The “skillful incompleteness” of digitalization in data hesitant contexts
An Austrian case study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24242699 |
|---|---|
| Authors | K Tawny Paul (0000-0002-3851-8951, University of Vienna), Anna Pichelstorfer (0000-0001-7910-6382, University of Vienna), Ingrid Metzler (0000-0003-0695-1352, Department of Biomedical and Public Health Ethics, Karl Landsteiner University, Krems an der Donau, Austria) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Publication date | 2026-12-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Big Data & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2053-9517 • E-ISSN: 2053-9517 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/20539517261490272 |
| OpenAlex | W7223943089 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 52 |
In contemporary health policy, digitalization is frequently imagined as a tool towards more effective and efficient governance. This article presents the case of the digitalization of the maternal and child health program in Austria; specifically, the recent introduction of an electronic maternal and child health record. Our study offers insights into what we label “data hesitancy” and the shape that digital health governance can take in such a context. We ask, how did digitalization emerge as a solution to the problem of maternal and child health, considering longstanding hesitancy towards digital health governance in Austria? We draw on the “What's the problem represented to be?” approach to trace a series of (re)problematizations of maternal and child health across time. Our research is based on an analysis of press releases ( n = 162) and policy documents on the topic of maternal and child health from 1997 to 2023. Here, we examine how different actors problematized maternal and child health and how they came to jointly represent it as a problem that requires the collection, storage, and use of data. We show that digitalization helped to depoliticize contentious issues by foregrounding the technological infrastructures underpinning policy programs and backgrounding disagreements concerning their scope.
Austria · data collection and use · depoliticization · digital health governance · digitalization · electronic health records · maternal and child health · Problematization · What's the problem represented to be · E-Government and Public Services · Healthcare Systems and Practices · Social Policies and Healthcare Reform · Health Policy
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| Highly cited | No |
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