A Privacy Policy Comparison of Health and Fitness Related Mobile Applications

AbstractMany mobile device end users believe that privacy is important when dealing with personal health-related information, but the challenge is to develop privacy policies in a meaningful way so that mobile software application developers can adequately meet the requirements of their intended end users. Comprehensive privacy policies, which meet self-regulatory guidelines of increasing transparency on data collection, are often written in a way that average mobile users cannot understand or completely ignore. This paper provides the results of a privacy policy comparison including application permissions requested and several readability metrics used to assess the current state of privacy policies in the health and fitness mobile application market. Our analysis indicates that developers may not be considering their end-users’ reading comprehension levels and specific application permissions are not adequately addressed when developers are creating their privacy policies

Measuring the Use of the Active and Assisted Living Prototype CARIMO for Home Care Service Users: Evaluation Framework and Results

To address the challenges of aging societies, various information and communication technology (ICT)-based systems for older people have been developed in recent years. Currently, the evaluation of these so-called active and assisted living (AAL) systems usually focuses on the analyses of usability and acceptance, while some also assess their impact. Little is known about the actual take-up of these assistive technologies. This paper presents a framework for measuring the take-up by analyzing the actual usage of AAL systems. This evaluation framework covers detailed information regarding the entire process including usage data logging, data preparation, and usage data analysis. We applied the framework on the AAL prototype CARIMO for measuring its take-up during an eight-month field trial in Austria and Italy. The framework was designed to guide systematic, comparable, and reproducible usage data evaluation in the AAL field; however, the general applicability of the framework has yet to be validated

Exercise as Labour: Quantified Self and the Transformation of Exercise into Labour

The recent increase in the use of digital self-tracking devices has given rise to a range of relations to the self often discussed as quantified self (QS). In popular and academic discourse, this development has been discussed variously as a form of narcissistic self-involvement, an advanced expression of panoptical self-surveillance and a potential new dawn for e-health. This article proposes a previously un-theorised consequence of this large-scale observation and analysis of human behaviour; that exercise activity is in the process of being reconfigured as labour. QS will be briefly introduced, and reflected on, subsequently considering some of its key aspects in relation to how these have so far been interpreted and analysed in academic literature. Secondly, the analysis of scholars of “digital labour” and “immaterial labour” will be considered, which will be discussed in relation to what its analysis of the transformations of work in contemporary advanced capitalism can offer to an interpretation of the promotion and management of the self-tracking of exercise activities. Building on this analysis, it will be proposed that a thermodynamic model of the exploitation of potential energy underlies the interest that corporations have shown in self-tracking and that “gamification” and the promotion of an entrepreneurial selfhood is the ideological frame that informs the strategy through which labour value is extracted without payment. Finally, the potential theoretical and political consequences of these insights will be considered

Are HIV smartphone apps and online interventions fit for purpose?

Sexual health is an under-explored area of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), particularly sexually transmitted infections such as HIV. Due to the stigma associated with these infections, people are often motivated to seek information online. With the rise of smartphone and web apps, there is enormous potential for technology to provide easily accessible information and resources. However, using online information raises important concerns about the trustworthiness of these resources and whether they are fit for purpose. We conducted a review of smartphone and web apps to investigate the landscape of currently available online apps and whether they meet the diverse needs of people seeking information on HIV online. Our functionality review revealed that existing technology interventions have a one-size-fits-all approach and do not support the breadth and complexity of HIV-related support needs. We argue that technology-based interventions need to signpost their offering and provide tailored support for different stages of HIV, including prevention, testing, diagnosis and management

Wireless body sensor networks for health-monitoring applications

This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in Physiological Measurement. The publisher is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0967-3334/29/11/R01

An All-in-One mHealth Application: #Beats – Your health mate

Màster en Gestió de Continguts Digitals, Facultat d'Informació i Mitjans Audiovisuals, Universitat de Barcelona i UPF, curs 2019-2020. Tutor: Dr. Cristóbal Urbano. UBBy exploring the current situation of the mHealth market in Spain, and the feasibility of the open-source framework, this article looks forward to developing an all-in-one mHealth application with the concept of Mini Programs/ Instant App. It can integrate the healthcare resources and provide users with more experience of instant services without a complicated installation process. It also strengthens the protection of personal information and privacy. In the meanwhile, by applying the methodology of Rapid Prototyping, a user interface of this app, Beats, will be presented to visualize the above concepts. It may be a revolution for medical providers, doctor-patient relationships, public health care systems, and even the entire healthcare system