Covid, Cognition and the Spaces of Digital Health

19th January 2021

Abstract:

In this paper we present the findings from a study of ethics in practice in the development of digital health technologies, particularly for older adults. We focus on two cases. The first is an analysis of Covid-19 contact tracing tools, drawing on the empirical study of apps and repeated interviews with older adults in the UK and Italy between April and October 2020. The second is the example of digital tools that aim at the early detection of cognitive decline, based on interviews with older adults and a review of developing technology and interviews with academic and corporate technology researchers. We draw on these two cases to examine first, how technology developers and users relate to notions of consent and agency in the use of digital health tools, how these are situated in relation to the material affordances of technology and finally, consider how expectations and practices of digital health inhabit and reshape spaces of health surveillance, healthcare and everyday life.

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Milne R, Costa A (2021) Covid, Cognition and the Spaces of Digital Health. Part of the series Health, Medicine and Agency, 19th January, Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) of Cambridge University, online