Digital Contact Tracing (DCT) has been one of the non-pharmaceutical interventions deployed in the early phases of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The chance of identifying risky encounters through smartphone apps seemed a promising way to try to slow down the diffusion of the virus. Therefore, since March 2020, many different actors, such as scholars, private companies, national public institutions, and the EU started working on the development of DCT apps. This contribution aims at exploring what influenced the development of DCT strategies in Europe and at understanding why, ultimately, DCT resulted in a marginal non-pharmaceutical intervention in the fight against COVID-19. Largely relying on the Science and Technology Studies tradition, mainly through the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) scholarships, this contribution is structured around the analysis of three case studies: Italy, France, and Germany. Additional academic traditions support the analysis, mainly recalling the contributions on technology governance, the role of digital platforms, and privacy. Ultimately, this work also aimed to contribute to these streams of research. The empirical inquiry relied on three research techniques: analysis of documents, semi-structured interviews with relevant actors, automatic analysis of more than a hundred thousand user reviews, and thematic analysis of a selection of them for each considered case. In describing the complex interplay between different actors' values and strategies with respect to DCT development, this contribution shows that DCT did not work as expected because of several problems arising between human and non-human actors involved in each country. Furthermore, the analysis of DCT development makes the importance of non-human actors explicit and confirms the primary role of tech corporations when engaging with digital technologies. Then, it prompted reflections on a new conceptualization of privacy as a collective matter and not exclusively as an individual one. The contribution closes on some methodological and political suggestions that could be extrapolated from the whole research process.

Il Digital Contact Tracing (DCT) è stato uno degli interventi non farmacologici messi in atto nelle prime fasi della lotta contro la pandemia COVID-19. La possibilità di identificare i contatti a rischio attraverso le app sembrava una soluzione promettente per cercare di rallentare la diffusione del virus. Pertanto, dal marzo 2020, molti attori diversi, tra cui accademici, aziende private, istituzioni pubbliche nazionali e l'UE, hanno iniziato a lavorare allo sviluppo di app per il DCT. Questo contributo si propone di esplorare gli elementi che hanno influenzato lo sviluppo delle strategie di DCT in Europa e di capire perché, in ultima analisi, il DCT si sia rivelato un intervento non farmaceutico marginale nella lotta contro il COVID-19. Basandosi in larga misura sulla tradizione degli Science and Technology Studies, soprattutto su Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) e Actor-Network Theory (ANT), questo contributo è strutturato introno all'analisi di tre casi studio: Italia, Francia e Germania. Ulteriori riferimenti in letteratura supportano l'analisi, richiamando principalmente i contributi sulla governance tecnologica, sul ruolo delle piattaforme digitali e sulla privacy. Questo lavoro si propone anche di contribuire a questi filoni di ricerca. L'indagine empirica si è basata su tre tecniche di ricerca: analisi di documenti, interviste semi-strutturate con attori rilevanti, analisi automatica di oltre centomila recensioni di utenti e analisi tematica di una selezione di queste per ogni caso considerato. Descrivendo la complessa interazione tra i valori e le strategie dei diversi attori rispetto allo sviluppo del DCT, questo contributo mostra che il DCT non ha funzionato come ci si aspettava a causa di diversi problemi sorti tra gli attori umani e non umani coinvolti in ciascun Paese. Inoltre, più a livello di contributo teorico, l'analisi dello sviluppo del DCT rende esplicita l'importanza degli attori non umani e conferma il ruolo primario delle aziende tecnologiche nell'utilizzo delle tecnologie digitali. Il lavoro porta poi a riflettere su una nuova concettualizzazione della privacy come questione collettiva e non esclusivamente individuale. Infine, il contributo si chiude con alcuni suggerimenti metodologici e per lo sviluppo di eventuali future politiche che prevedano l'uso di tecnologie digitali.

(2023). THE GOVERNANCE OF DIGITAL CONTACT TRACING: THE ROLE OF STATES, CORPORATIONS, AND USERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL STRATEGY AGAINST COVID-19 IN EUROPE. (Tesi di dottorato, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2023).

THE GOVERNANCE OF DIGITAL CONTACT TRACING: THE ROLE OF STATES, CORPORATIONS, AND USERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL STRATEGY AGAINST COVID-19 IN EUROPE

PIZZUL, DARIO
2023

Abstract

Digital Contact Tracing (DCT) has been one of the non-pharmaceutical interventions deployed in the early phases of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The chance of identifying risky encounters through smartphone apps seemed a promising way to try to slow down the diffusion of the virus. Therefore, since March 2020, many different actors, such as scholars, private companies, national public institutions, and the EU started working on the development of DCT apps. This contribution aims at exploring what influenced the development of DCT strategies in Europe and at understanding why, ultimately, DCT resulted in a marginal non-pharmaceutical intervention in the fight against COVID-19. Largely relying on the Science and Technology Studies tradition, mainly through the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) scholarships, this contribution is structured around the analysis of three case studies: Italy, France, and Germany. Additional academic traditions support the analysis, mainly recalling the contributions on technology governance, the role of digital platforms, and privacy. Ultimately, this work also aimed to contribute to these streams of research. The empirical inquiry relied on three research techniques: analysis of documents, semi-structured interviews with relevant actors, automatic analysis of more than a hundred thousand user reviews, and thematic analysis of a selection of them for each considered case. In describing the complex interplay between different actors' values and strategies with respect to DCT development, this contribution shows that DCT did not work as expected because of several problems arising between human and non-human actors involved in each country. Furthermore, the analysis of DCT development makes the importance of non-human actors explicit and confirms the primary role of tech corporations when engaging with digital technologies. Then, it prompted reflections on a new conceptualization of privacy as a collective matter and not exclusively as an individual one. The contribution closes on some methodological and political suggestions that could be extrapolated from the whole research process.
ROSSI, PAOLO
Contact Tracing; App; Tecnologie digitali; Governance; COVID-19
Contact Tracing; App; Digital technologies; Governance; COVID-19
SPS/08 - SOCIOLOGIA DEI PROCESSI CULTURALI E COMUNICATIVI
English
19-mag-2023
35
2021/2022
open
(2023). THE GOVERNANCE OF DIGITAL CONTACT TRACING: THE ROLE OF STATES, CORPORATIONS, AND USERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL STRATEGY AGAINST COVID-19 IN EUROPE. (Tesi di dottorato, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 2023).
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Descrizione: THE GOVERNANCE OF DIGITAL CONTACT TRACING: THE ROLE OF STATES, CORPORATIONS, AND USERS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIGITAL STRATEGY AGAINST COVID-19 IN EUROPE
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/416381
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