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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/89749
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- Title
- Intermediaries and end-users in telehealth and education
- Author(s)
- Watkins, Jerry
- Abstract
- This article reviews the role of intermediaries and end-users in a number of recent telehealth and education initiatives, in relation to policy discussion about Australia's National Broadband Network. Intermediaries are defined as human agents who provide an interface between end-users and systems supported by information and communication technology. Most of the telehealth and education projects examined form part of the Australian Federal Government's Clever Networks program. The activities these projects cover include videoconferencing for at-home diagnosis of patients, aggregation of patient records from multiple databases, and secure educational networking. The article refers to sociotechnical systems theory, which considers end-users and intermediaries as equal players with technology. Using this theoretical basis, it is argued that end-users and intermediaries should be factored into system and policy design for telehealth and education.
- Publication type
- Journal article
- Research centre
- Swinburne University of Technology
- Source
- Communication, Politics and Culture, Vol. 43, no. 1 (Jul 2010), pp. 108-119
- Publication year
- 2010
- FOR Code(s)
- 1608 Sociology; 2001 Communication and Media Studies; 2002 Cultural Studies
- Keyword(s)
- Australia; Broadband communication systems; Broadband network; Communications technologies; Educational technologies; Government policy; Health information services; Internet users; Media policy; Patients; Telecommunications; Telehealth
- Publisher
- School of Media and Communication, RMIT University
- ISSN
- 1836-0645
- Publisher URL
- http://www.rmit.edu.au/mediacommunication/cpc
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2010 Jerry Watkins. The accepted manuscript of the paper is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.
- Full text
- Peer reviewed
