\u201cOnline health platforms: patient data, evaluative infrastructures, and health citizenship\u201d is an international research project, which seeks to explore the role of digital technologies in re-shaping healthcare sectors in the US, UK, and Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sectoral platforms, such as those found in healthcare, enable new forms of connectivity between doctors and patients; they promise patient empowerment, increased transparency, and improvements in care through the publication of patient reviews. They also create monetary value out of user data, advertisements or service offerings to health providers. The design of evaluative infrastructures \u2013 sets of interacting technologies, such as algorithms, ratings, rankings, and big data \u2013 help connect the goals of empowerment and transparency with platforms\u2019 commercial imperatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the ubiquity and growing importance of health platforms, their effects on social and economic interactions as well as our understanding of health citizenship remains uncertain. This project thus aims to better understand relationships between the platform promises, business models, evaluative infrastructures, and their impact on healthcare. In an initial phase of the project, the principle investigators aim to construct a complete database of online health platforms in the three countries, and collect exploratory data through interviews with platform owners. Subsequent phases of the project will focus on how providers and patients interact with and through different platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Principle investigators:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Christian Huber<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n