UC San Diego researchers are using wearable cameras and GPS trackers to learn more about how patients eat, shop, and travel. Professor. Jacqueline Kirk studies how daily neighborhood trips affect health. What we focus on primarily with the cameras are health behaviors, physical activity, eating, but also places people go, healthy food places, unhealthy food places, we also need information about transportation. Are they in a car or a bus or they riding a bike etc. This real word data can also reveal private information about study subject lives at and the people they meet.the center for ethics for science and technology will take on the subject of body cam medical research. Joining me is Michael Kalichman , Michael it is good to see you. Good to see you again. This is a fascinating question is apparently putting tiny body cam's on research subjects can reveal a lot more than that the subject key personal diaries of their day. What ethical questions this is kind of research open up for you. The ethical questions argued because you want to balance the incredibly wonderful technology that allows us to get that information that you want to balance the benefits with the risk. The risk to the individual who where cameras are that somebody now has a record of where they have been, what they have done, what they have seen, who they have seen that not only them but also the people around them. You might say that people live their lives in their happy normally with what goes on and many people do feel that way but many of us might wonder what does that mean about me being a research subject. I did not know the person had a camera on them. Yes you would think that people who agree to take part in this has signed a waiver and they realize that their movements and so forth are going to be documented in this way. But, the people they run into, in daily life, if they are in a public space they do not have any real legal right to privacy but do they have ethical rights to privacy? Even they describe it as a public space but the reality is if I am wearing a camera all the time I could be sitting down in a room with one other person, if they do not know that I am wearing a camera, even if they do now, they may forget, what they do could end up compromising them in some way. So, we have this challenge of how to negotiate this unusual space that is developing and is unavoidable. There's also the question about sign to sharing the information because that is what research scientist do they share information among themselves. Absolutely good science is defined by collaboration sharing and we have developed good standards in our group to be able to collect the data and protect privacy, how do we make sure that those standards are maintained when the data is handed to another group. Are there any ideas about how to keep this on the ethical above board so to speak for the people are protected. The fairest thing to say is that none of us is yet sure how to balance these issues as you have the problem that some people worry, some people will not, and the problem is some people will now with the challenges are and some people will not and developing informed consent system so people can choose to do this is going to be an important developing area that we are working on. And throwing the possibility of having all of this information lives trained -- live streamed. You mentioned, right now it is just individual images that camera technologies are developing so the cameras are getting smaller, cheaper, we can collect huge amounts of data. What is exciting is what we can learn from the data, but what is worrisome is what we can learn from that data because people may not want to know what we can find out. It seems this issue to go beyond research studies, future fit Betts or other personal health devices also include live stream video you could watch it. What you just touched on is the reality that we have at least three domains car research car try to understand we can use this technology for that, people are already doing this. There are all kinds of other things, recreational, journalism, where people could obtain incredible amounts of information and learn things from that the we could not otherwise learn. Professor. Jacqueline Kirk who conducted the research will be the featured speaker at the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology form tomorrow night at the Reuben H fleet science center in Balboa Park and I've been speaking with the center's director Michael Kalichman. Thank you for speaking with us. Yes. Inc. you.
Researchers at UC San Diego are taking advantage of wearable cameras and GPS trackers to gain new insight into how we eat, shop and travel. But data on that behavior can also reveal private information about their study subjects’ lives and the people they meet.
The Center for Ethics in Science and Technology's upcoming forum Wednesday at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park will dive into the ethical concerns raised by this type of research, including how bystanders with no connection to a study may be unwittingly recorded.
Michael Kalichman, the center’s director and the head of the UC San Diego Research Ethics Program, told KPBS Midday Edition the ethical questions in this research are "huge."
He said scientists need to balance the considerable advantages that come with this type of data collection with the risks.
"The risks to the individuals are that somebody now has a record of where they've been, what they've done, who they've seen," he said. "Not only them, but the people around them."
Research subjects wearing hidden body cameras could record people they interact with who don't know they're being recorded, he said.
"If I'm wearing a camera all the time, I could be sitting down in a room with one other person," he said. "If they don't know that I'm wearing a camera, and even if they do know, they may forget, what they do could end up compromising them in some ways."
He said the challenge is negotiating this type of data collection.
