THE DIGITAL HEALTH PHENOMENON:
PROMISES AND LIMITATIONS
Deborah Lupton
Faculty of Arts & Design
University of Canberra
A new research agenda
Critical digital health studies
• Challenging techno-utopia and solutionism
• Identifying social, cultural, political and
ethical implications of digital health
• Recognising both their promises and their
limitations
Critical digital health studies: evolution of a research
program
critical
digital
health
studies
health
sociology
computers,
selfhood &
the body
social
aspects of
HIV/AIDS
computer
viruses
HIV/AIDS
metaphors
Digital health includes
telemedicine, telecare, diagnosis tools
public health surveillance
personalised medicine/patient engagement
health and medical platforms + websites
health promotion strategies
self-tracking (the quantified self)
iHealth digital blood pressure monitor
Health vital monitoring patch for biometric data
Sensor-embedded trackers to ‘quantify the self”
Google Glass
Sexuality apps
Reproductive health apps
STD apps
Infectious disease monitoring + control
Google trends – AIDS searches
surveillance
studies
social science
of
medicine/public
health
science and
technology
studies
media, cultural
and
communication
studies
critical
digital
health
the arts and
design
Research questions
• What websites, platforms and apps are valued for health-related information 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?
• How are medical and public health professionals using digital media?
• How are concepts of the self, health, illness and the body configured and
understood via digital tech?
• What are the positive and negative effects of digital health tech?
• How might socioeconomic disadvantage and social discrimination be alleviated or
exacerbated by digital health tech?
My recent, current + planned critical digital health
projects
• mapping the theoretical 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
Recent, current + planned critical digital health
projects
• use of digital tech by professionals in infectious disease
•
•
•
•
•
surveillance control (with Mike Michael)
public understandings of big data (with Mike Michael)
the quantified self phenomenon
big data in medicine and healthcare
Google Glass – implications for medicine and public
health
provocative responses to health self-monitoring by artists
and designers
Theoretical perspectives
• The cyborg body/post-human body
• From the haptic to the optic
• Forms of surveillance via digital tech
• Code acts
• Algorithmic identities
Theoretical perspectives
• Domesticating technologies
• Prosumption
• Technology as performative
More information
• ‘Towards a critical sociology of digital health technologies’
(blog post)
• ‘Social aspects of digital media and health care’ (Scoop.it
collection)
• ‘Critical Digital Health Studies’ (Pinterest collection)