At your own risk

Abstract

In this article, the author proposes that the emergence of digital, disease-tracking applications over the past ten years like HealthMap (healthmap.org) and Flu Near You (flunearyou.org) that allow non-experts to contribute information about emergent public health threats have facilitated a "do-it-yourself (DIY)" risk assessment ethic. Focusing in particular on Flu Near You (FNY), a crowdsourced, flu-tracking program, the author argues that some participants use the mapping feature to curate their own risk information experience in determining the preventative behaviors they may want to engage in (if any) to prevent flu. As outbreaks of infectious diseases increase (Smith et al., 2014), mHealth technologies like disease-tracking apps are evolving as an important risk assessment tool for both public health experts as well as non-expert, public audiences. Better understanding how non-experts use such information can inform not only the design of these apps but visual risk communication strategies more generally speaking.

Citizen Technical Communicators

“…These authors recognized the power dynamics present within risk communication and advised that officials interact more directly with the public, allowing for the use of "collective wisdom" in risk decision making in order to avoid an "empty ritual of participation in participation" [3, p. 17]. For example, Welhausen's [4] work on digital risk maps, such as heathmap.org and flunearyou.org-which are composed of both authoritative sources and user-contributed information-has indicated that non-experts are more than "passive recipients of information;" they have a desire to participate and provide their local and experiential knowledge. Users, even if they do not contribute to the maps, are able to interact with these maps in order to "curate their own risk information experience" [4, p. 51].…”

Civilian First Responder mHealth Apps, Interface Rhetoric, and Amplified Precarity

“…Research at the intersection of the rhetoric of health and medicine (RHM) and technical and professional communication (TPC) has extensively theorized rhetorical agency (Arduser, 2017;Bellwoar, 2012;Gouge, 2018a;Graham, 2009;Koerber, 2006;Novotny & Hutchinson, 2019) with scholarship on mHealth apps also incorporating this theme (Kirkscey, 2020;Teston, 2016;Welhausen, 2017;Welhausen, 2018). As these tools have continued to rapidly proliferate (see Roess, 2017), some that focus on emergency response rely on mobile mapping technologies (see Merchant et al, 2013;Ringh et al, 2015).…”