Social Vulnerability to COVID-19: Impacts of Technology Adoption and Information Behavior (Synthesis Lectures on Information Concepts, Retrieval, and Services)

This book provides an overview of the impact of the pandemic in China and the USA and presents a research agenda for use, access, and adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the era of COVID-19. The global COVID-19 pandemic changed lives overnight and exposed socially vulnerable populations to ever-challenging situations. One significant challenge was the use, access, and adoption of technological resources. To understand how socially vulnerable populations managed the COVID-19 pandemic and adapt to the new normal, it is important for researchers and practitioners to identify the challenges and understand the perceptions of technologies. Through various research studies, this edited volume addresses the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the adoption of technologies (from artificial intelligence to telehealth and telecommunications) among some socially vulnerable populations (including children, older adults, COVID-19 patients, and general marginalized populations) in the world. The information divide faced by socially vulnerable groups is studied as well as the dimension of vulnerabilities and the impacts of specific technologies. Contents Editors and Contributors About the Editors Contributors 1 Introduction 1.1 Global Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic 1.2 Importance of Technology During Covid-19 1.3 Socially Vulnerable Populations and Technology 1.4 Organization of the Book References 2 Technological Innovations in Response to COVID-19: Research Agenda Considering Marginalized Populations 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Ecological Systems Theory 2.3 Literature Review 2.4 Results 2.5 Research Agenda 2.6 Discussion 2.7 Conclusion References 3 Adoption of Artificial Intelligence Technologies by Often Marginalized Populations 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 AI & Equity 3.1.2 Equity in AI During Covid-19 3.2 Methods 3.3 Results 3.4 Discussion 3.5 Conclusion References 4 Mining the Health Information Needs of COVID-19 Patients Based on Social Q&A Community 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Related Work 4.2.1 Research on Health Information Needs 4.2.2 Research on Health Information Needs and User Behavior in Socialized Q&A Community 4.3 Research Design 4.3.1 Data Source and Collection 4.3.2 Data Processing 4.3.3 LDA Topic Model 4.3.4 Theme Coding 4.4 Analysis of the Results of COVID-19 Patients’ Health Information Needs in Social Q&A Community 4.4.1 Basic Situation of Q&A Data 4.4.2 The Topic of Health Information Needs Based on COVID-19 Questioning Data 4.4.3 Types of Health Information Needs of COVID-19 Patients 4.4.4 Changes in Health Information Needs of COVID-19 Patients in Different Periods 4.4.5 Differences in Health Information Needs of Covid-19 Patients Among Users of Different Levels in the Social Q&A Community 4.5 Discussion 4.5.1 Characteristics of Health Information Needs of COVID-19 Patients in a Social Q&A Community 4.5.2 Differences in Health Information Needs of COVID-19 Patients with Different Social Attributes in Social Q&A Community 4.6 Conclusion References 5 Digital Divide Faced by the Elderly Under the Covid-19 Pandemic 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Related Works 5.3 Research Design 5.3.1 User Interview 5.3.2 Participants 5.3.3 Data Analysis 5.4 Findings 5.4.1 Difficulties Caused by the Digital Divide Faced by the Elderly 5.4.2 Reasons for the Digital Divide 5.4.3 Suggestions to Solve the Digital Divide 5.5 Discussions 5.5.1 Reasons for the Digital Divide in Covid-19 5.5.2 How to Solve the Digital Divide 5.6 Conclusion References 6 Difficulties of Vulnerable Groups in Accessing the Public Information Service During COVID-19 Pandemic in China 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The New Definition of Vulnerable Groups in COVID-19 Pandemic 6.2.1 Category I 6.2.2 Category II 6.3 The Difficulties of Vulnerable Groups in Accessing PIS 6.3.1 Methodology 6.3.2 Category I 6.3.3 Category II 6.4 Suggestions 6.5 Conclusion References 7 Responding to COVID-19: Privacy Implications of the Rapid Adoption of ICTs 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Technological Deployments 7.2.1 Government 7.2.2 Education 7.2.3 Healthcare 7.2.4 Employment 7.3 Implications of Rapid Technology Adoption 7.3.1 Privacy, Ethics, Trust Issues in Information Technologies 7.3.2 Post-COVID Considerations 7.4 Conclusion References 8 Conclusion 8.1 Research Summary 8.1.1 The Impact of the Adoption of Emerging Information Technologies on Vulnerable Groups in Society During the Covid-19 Pandemic 8.1.2 Research on the Information Behavior of Socially Vulnerable Groups During the Covid-19 Pandemic 8.2 Research Prospect 8.2.1 Improve Basic Theoretical Research 8.2.2 Application of Big Data Technology and Data Analysis Technology 8.2.3 Construction of Behavior Model Based on Empirical Case Study 8.2.4 Strategy Research of Information Technology Behavior Rule Based on Socially Vulnerable Groups References