Technology in Context

Abstract

The phrase “technology in context” contains a paradox, because much technology is assumed “context-free.” Information and communication technology (ICT) in health care, including telemedicine, electronic patient records, and other forms of ICT are often presented as virtual—free of time and space. This chapter argues that technology development and implementation, as drivers of modernity, make attention to context more relevant than ever in both practice and research. High-tech and information technologies transcend the traditional understanding of context to become something multilayered and relational, with the risk of blurring borderlines of tasks, roles, and responsibilities. Research into disrupted and decontextualized spaces of action offers insights into the dependencies and vulnerabilities of ICT-mediated health care practices. Here, surgery is chosen as a learning aid to understand the mediated character of context, its dependencies and vulnerabilities, and how it must be continuously reproduced at different levels of understanding and organization.