Dr Elroy Dearn
Online Food Delivery Services are becoming a popular mode of purchasing out-of-home meals, with a projected global increase from 800 million users in 2018 to almost 2.9 billion users in 2029. This week, VicHealth Postdoctoral Researcher Adyya Gupta (@AdyyaGupta) and Deakin Distinguished Professor Anna Peeters (@AnnaPeetersAus), of Deakin University (@IHT_Deakin @GLOBE_obesity) explain the burgeoning trend of online food delivery services and their implications for public health.
Read MoreAshlea Coen (@ashlea_coen) analyses LinkedIn’s “career break” interaction design and critiques how the language points to the devaluing of caring as a job in society. Ashlea is a researcher focused on the intersection of design, technology and sociology.
Read MoreThe pandemic has exposed the multitude of dangers in trusting private entities with public data, demonstrating the need for carefully thought out regulation argue Jenna Harb and Kate Henne from the Justice and Technoscience (JusTech) Lab at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance.
Read MorePeople over the age of 65 who develop a motor neurone disease (MND) can have difficulty accessing technology that can provide them with greater quality of life and independence, because they are not eligible for the NDIS. In today’s piece, Carol Birks (@CEBirks), Ben O’Mara (@BenOMara), and Morag Millington, all of MND Australia (@MNDAustralia) outline the need and propose cost-effective solutions for providing assistive technology to older Australians in need. This piece originally ran in The Mandarin.
Read MoreIn Australia, women’s presence in data is often cause for concern - for example, the way that women are monitored and controlled by the government when receiving welfare or attempting to collect child support; experiences magnified for Indigenous women. Their data invisibility can also be worrying; for example, when the time use survey dropped off in 2006 or when CALD women (and men) are excluded from mental health research. Data collection and use can create trauma, disadvantage and marginalisation; alternately divergent experiences are rendered invisible when data is not collected to tell silenced stories. In today’s analysis, the use and abuse of data gets the gender treatment from Marika Cifor (@marika_louise) and Patricia Garcia (@thebigfiveone). Together they led a workshop that created a “Manifest-No” which details both the harms and potential of data collection from a feminist and intersectional perspective. In today’s analysis they provide a rationale as well as a summary of main points; read the entire Manifest-No here, and find more information on the Manifest-No here.
Read MoreThe United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty is preparing a report on the human rights impact of the introduction of digital technologies in social security systems. The Human Rights Law Centre made a submission to the Special Rapporteur focusing on Australia’s social security system and how technology is increasingly being used to target and punish people, especially single mothers, through programs like ParentsNext. Monique Hurley (@monique_hurley) from the Human Rights Law Centre (@RightsAgenda) summarises their submission, focusing on the gendered impacts. The full submission is available here. More information about the Special Rapporteur’s report is available here.
Read MoreAfter a string of data breaches in 2018, privacy and protecting people’s information became a hot issue which shows no signs of abating. Digital privacy made a global 2019 top ten list of technology trends and GDPR was the data privacy acronym of the year.
In the second of a four-part series, The Mandarin explores the online privacy landscape and how building and maintaining trust means empowering consumers and citizens.
Read MoreThe Bruny Island Battery Project is trailing new technology in Tasmania, with the aim of creating a grid that is flexible, reliable, cheaper and based on renewable energy. The researchers involved tell us more in this repost from The Conversation
Read MoreWill it soon be possible to outsource our caring responsibilities for ourselves, our children and our parents to robots? Catherine Smith and Helen Dickinson ask what the human rights, privacy, equity and practical implications for care would be in a tech-dominated future.
Read MoreMental health problems in young people are increasing. Suicide remains a leading cause of death in those aged 15-24 worldwide. The majority of mental health problems develop before the age of 25 but have their roots usually in childhood and teenage years. If left untreated, mental health problems can persist into adulthood with poorer prognosis and greater disability over the life course. In this blog post, Maria Michail, Jo Robinson, Tina Yutong Li, Sadhbh Byrne explore how primary care services can become more accessible and acceptable to vulnerable young people. This post has been co-produced with young people with lived experience of mental-ill health and highlights the importance of making primary care health services more accessible, acceptable and equitable for vulnerable young people.
Read MoreOver the last few weeks our inboxes have been flooded with privacy reminders, a direct response to the implementation of a new European regulation on privacy, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In this piece, Gerard Brody looks at how Australia’s privacy and data protection laws stack up and finds our laws and enforcement bodies are ill-equipped to protect privacy and consumer rights in a world of “big data”.
Read MoreIn this piece, UK-based social affairs journalist Saba Salman (@Saba_Salman) considers what a truly accessible city would look like and explores some innovations currently underway to create such a city into the future. This piece is a re-post from Saba's blog, The Social Issue.
Read MorePersistent long-term growth in the world’s population has brought with it significant public health concerns. The global demographic is ageing, chronic disease is on the rise and these concerns for health and welfare systems require action in a time of economic uncertainty. Over 46 million people worldwide are currently living with dementia and this figure is set to treble in the next 35 years (Prince et al., 2015). In the post below, Dr Jennifer Lynch looks at if Assistive Technology is a human rights issue for people living with dementia.
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