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We present the development, architecture, and features of a new multi-device mHealth software platform to support near real-time remote monitoring of metabolic health and timely intervention in the treatment and survivorship of cancer patients. Our platform, mEnergy, leverages a human- centered design process, and integrates in a unified, web-based framework consumer-grade hardware—Fitbit wearable sensor devices, smartphones, and Withings smart scales. mEnergy can aid oncologists in identifying early indicators of muscle-wasting (sarcopenia) due to sleep disturbance, insufficient weight recov- ery, or reduced/limited activity. The platform aims for a smooth transition into clinical practice and increased adherence to evidence-based recommendations, in particular in underserved geographical areas. This toxicity-surveillance approach based on mHealth technologies can improve treatment outcomes, quality of life, and survivorship
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Hardware and data in the platform era: Chinese smartphones in Africa
The increased access to smartphones in Africa and elsewhere in the global south has opened new markets and new areas for surveillance/platform capitalism/data colonialism to operate. This article attends to the socio-technical practices of Transsion, the Chinese maker of Africa’s top selling smartphones, and through these showcases how essential hardware are to the global data economy. Working from a mix of data, including translocal fieldwork in Shenzhen, Accra, Addis Ababa, and a close reading of Transsion products and artifacts alongside business practices, the article shows how the company’s prioritizing of Black African consumer needs sustains its competitive position and how its constellation of hardware and apps are integral to its success in routine experimentation of artificial intelligence, facial recognition, and other emerging areas of computation. Ultimately, the argument is that consumer hardware such as low-cost smartphones are critical to the datafication of the everyday in the global south via the bundling of surveillant and extractive software and should be considered sites of power within discourses on the platform era.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1617898
- PAR ID:
- 10376050
- Publisher / Repository:
- SAGE Publications
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Media, Culture & Society
- Volume:
- 44
- Issue:
- 8
- ISSN:
- 0163-4437
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 1473-1489
- Size(s):
- p. 1473-1489
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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