Fertility apps, datafication and knowledge production in reproductive health
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2250375 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A Geampana (0000-0001-7388-7181, Department of Sociology Faculty of Social Sciences and Health Durham University Durham UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 1238-1255 |
| Publication date | 2024-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociology of Health & Illness (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0141-9889 • E-ISSN: 1467-9566 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-9566.13793 |
| PMID | 38823027 |
| OpenAlex | W4399257489 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 63 |
Despite being the target of much criticism, commercialised digital technologies have proliferated in reproductive health arenas. Fertility applications (apps) are now some of the most popular and ubiquitous digital health tracking technologies, with millions of downloads. Previous scholarship has already underlined the problematic nature of their design and surveillance features. However, less attention has been paid to the wider effects of datafied knowledge availability. This research specifically asks: How does the proliferation of fertility apps shape knowledge (and associated practices) in reproductive health? Drawing on an analysis of key document sources, I here argue that fertility apps act as mediators between stakeholders, data and datafied outputs, thus facilitating: (1) the datafication of fertility awareness knowledge and the production of new datafied knowledge, (2) legitimation discourses and practices and (3) the remaking of private/public expertise and knowledge production networks in reproductive health. To effectively analyse the effects of commercialised reproductive health apps, this work argues for an understanding of data technologies that is informed by critical data studies
Economics · Fertility · Knowledge management · Knowledge production · Political science · Population · Production (economics · Reproductive health · Sociology · Computer Science · Demography · FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance · Mobile Health and mHealth Applications · Reproductive Health and Technologies
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Threats and thrills
Case Study Research
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The FDA’s standard-making process for medical digital health technologies
Non-adherence to Covid-19 containment behaviours
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Australian women’s use of health and fitness apps and wearable devices
Datafied body projects in India
Diving in magma
Risky Technologies
Critical data studies
Data politics
Personal health technologies, micropolitics and resistance
The trouble with IVF and randomised control trials
Gender equity and socioeconomic inequality
One Blood Clot Is One Too Many
Medical pluralism and medical marginality
Critical theory of technology and STS
Self-tracking in the Digital Era
Catching Ovulation
Self-tracking, health and medicine
Datafied female health
The Datafication of Health
Knowing (with) the body
Fertility and digital technology
Technologies of time
The datafication of reproduction
Medicine as discursive resource
Understanding the routinised inclusion of race, socioeconomic status and sex in epidemiology
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |