Current Issues in Digital Presence & Pub

This case study-based course explores the ways in which digital technologies and the internet act as mediators of access to health through access to information by evaluating and engaging with current challenges and policy debates.

Now more than ever, it is essential for public health students to understand and engage directly with the technical systems that underpin health equity challenges. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media and search platforms began developing policies and tooling to strengthen public health information and service delivery. At the same time, more research emerged that examined the impacts of algorithmic recommendation systems and biases on public health outcomes. For public health communications leaders, this offered new pathways for intervention, and deeper understandings of how our information ecosystem can strengthen, or impede, access to health. Challenges and opportunities that these technologies pose to health equity are only increasing in importance as we continue to learn about artificial intelligence and its role in connecting people to health services, support networks, resources and information, and it is imperative for public health practitioners to engage in current debates around their use.  

Through this course, students will critically examine the infrastructure behind ‘digital presence’ technologies, which we define as technologies that enable, mediate or inhibit, the participation of people and communities in digital environments. Each week, our class time together will focus on real world case study examples where public health efforts intersect with digital presence tools. Students will engage in asynchronous preparation ahead of weekly collaborative case study review sessions, learning through research and policy papers, popular press articles, and different forms of media relevant to current digital presence issues with consequences for public health.