised therapies, patient self-care + medical devices
public health surveillance (digital epidemiology)
health informatics – online patient records, triage + booking systems
diagnostic, genomic, risk assessment, decision-making tools (online + apps)
health and medical platforms, blogs, websites + social media
health promotion strategies
voluntary self-tracking – quantified self, computer games
Health and medicine on Twitter
Patient support platforms
Wireless mobile health devices
Health vital monitoring patch
Sleep Shirt containing sensors to measure movement for sleep apnoea detection
Self-tracking devices
Health and medical apps
Wearable tech
Digital epidemiology
A research agenda …
Critical digital health studies
• Challenging techno-utopia and solutionism• Identifying the social, cultural, political and ethical
implications of digital health technologies
Evolution of a field of research
health sociology
social aspects of HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS metaphors
computer viruses
computers, selfhood & the body
critical digital health studies
critical digital health
science and technology
studies
social science of
medicine/public health
surveillance studies
media, cultural and
communication studies
the arts and design
Research questions
• How do the news media cover digital health topics?
• What websites, platforms, social media sites and apps are valued for health-related information, medical practice or patient support?
• What kinds of content are created and shared by lay people via social media platforms?
• What do corporate social platforms do with this content?
• Big data: privacy, web harvesting and commercialisation
Research questions
• In the face of techno-utopia, what are the lived experiences of people using digital health technologies?
• Who to trust in the digital media world?
Research questions
• How are concepts of selfhood, health, illness, disease and the body shaped through digital technology use?
• How are healthcare providers using digital technologies?
• How are professionals in health promotion and public health using digital technologies?
Research questions
• What are the political dimensions and power relations inherent in the use of these technologies?
• How will privacy be defined and experienced in the context of these media?
• What are the implications for how people conduct their everyday lives and social relationships?
Theoretical perspectives
• Sociomaterial approach
• The cyborg body/post-human body
• Forms of veillance: panoptic, synoptic, sous, participatory, algorithmic, uber
• Data doubles/metric assemblages
Theoretical perspectives
• Domesticating technologies
• The medical gaze
• Prosumption
• Technology as performative (both software and hardware)
Recent + current research projects
• mapping the domain of critical digital health studies• the commodification of patient experiences on digital
platforms• sexuality and reproductive health apps• medical diagnosis apps (with Annemarie Jutel)• digital surveillance of children + the unborn• experiences of self-tracking (with Glen Fuller)• digitised tech in school physical + health education (with
Michael Gard)
Recent + current research projects
• use of digital tech by professionals in infectious disease surveillance control (with Mike Michael)
• public understandings of big data (with Mike Michael)• theorising the quantified self phenomenon• big data in medicine and healthcare• provocative responses to digital health technologies by
artists and designers
An artist’s response