Abstract submission: October 1, 2019

Article deadline: January 10, 2020

To an increasing extent we are using media to make sense of, communicate about or track our health, physical as well as mental. With this issue of Conjunctions we wish to explore this expanding and interdisciplinary field of media and health and emerging forms of participation in health through media. The issue aims for a deeper understanding of how and with what consequences digital and social media are becoming an integral part of how medical practitioners as well as private persons practice, communicate about and understand health and illness. The topic of media and health invite scholars to consider how perceptions of health, health practices and the life of patients are changing with the interweaving of digital media participation.

This special issue addresses the multiple ways in which the uses of digital media contribute to the reconfiguring of traditional doctor- and patient roles – and practices as well as culturally constructed perceptions of health and illness. How do the participatory affordances of digital technologies change perceptions of what it means to be healthy and how we cope with illness? What is at stake as patients become more engaged in their health, illness, visits to the GP through the use of tracking devices, social media and information searching?

Scholars are invited to focus on the role of digital media of all kinds in new health practices. We encourage an interdisciplinary approach coupling media studies on health with sociological, cultural or healthcare perspectives. Empirical analyses as well as methodological and theoretical discussions are welcomed. As health practices and perceptions differ greatly across the world, we invite contributions from a broad range of social and cultural contexts.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Mixed methods approaches to gathering and analysing data on media and health
• Empirical analyses of public health campaigns and news media coverage of health-related issues
• The digitisation of the healthcare system in doctor and/or patient perspective
• Empirical analyses of health-related practices on social media or through self-tracking technologies or other forms of participatory patient practices
• Theoretical and methodological discussions about challenges and opportunities on the topic of health studies within digital humanities
• Discussions and use of core concepts within media- and health studies such as affordances, domestication, power, place and time as well as patient empowerment-, participation- and education.

Timeline:

• October 1, 2019: Submission of article abstracts
• October 10, 2019: Editor decision on selection of abstracts for the special issue
• January 10, 2020: Submission of articles
• February, 2020: Review phase
• May 1, 2020: Final submission of revised articles
• Medio 2020: Publication of special issue