Article ID: CBB945534031

The Birth of Digital Epidemiology in South Korea (2024)

unapi

The COVID-19 Epidemiological Investigation Support System (EISS) is a digital epidemiological tool, which utilizes location data from cellular base stations, credit card transactions records, and QR codes. It is a mass surveillance system that uses big data to track the entire infected population, featuring an extensive, automated, and speedy processing of data on personal location and the linkage of multiple databases from various governmental agencies. Based on interviews with people who have developed Korean digital epidemiology systems, this paper explores the technical, infrastructural, social, and institutional factors that have shaped Korean digital epidemiology since the 2014 avian flu crisis and examines the essential conditions of big data for digital epidemiology. The main findings are as follows: The feasibility of EISS goes beyond the matter of privacy; it is closely connected to technological infrastructures such as a high density of cellular base stations and private cloud systems; people’s behavior such as a high rate of smartphone and credit card usage; and new forms of governance and institutions for speedy data processing. Multiple database linkage would develop EISS into a big data surveillance system that enables the prediction of risk-prone groups in a more preemptive manner.

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Authors & Contributors
Anderson, Warwick H.
Barnett, Clive
Bauer, Susanne
Callard, Felicity Jane
Choi, Hyungsub
Guerrini, Anita
Journals
Science, Technology, and Human Values
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Mefisto: Rivista di medicina, filosofia, storia
Bulletin of the History of Medicine
Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Endeavour: Review of the Progress of Science
Publishers
McGill-Queen's University Press
MIT Press
University of California Press
Concepts
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Science and technology studies (STS)
Digital technologies
Epidemiology
Surveillance
Medicine and society
People
Ellul, Jacques
Tenner, Edward
Langmuir, Alexander
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
20th century
Places
South Korea
China
Singapore
Great Britain
Taiwan
Vietnam
Institutions
World Health Organization (WHO)
Research Data Alliance
Cisco Systems, Inc.
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