Who Knows? Medical Expertise in the Internet Era

• In Event: 548 - Theory Section Paper Session. Theorizing the Social: Studies of Science and Technology

Abstract

It is increasingly the case that concerned and informed laypeople encroach on terrain seen as the jurisdiction of scientific experts. Because scientific and lay knowledge and know-how (i.e., expertise) emerge within different social contexts and reflect different epistemological principles, they often disagree – sometimes leading laypeople to openly challenge scientific authority over issues that directly impact their wellbeing and that of their communities. Although science and technology studies (STS) scholars have examined how lay expertise concerning scientific matters is produced within local communities, they have not systematically examined how Internet communities create new opportunities for the development of lay expertise. This is particularly commonplace in medicine, where online illness forums have become popular sites for the acquisition and production of lay expertise concerning medical matters. In this paper I extend the scope of STS scholarship by proposing a preliminary theoretical framework for studying the production and consequences of online patient-generated knowledge. Specifically, I offer the concept of cyber-somatic connectivity as a theoretical tool for capturing some of the essential ways in which online-generated lay expertise is distinct from lay expertise as conceptualized in existing STS scholarship.

Author

• Kristin Kay Barker, University of New Mexico