Dangers of the digital fit: Rethinking seamlessness and social sustainability in data-intensive healthcare
For years, attempts at ensuring the social sustainability of digital solutions have focused on ensuring that they are perceived as helpful and easy to use. A smooth and seamless work experience has been the goal to strive for. Based on document analysis and interviews with 15 stakeholders, we trace...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Big Data & Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951717752964 |
| _version_ | 1811337506109521920 |
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| author | Sarah Wadmann Klaus Hoeyer |
| author_facet | Sarah Wadmann Klaus Hoeyer |
| author_sort | Sarah Wadmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | For years, attempts at ensuring the social sustainability of digital solutions have focused on ensuring that they are perceived as helpful and easy to use. A smooth and seamless work experience has been the goal to strive for. Based on document analysis and interviews with 15 stakeholders, we trace the setting up of a data infrastructure in Danish General Practice that had achieved just this goal – only to end in a scandal and subsequent loss of public support. The ease of data access made it possible for data to be extracted, exchanged and used by new actors and for new purposes – without those producing the data fully realizing the expansion of the infrastructure. We suggest that the case has wider relevance for a still more data-intensive healthcare sector and a growing data economy: when those who produce the data are not made aware of new uses of data, it makes it more difficult to resolve potential conflicts along the way. In the Danish case, conflicting views on legitimate data use led to the collapse of the infrastructure. Therefore, while seamlessness may be a solution to the old problem of a poor fit between user and technology, this celebrated virtue may also involve new problems relating to social instability. As digital solutions tend to be integrated still more seamlessly in still more of our activities, we need to develop political mechanisms to define and protect the rights and obligations of both data suppliers and users in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of digital infrastructures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T17:56:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-21c3a45e85604c20ac408cbe32a78110 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2053-9517 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T17:56:47Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Big Data & Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-21c3a45e85604c20ac408cbe32a781102022-12-22T02:36:28ZengSAGE PublishingBig Data & Society2053-95172018-01-01510.1177/2053951717752964Dangers of the digital fit: Rethinking seamlessness and social sustainability in data-intensive healthcareSarah Wadmann0Klaus Hoeyer1The Danish Centre of Applied Social Science, VIVE, DenmarkCentre for Medical Science and Technology Studies (MeST), University of Copenhagen, DenmarkFor years, attempts at ensuring the social sustainability of digital solutions have focused on ensuring that they are perceived as helpful and easy to use. A smooth and seamless work experience has been the goal to strive for. Based on document analysis and interviews with 15 stakeholders, we trace the setting up of a data infrastructure in Danish General Practice that had achieved just this goal – only to end in a scandal and subsequent loss of public support. The ease of data access made it possible for data to be extracted, exchanged and used by new actors and for new purposes – without those producing the data fully realizing the expansion of the infrastructure. We suggest that the case has wider relevance for a still more data-intensive healthcare sector and a growing data economy: when those who produce the data are not made aware of new uses of data, it makes it more difficult to resolve potential conflicts along the way. In the Danish case, conflicting views on legitimate data use led to the collapse of the infrastructure. Therefore, while seamlessness may be a solution to the old problem of a poor fit between user and technology, this celebrated virtue may also involve new problems relating to social instability. As digital solutions tend to be integrated still more seamlessly in still more of our activities, we need to develop political mechanisms to define and protect the rights and obligations of both data suppliers and users in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of digital infrastructures.https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951717752964 |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Wadmann Klaus Hoeyer Dangers of the digital fit: Rethinking seamlessness and social sustainability in data-intensive healthcare Big Data & Society |
| title | Dangers of the digital fit: Rethinking seamlessness and social sustainability in data-intensive healthcare |
| title_full | Dangers of the digital fit: Rethinking seamlessness and social sustainability in data-intensive healthcare |
| title_fullStr | Dangers of the digital fit: Rethinking seamlessness and social sustainability in data-intensive healthcare |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dangers of the digital fit: Rethinking seamlessness and social sustainability in data-intensive healthcare |
| title_short | Dangers of the digital fit: Rethinking seamlessness and social sustainability in data-intensive healthcare |
| title_sort | dangers of the digital fit rethinking seamlessness and social sustainability in data intensive healthcare |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951717752964 |
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