(by Girolamo Panetta) In the midst of a digital revolution, we are witnessing a proliferation of IT applications, which we all know by the name of APP, which are born with the pretense of solving any problem that man has to face daily. Since the birth of the infamous Smartphones, which have meant so much for the digital transformation of our society, many of our operations that over time we had learned to do with more or less advanced tools, have been replaced by these IT applications. Just think, for example, of the camera applications installed natively on telephone devices, and which over the years have undergone a transformation in terms of technology so as to become, especially for non-enthusiasts, the only way to capture any time of day. The diffusion of this type of technology is inextricably linked to that of the mobile devices to which each of us has entrusted a large part of our being, and with which it relates as if it were now a part of itself; it is difficult to think of operating both in the world of work and in the sphere of personal affections without referring to these objects.
The diffusion of the APPs was strongly fueled by the ability to be offered for free on the telematic market, and made it possible, in my opinion, to retain a degree of loyalty towards digital technology that in other times, even during the Internet revolution and the birth of many thematic computer sites had not allowed. From the birth of the Internet to the widespread diffusion in the larger society, much more time has passed than cultural phenomena, and I want to call them that, like Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, etc. have done and manage to do. The connection with social media is in fact continuous for most of us and feeds our belief that we are always at the center of an information sharing system of which we are always the protagonists. Not to mention WattsUp which in fact revolutionized the messaging system, allowing us to be at the center of an increasingly inclusive and generalized communication system; over time I have seen people not really used to the use of technology who have managed to write messages with this APP which has a strong impact on the system.
But the Apps solve all our problems?
We live in a moment of very strong digital revolution in which, in addition to the physical and mental dependence on the objects that surround us, we need to relate to the progressive change in the functioning of state apparatus, of public administration understood in the most generic sense possible. Now how come processes that up to some time could have been conducted in double mode, classic by going to the appropriate offices and computer science by connecting us to the sites made available, have become definitively online; insurance, banks, healthcare facilities, local and central public administration etc. they have now made IT services available, without which it would therefore not be possible to carry out specific transactions. In this case the APP not only solves our problems, but they act directly on our integration system with the basic functions of our existence. Being digital means not only being in step with the times, but dictating the times of one's life.
Online travel reservations, online purchases and much more have already opened the way for a long time to develop the market for these applications; in addition, the scenario of strong digital development and lately the Covid epidemic has generated the production of many applications and for many reasons has favored its proliferation; an example above all; e-learning sites that have made available many IT and non-IT courses, at a very low price, 'taking advantage' of the enormous free time that many of us have enjoyed in a forced way. Not to mention the applications for the management of smartworking, intra-company communication and those that allow remote lessons. Zoom, APP that allows the creation of web conferences, is one of the most downloaded applications in recent months.
The Covid epidemic with which we now know how to live has generated a whole series of needs in terms of information exchange; just think of the possibility of processing data of patients who share their symptoms through the APP and the need to treat the data necessary to trace the infected and the path that the epidemic outbreaks have taken; all real cases of application that have the possibility of generating truly useful and reliable information when, however, installed on an increasingly large number of users, fully supporting the paradigm we are witnessing more than ever before.
Therefore, in the sphere linked to the world of healthcare, APPs are effective even when they adequately support physician-patient decoupling; in emergencies as for epidemics, but in all cases where the traditional visit is not allowed; in the cases of tele-monitoring and tele-reporting (eg remote sending of an ECG and an immediate evaluation by the medical sector). In the Covid scenario, it is very useful to use the APP also for intra-ward assessments, for specialist consultations without direct contact with the patient. The software is valid and certainly valuable when in all these cases it allows a certified communication and during which the security of the data is always safeguarded. Now more than ever, the necessary conversion of patient management methods from 'canonical and well-established' systems to systems closer to the concept of telemedicine is required, a concept that has been talked about for years but which has had many difficulties for many reasons. starting concretely.
In this context and with the guarantee of the security of health data, APPs can really work; unlike other contexts, perhaps already more mature for the experiences gained, in the field of healthcare it is necessary to further support the pressing development of digital technologies; what has been done for example in the field of diagnostic imaging and the use of particular Artificial Intelligence systems must also find a parallel in the field, e.g. inpatient systems, therapy control, overcrowding control of emergency rooms and many other concrete examples.
They must be able to function in a context in which the patient is always at the center of the processes that the health system itself has established; therefore effective in systems for detecting, sharing pathologies in the scientific network, in shared treatment systems and in the mechanisms for choosing operations to be done in real time. The concept of Social Computing as a recent approach to create applications that promote communication between users, is in fact fully usable when it comes to the APP to be used in the healthcare field; the famous Patient Health Record which is always hoped for on a national scale. There are APPs that offer the possibility to provide the customer with the registration of their health record, in a safe, secure and in compliance with the relevant regulations.
The App …… etito comes by eating
The skills of those who offer themselves as supplier of applications, in a general sense, must be very high precisely because of the delicacy of the materials they deal with, and which we have seen are the most varied. A multitude of companies arise with projects related to the development of APP; many StartApps find funds in presenting technological and various types of projects. They are linked to the world of university and the business world by bringing together specific and high-level skills. The products they make are certainly of quality and correspond to national and international standards and regulations.
On the other hand, it must be said that on the telematic market, development platforms are made available, free of charge, which also give people who are not really experts in programming and especially the subject of developing software to be distributed on mobile devices; just think for example of the 'Flutter' and MIT Inventor 'programs which are currently the most popular; Once the necessity is ascertained, the way to satisfy it also arises, perhaps taking only the opportunity on the fly without thinking about the real complexity of the problem.
These phenomena are nothing more than children of the digital revolution that we have been witnessing for some time now. APPs are and can be even more an indispensable element for our life but must, like the relationships between citizens and institutions consolidated over time by certain processes, be supported by an even more stringent regulation of architectural, process and above all standards safety.
Girolamo Panetta, AIDR member and Area Manager CONSIS.Arl