Redistribution of Medical Responsibility in the Network of the Hyper-connected Self

Abstract

The penetrating societal impact of information and communication technologies discussed in the Onlife Manifesto poses challenges and simultaneously opens new avenues in health care. In this chapter, we investigate how phenomena such as hyper-accessibility and hyper-connectivity enable patients to establish counter-expertise in the face of traditional medical authority and build up their own health knowledge, giving rise to new standards for diagnosis, normality and pathology. The investigation is rooted in a qualitative study of online health communities and consumption of health-related online information in Denmark.