Open AccessDigital Trust: An Analysis of Trust in the Adoption of Digital Support Services
Author(s) -
GLAZER EMILIE,
MIECZAKOWSKI ANNA,
KING JAMES,
FEHNERT BEN
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ethnographic praxis in industry conference proceedings
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1559-8918
pISSN - 1559-890X
DOI - 10.1111/1559-8918.01028
Subject(s) - negotiation , telehealth , context (archaeology) , internet privacy , fragility , business , public relations , service (business) , digital health , health care , knowledge management , telemedicine , sociology , political science , marketing , computer science , paleontology , social science , chemistry , law , biology
Adoption of digital support services is mediated by varying experiences of trust. This paper deconstructs the notion of trust in technology through a design‐led research project on the long‐term adoption of a telehealth service – a context at once complex and fragile. The investigated daily experience of patients and healthcare practitioners in the UK and Germany revealed negotiations of trust that blurred boundaries between domestic and medical, and between system smartness and individual responsibility. Implications extend to the role of technology in changing healthcare landscapes, what trust means in developing digital support services more generally, and how appreciating the fragility of trust can bring both risk and hope in uncertain and evolving worlds.