Since the beginning of this millennium, mobile phone penetration has risen remarkably worldwide and has been accompanied by an associated increase in mHealth solutions. These technological...Show moreSince the beginning of this millennium, mobile phone penetration has risen remarkably worldwide and has been accompanied by an associated increase in mHealth solutions. These technological solutions are believed to enhance access to healthcare. Not only are institutions from Africa implementing these services for African societies, but also institutions from the Global North. Research has found that the consideration of local contexts and collaboration are crucial steps in the creation of mHealth solutions, which raises questions about the motivations and ways of working of European institutions. This thesis aims to answer why mHealth is perceived as a relevant solution for Africa and what factors are influential in mHealth and to shed light on the humane aspects around mHealth.Show less
This thesis investigates two interrelated issues: the tendency of automated decision-making (ADM) systems to exacerbate gender bias, and the extent to which current European Data Protection...Show moreThis thesis investigates two interrelated issues: the tendency of automated decision-making (ADM) systems to exacerbate gender bias, and the extent to which current European Data Protection legislation (GDPR) both promises and delivers a right to explanation of decisions reached by those systems. The thesis has high philosophical and societal relevance, and engages fluently with a variety of important discourses: technical discussions of artificial intelligence, feminist scholarship, and commentaries on EU legal texts. After an introduction on machine learning and algorithms, the thesis moves to examinating those parts in the GDPR that address ADM, in order to clarify the way they are regulated. In the second and in the third chapter, problems such as the black box, different types of bias, technological design and neutrality are discussed. Gender bias are presented and many cases are discussed in order to provide reason of this growing phenomenon. A central topic of investigation is that of data representativeness, or how women data lack from our daily infrastructure at a point that discrimination normally occurs. This thesis ultimately seeks to provide a new framework for the introduction of a new feminist ethics of technology, that addresses bias and data collection in an intersectional way and especially that claims for new regulations to be discussed.Show less
E-health technologies are being used increasingly much worldwide, a trend that is also visible in the Ugandan context. This thesis sought to investigate whether the use of blended forms of e...Show moreE-health technologies are being used increasingly much worldwide, a trend that is also visible in the Ugandan context. This thesis sought to investigate whether the use of blended forms of e-learning and e-consultations can improve the experiences and outcomes of the use of these technologies. The chosen case study is a social organisation that practices e-health in the Central region of Ugandan. The main methods used are semi-structured interviews and field observations. The analysis, which used self-determination theory as a theoretical framework, found that blended learning provides the ability to improve the experience and outcomes of CHWs because it enhanced the opportunities to fulfil the needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness required for self-determination. Similarly, the research also found that blended care has the potential to improve the experience and outcomes of patients because it offers the ability to increase the needs of autonomy (although findings were rather limited for this), competence and relatedness. As such, this study concludes that there is a need for greater reflection and inclusion of blended methods in e-health.Show less
Starting around the twentieth century, technological innovations and shifting ideas in self-portraiture resulted in more body-focused self-representations, because access to every aspect of the...Show moreStarting around the twentieth century, technological innovations and shifting ideas in self-portraiture resulted in more body-focused self-representations, because access to every aspect of the body has become significantly easier. The relationship between the material self and social self has changed since artists started to incorporate medical procedures in their artistic practices, which allowed them to represent themselves through their internal body. Three self-portrait series that have been produced by incorporating medical procedures in the creating process will be discussed. These concern Body of Work (2019) by Itamar Gilboa, Self (1991-current) by Marc Quinn, and Self-Portraits (2012) by Angela Palmer. These artists have used the representation of their bodies as a starting point to produce sculptural self-portraits. The incorporation of medical procedures comes with its implications. By discussing these series, it will be demonstrated how the use of medical procedures goes hand in hand with a more scientific, transparent and malleable view on the body and the manners in which this challenges the notion of the self in self-portraiture. To get to a deeper understanding of the artworks, an analysis is performed using theoretical sources that reflect upon the intersection between the fields of art history and (medical) science. This analysis will provide a deeper understanding of how contemporary artists make use of procedures that derive from the medical field, how these explore the boundaries of self-portraiture, and how a new domain is opened up within the genre that challenges more traditional modes of representing the self.Show less
Multiple government Social Credit Systems (SCSs) are being piloted in China in response to the growing calls from the population that there is a breakdown of trust within society. Previous research...Show moreMultiple government Social Credit Systems (SCSs) are being piloted in China in response to the growing calls from the population that there is a breakdown of trust within society. Previous research finds that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are employing a surveillant construction to unite the heterogenous elements of the country using Big Data (BD), including; Chinese individuals, companies, social organizations and government agencies. This thesis focuses on how Foucault’s, Deleuze & Guatarri’s and Jäger’s interpretation of the ‘dispositive’ is being updated onto the digital platform of the SCS. Conducting Siegfried Jäger’s ‘Dispositive Analysis’ over a 3 × 3 analysis framework which includes the three perspectives of Apparatus, Articulation and Assemblage over the three modalities of Law, Ethical and Utilitarian, the thesis presents how the CCP are reconstructing cyberspace for the application of the SCS. More importantly, this research finds that the CCP are drawing upon traditional Confucian & Daoist morals and ethics as the basis for the SCS’s functionality, shaping the actions and behavioural patterns of the population.Show less
This thesis will argue that our current conception of privacy is insufficient to properly survive the threats posed by technological innovation in modern society.
China’s growing relevance on the digital world stage, and in the global economic system in general, calls for an analysis of its policies regarding blockchain technology. This thesis provides an...Show moreChina’s growing relevance on the digital world stage, and in the global economic system in general, calls for an analysis of its policies regarding blockchain technology. This thesis provides an analysis of a Chinese blockchain platform, NEO, to understand to what extent China’s blockchain policies serve its agenda for global leadership in the area of technological development.Show less
So far, Publishing Studies has contributed to the debate on technology’s effects on literature foremost by focusing on changes in fiction transmission. Yet, there is tech beyond the ebook. The...Show moreSo far, Publishing Studies has contributed to the debate on technology’s effects on literature foremost by focusing on changes in fiction transmission. Yet, there is tech beyond the ebook. The emergent technology of text mining can affect not just the means of communication of literature, but also its actual form and content. Text mining is a technology originally created by and for an interdisciplinary academic field that manages to exploit texts as a source of extractable data using algorithmic analysis. This thesis discusses how the technology is already, and could be used as an aid to support processes in trade fiction publishing. Three case studies prove how involvements of text mining in trade fiction publishing have a profound impact on the content of the published material.Show less
The German energy transition to renewable energy or in another world “Energiewende” has become the center of attention worldwide when the German government announced the total phase-out of nuclear...Show moreThe German energy transition to renewable energy or in another world “Energiewende” has become the center of attention worldwide when the German government announced the total phase-out of nuclear power from the country’s energy mix in short-term as a response to the nuclear disaster taken place in Fukushima in 2011. The complete energy transition of the German economy has had significant impacts on its energy sector and its actors. In the beginning of the 2000s we can see a strong centralization of the market and the emergence of the Big 4 companies, namely E.ON, RWE, ENBW and Vattenfall as dominant actors. In spite of their fast emergence into market leading positions, by the end of the decade, they had to face with serious challenges posed by the spread of new renewable technologies which threatened the own existence of the Big 4. Although there were visible signs that might have indicated the transition of the energy sector from conventional to renewable energy sources, they slowly recognized it and they were too slow to find answers to the challenges they had to face. Why were their reactions so slow? Did they adapt finally to the changing circumstances because of the crisis they had experienced? This seems to be a too easy answer for that question. Therefore this paper tries to contribute to the discussion on the German energy transition by examining the further causes of the above mentioned slow reactions and by investigating the organizational triggers which led the Big 4 companies towards adaptivity in the changed environment. By understanding this process, we can gain a better insight why formerly nonadaptive organizations shift towards adaptivity.Show less
