Technology isn’t made for everyone.
For many data-driven insights are out of reach. Transforming data into knowledge is an effortful process, especially when it comes to nutrition. And the devices that so readily collect data often do so because the data are a valuable commodity and not because the tech industry’s intention is to make health decisions easier for those with low literacy, numeracy, and few resources. This sets the stage for a new digital divide, the data divide, where technologies are made for those who can afford fancy devices, thereby exacerbating health disparities.¹
The digital divide may have disappeared, but has a “data divide” been created?
The Burgermaster Lab uses patient-generated data to help people prevent and manage diet-related chronic diseases with a special focus on groups for whom new technologies are not made. We aim to answer the following questions:
How do we engage patients from underserved communities in collecting patient-generated data?
What other patient-generated data do we need to make these insights actionable in the real world for real people?
What other patient-generated data do we need to make these insights actionable in the real world for real people?
- Veinot TC, Mitchell H, Ancker JS. Good intentions are not enough: how informatics interventions can worsen inequality. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. 2018 May 16;25(8):1080-8