At your own risk

Communication Design Quarterly Aug 2017

Candice A. Welhausen

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.

Journal: Communication Design Quarterly
Published: 2017-08-04
DOI: 10.1145/3131201.3131206
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Topics: multimodality multilingual writers

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Cited by in this index (1)

Eichberger (2019)

Maps, silence, and Standing Rock

Communication Design Quarterly

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At your own risk

Abstract

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Cited by in this index (1)

Cites in this index (0)

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