Political and moralising moments: on visions of IT in Danish health care

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the production of visions for IT in Danish health care. Visions are not propagated “from above” but are produced through translation processes, in which contents change as they are inscribed in ministerial reports, leaflets or recommendations. This is illustrated by two cases: the electronic patient record at Hvidovre Hospital (HVEPS) and the Digital Doctor Project (DDP). Following STS‐studies we propose to analyse such reports as material agents with distinctive capacities and features. Prominent among those is the ability of such reports to carry “contradictory” messages. We analyse this capacity as a strength as it enables reports to bind together various people in various contexts, rather than as a weakness. We propose the concept of political moment as a tool that can capture the material heterogeneity and the unexpectedness of translations. The concept of moralising moment is introduced to identify accounts in which such processes are glossed or covered.

Citation

Bruun Jensen, C. and Ross Winthereik, B. (2002), "Political and moralising moments: on visions of IT in Danish health care", Information Technology & People, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 227-241. https://doi.org/10.1108/09593840210444764