Week 2 · Adaptive Planning Program

6. Digital Epidemiology and Surveillance

30 min

By the end you'll be able to

Define digital epidemiology and its applications in public health
Compare traditional and digital surveillance data sources
Evaluate the validity and reliability of digital health data

Public health data often moves too slowly to catch up with real-time crises. In this lesson, we move beyond traditional vital statistics to explore Digital Epidemiology, utilizing “fast data” sources like search queries and mobile patterns to track health trends as they happen.

We examine the strengths and limitations of these digital sources compared to traditional “slow data” surveys, ensuring you understand how to validate real-time information.

Practice quiz

Question 1
Which pairing best matches the lesson’s contrast between ‘fast data’ and ‘slow data’?
- Fast data: search queries and mobile patterns. Slow data: traditional surveys and vital statistics.
- Fast data: peer-reviewed journals. Slow data: press releases.
- Fast data: insurance claims. Slow data: electronic health records.
- Fast data: clinical trials. Slow data: case reports.
Question 2
What is the lesson’s main caution about relying on real-time digital data sources?
- They are illegal to use without IRB approval in every jurisdiction.
- They are too expensive for most state health departments.
- They have strengths and limitations and must be validated against traditional sources before driving decisions.
- They cannot be visualized on dashboards.
Reflection 3
Give one realistic scenario where a ‘fast data’ signal could mislead a public health team if it were used without validation.

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