Policy makers try to integrate digital health technologies such as electronic health records, mobile health apps, or digital pills into their existing healthcare infrastructure through standards, policies, regulations or government frameworks. In doing so, they negotiate different ways of looking at health, lifestyles or medical devices. Elisa Lievevrouw discusses the challenges of doing research about a subject that is constantly changing over time, how she resolved the tension between being techno-optimist or techno-critic by looking at policy making and how it is done in practice, and why it is important for policy makers, developers and industry to understand that innovations are embedded in society from the start. In the course of our conversation, you’ll also learn new terms such as techno-tango, cinderella technologies, and stickiness.

This episode was recorded on 6 July 2023