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I’ve seen this pop up a few times and am fairly sure it will be an issue here in Sweden (given how committed we are here to exclusionary digital-only services), but vaccination bookings with both digital and phone options seem to be designed without understanding who uses each.
People who need to book by phone are more likely to be in a vulnerable group. It’s not just “old people can’t computer” which is ageist and ignores things like poverty, disability, migration status (esp in Sweden where getting BankID is a JOURNEY). It’s already an issue w/testing
I’m worried it will be an issue once mass vaccinations arrive, that they’ll go through, for example, an app that’s only on the Swedish App Store (like Kry, which I can’t use bc I’m locked into the Irish store), or that rich white service design kids will be in charge.
Or they’ll require bankid, sit on the phone for hours, or go physically into a high-risk environment to book. As of now, you need to manage a complicated, Swedish-only (there’s a bit of English but not a lot and no other langs) process to get a covid test. I’m not hopeful tbh
I’m watching friends in the US struggle to book for their parents. My mom got hers because her SIL spent like a week hunting down appointments (they’re in their late 70s and can definitely computer). I really hope this one time, Sweden is willing to learn from others.
From what I know of service design and provision here, agencies specifically do not want non-Swedes involved in projects (my old agency was told to assign only Swedish designers to clients, for ex), but the perspective of ppl who’ve been outside the system is desperately needed.
I don’t worry for myself because I have a Swedish partner to help me navigate. I have bankID and Alltid Oppet etc (as long as they don’t remove them from the non-Swedish App Store). But just knowing how public services here are designed to exclude the needs of the vulnerable
I’m just picturing design sprints with flip chart paper full of cute illustrations of idealized user personas and “happy path” solutions and literally no one asking “what about houseless people?” Because the people who ask those questions were conveniently laid off due to covid
They’ll have to make it possible to book without bankid but in a way that doesn’t allow some asshole to block book without authentication and sell the appointments on FB (which would happen). But you’ll have to allow multiple appts so people can book for people who rely on them.
I don’t mean to be negative, but I have yet to see a design solution in Sweden, especially in health care, that centers anyone other than digitally savvy middle-class Swedes who are fluent in Swedish, or have some other big, gaping hole they’ll explain away as an edge case.
If you are planning to @ me with some dismissive shit or some “why can’t people just...” response then you’re missing my point entirely because I’m saying that the “why don’t they just” ppl need to be the center of the plan, and there are few or no examples of this right now.
And language is a huge issue. This is NOT the time to “in Sweden we speak Swedish” when migrants of color are many times more likely to die of covid and death is not a teachable moment. In a diverse US city, ppl will and should make a fuss if things aren’t in multiple languages
Sweden is diverse. People live and work in multiple languages, and are at different levels of Swedish proficiency (and all services in Swedish should be in lättsvensk by default). They have different levels of ability and digital familiarity. Services here don’t account for that.
In the beginning of covid, there was an article about how the clinics who routinely care for undocumented people outside the system were struggling bc the doctors were mostly older and therefore in risk groups. I haven’t seen anything else about it, but it will come up again.
When I worked in a digital agency that worked with public services, my colleagues would email around looking for testers, and specified that they only wanted fluent Swedish speakers. I suggested including non-fluent people to test the usability and clarity, and was TOLD OFF.
I have neighbors who I know don’t have smartphones. They’ll probably have help booking because we’re in a city, but what about people living alone in rural areas? Information hasn’t been easy to find, so how will people find out how to get access? It’s going to get so much worse
A friend who is working as a contact tracer in Boston said to me last night, “if you’ve got gaps in your community or your services, covid will show you where those are, whether or not you want to see them.” But here we’re still so focused on blaming people fir their own problems
Using personnunmer will work for some people, but some people don’t have them. Also, some undocumented people DO have them. If there’s ANY fear of being reported to immigration, they might not feel safe to be vaccinated. There’s so much automation that this is a real risk.
And considering it was lefties who chased me off twitter with a panic attack for mentioning how frightening it was, even as a permanent resident, to be threatened by migration for having a child, I’m not confident anyone will consider these things in a vaccination plan.
“It’s policy”
“It’s not a threat, just a reminder”
This is how algorithmic violence works. By looking routine. But those experiences inform future decisions. A threat after childbirth might cause someone to fear what MIGHT happen at vaccination. These are experienced as related.
“It’s not a threat, just a reminder”
This is how algorithmic violence works. By looking routine. But those experiences inform future decisions. A threat after childbirth might cause someone to fear what MIGHT happen at vaccination. These are experienced as related.
I know the vaccination plan will probably work for most people. But if we aren’t extremely vigilant about who it’s not working for and why, and willing to act on what we find, then no one can ever believably argue that the Swedish strategy is about “public health as a whole”
