Participatory surveillance

Participatory surveillance is community-based monitoring of other individuals.[1] This term can be applied to both digital media studies and ecological field studies.[1][2] In the realm of media studies, it refers to how users surveil each other using the internet. Either through the use of social media, search engines, and other web-based methods of tracking, an individual has the power to find information both freely or non freely given about the individual being searched. Issues of privacy emerge within this sphere of participatory surveillance, predominantly focused on how much information is available on the web that an individual does not consent to. More so, disease outbreak researchers can study social-media based patterns to decrease the time it takes to detect an outbreak, an emerging field of study called infodemiology.[3][4] Within the realm of ecological fieldwork, participatory surveillance is used as an overarching term for the method in which indigenous and rural communities are used to gain greater accessibility to causes of disease outbreak. By using these communities, disease outbreak can be spotted earlier than through traditional means or healthcare institutions.[5]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Albrechtslund 2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Iverson 2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Velasco, Edward (2014). "Social Media and Internet-Based Data in Global Systems for Public Health Surveillance: A Systematic Review". Milbank Quarterly. 92 (1): 7–33. doi:10.1111/1468-0009.12038. PMC 3955375. PMID 24597553.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Signorini 2011 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Wójcik, Octawia P. (2014). "Public Health for the People: Participatory Infectious Disease Surveillance in the Digital Age". Emerging Themes in Epidemiology. 11: 7. doi:10.1186/1742-7622-11-7. PMC 4078360. PMID 24991229.