In this research line, we address questions about how digital technologies are used in the production of knowledge, and how they affect the ways in which people access, understand and use information, particularly health information. A core assumption underlying all of our research is that digital technologies do not exist in isolation. They have a history, and are always embedded in complex networks of other technologies, institutions and regulations. Thus, we do not focus only on the newest digital application or technique. Instead, we focus on how old and new technologies co-exist, and how developments and take-up of one technology may affect developments in others.
There are two main strands to our work. The first relates to the use of digital technologies in health and medicine. The second relates to the ways in which digital technologies can be used in the production of knowledge generally and in STS scholarship in particular. We are keen to experiment with both qualitative and quantitative methods, ranging from digital ethnography to web and hyperlink analysis.
Projects on media technologies in knowledge and culture
- Making Clinical Sense
- Open WUN (Worldwide Universities Network)
- Mental Health Expertise Online: The enactment of expertise on bipolar disorder on online platforms in English and French
- Pragmatic Constructions: Simulation and the Vulnerability of Technological Cultures
- The cultural dynamics of home movies
- Digital Maps in Israel and Palestine
- Cities and citizens writing history and shaping the future
- Selling direct-to-consumer genetic tests online
- Hypermobility