Exploiting technology for HIV prevention and care Globally, though overall rates of HIV are declining, those among gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) and the transgender community are increasing. David Rowlands asks whether innovative communication technology initiatives can be effective in bringing prevention and care programmes to those at risk – and whether there is a place for ‘old style’ activism today.
If what you read on the Internet is to be trusted – and let’s face it the Internet never lies – I have around eight seconds to convince you that this article is worth reading because most of us have become so obsessed with portable devices and overwhelmed by content that we now have attention spans shorter than that of a goldfish. Microsoft surveyed 2,000 people to monitor their brain activity, in an attempt to determine the impact that pocket-sized devices and increased availability of digital media and information have had on our daily lives. It found that in 2000 the average attention span was 12 seconds, but this has now fallen to just eight. The goldfish is believed to be able to maintain a solid nine.
Communication technology
The use of newer forms of communication technology (e.g. Internet use, whether through a computer or mobile phone, SMS, smartphone apps) has grown exponentially over the last few years. Since 2005, the number of people using the Internet globally has more than doubled, rising from
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16 to 39 per cent. There are almost as many mobile cellular subscriptions as there are people in the world. However, while use of new communication technologies has increased, there are still significant differences regarding access, both between and within countries. For this reason, it is important to understand what forms of communication technology populations of interest are using, how they access and use the technology, and what the barriers and facilitators are around their use (i.e. cost, connectivity and phone capabilities). Some data suggest that MSM use new forms of technology at even higher rates than the general population. Additionally, significant numbers of MSM use the Internet and mobile apps to find romantic and sexual partners. Unfortunately little data exists on technology use among the transgender community. So, greater understanding is needed on the ways that MSM and transgender people use new forms of technology and more work needs to be done to harness the power of these technologies for HIV prevention and care.
It is important to understand what forms of communication technology populations of interest are using
David Rowlands
Waking the activists within us
Successful social marketing effectively combines traditional print media with online strategies. Print media drives MSM to online blogs, videos and social networking sites where they can become more engaged in a campaign, increase their knowledge about sexual health and can link to sexual health services. Organisations have also successfully launched online media campaigns to promote activism among MSM and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community with the idea that this will