Big Data in Discourse. Digitalization in Healthcare and Its Effects on Young People

Big Data in Discourse. Digitalization in Healthcare and Its Effects on Young People

An interdisciplinary research and development project

Big Data is taking on growing significance in more and more areas of life. This development is particularly relevant in healthcare. From self-tracking apps and electronic health cards to smart homes, a development is unfolding that presents both opportunities and risks.

Supporters, for example, point to the highly targeted treatments made possible by these technologies, significantly improved early detection of serious illnesses and greater chances of recovery, the strengthening of health awareness and self-responsible engagement with one’s own body, and the possibility of preventive measures tailored to individual needs. Critics have no fewer legitimate concerns about data protection, warn against increasing dynamics of self-optimization, fear new dependencies and paternalistic structures, or point to reductionist tendencies in the perception of one’s own body that degenerate into mere body measurement.

What still sounds like science fiction to many has long since begun to arrive in everyday life. Young people are, so to speak, growing up alongside these developments. It is therefore especially important for them to develop an awareness of the implications of this phenomenon, to become capable of engaging in discourse, and to be able to deal with it competently. To make this possible, the participants in the discourse not only produced a policy paper but also developed and tested concrete concepts for target-group-oriented workshops.

Because of the complexity of this challenge, the project of the Tutzing Academy for Civic Education was consistently interdisciplinary. It brought together representatives from health research and healthcare provision, pharmaceutical companies that use Big Data, committed self-trackers, experts from the legal field, sociology and philosophy, as well as medical and educational practice.

From the Institute for Philosophical and Aesthetic Education at Alanus University, Prof. Dr. Thomas Schmaus took part in the discourse as a philosophical expert. His work focuses primarily on the anthropological implications and ethical consequences of digitalization in healthcare, and, with regard to young people, benefits from the location of his professorship in the Department of Educational Studies.

The project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and was under the patronage of the Chair of the German Ethics Council, Prof. Dr. Peter Dabrock.

Project period: October 2017 – July 2019

Specifically for students at Alanus University, a workshop took place from 29–31 March 2019 on the topic of freedom and responsibility in dealing with one’s own health. “Healthier with Big Data!?” This was the question posed by fifty students, who, with the support of experts, sought answers and their own personal position on the matter. The varied workshop offered an opportunity to learn about the latest developments in smart health and to reflect on their opportunities and risks from philosophical, legal, political, and social perspectives. You can find a detailed report here.

The concept paper and teaching materials developed by the discourse team are available free of charge on the website of the Tutzing Academy for Civic Education.