Fertility apps, datafication and knowledge production in reproductive health.

IF 2.7 2区医学 Q2 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Sociology of health & illness Pub Date : 2024-07-01 Epub Date: 2024-06-01 DOI:10.1111/1467-9566.13793

Alina Geampana

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Despite being the target of much criticism, commercialised digital technologies have proliferated in reproductive health arenas. Fertility applications (apps) are now some of the most popular and ubiquitous digital health tracking technologies, with millions of downloads. Previous scholarship has already underlined the problematic nature of their design and surveillance features. However, less attention has been paid to the wider effects of datafied knowledge availability. This research specifically asks: How does the proliferation of fertility apps shape knowledge (and associated practices) in reproductive health? Drawing on an analysis of key document sources, I here argue that fertility apps act as mediators between stakeholders, data and datafied outputs, thus facilitating: (1) the datafication of fertility awareness knowledge and the production of new datafied knowledge, (2) legitimation discourses and practices and (3) the remaking of private/public expertise and knowledge production networks in reproductive health. To effectively analyse the effects of commercialised reproductive health apps, this work argues for an understanding of data technologies that is informed by critical data studies.

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生育应用程序、数据化和生殖健康知识生产。

尽管受到很多批评，但商业化数字技术已在生殖健康领域激增。生育应用程序（Apps）是目前最流行、最普遍的数字健康跟踪技术，下载量达数百万次。以往的学术研究已经强调了其设计和监控功能的问题性质。然而，人们较少关注数据化知识可用性的广泛影响。本研究的具体问题是生育应用程序的普及如何影响生殖健康知识（及相关实践）？通过对重要文件来源的分析，我在此认为，生育应用程序充当了利益相关者、数据和数据化产出之间的中介，从而促进了：（1）生育意识知识的数据化和新的数据化知识的产生，（2）合法化话语和实践，以及（3）生殖健康领域私人/公共专业知识和知识生产网络的重塑。为了有效分析商业化生殖健康应用程序的影响，这项工作主张以批判性数据研究为基础来理解数据技术。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Sociology of health & illness Multiple-

CiteScore

6.10

自引率

6.90%

发文量

156

期刊介绍： Sociology of Health & Illness is an international journal which publishes sociological articles on all aspects of health, illness, medicine and health care. We welcome empirical and theoretical contributions in this field.