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Covid-19 app store and data flow ecologies

Mobile phone applications (apps) have emerged as a key part of the response to Covid-19 around the world and are a feature of UK government plans to manage ‘phase two’. While raising concerns from privacy and security to the adoption rates required for their effectiveness, initial research on Covid-19 apps has either remained abstract, been conducted in an ad hoc manner or has targeted individual apps.This project will deliver a systematic empirical analysis of: 1) emerging ecologies of Covid-19 apps and their governance through app stores, and; 2) the data flows of prevalent apps within this domain. Through these combined methods, the project will provide an assessment of the governance risks and challenges posed to the public by Covid-19 apps.

Lead investigator:

Michael Dieter

Affiliation:

University of Warwick

Primary topic:

Science, technology & innovation

Secondary topic:

Attitudes, media & governance

Region of data collection:

Europe

Country of data collection

UK

Status of data collection

Planned

Type of data being collected:

Other