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Short abstract:

In this paper, I draw on fieldwork completed at professional digital health events to map the emotional landscape produced by innovation cycles. I ask: what is the emotional landscape of innovation, how does it compare to that of recipients, and what can be gleaned from these differences?

Long abstract:

There are three cycles involved in innovation: the initial period of visionary promise, moments of breakthrough and celebration, and periods of setbacks due to failures or fraud (Kitzinger 2008). These phases require and make possible different emotions. In this paper, I ask: what emotional landscape follows from innovation conceived in this way? I offer a preliminary answer to this question by way of case study.

Drawing on fieldwork completed at professional digital health events, I note and trouble the reification of these three phases and their corresponding moods. Visions and breakthroughs were colored by excitement, assurance, and pride. Failures were feared and often framed as that which must be avoided. Elsewhere, I have suggested that those who are on the receiving end of digital health technology are deeply ambivalent about health innovation, oscillating with ease between visions and failures via excitement and concern. How might innovation change if visions were framed as setbacks and setbacks were framed as breakthroughs? If visions were both exciting and frightening, and setbacks were worth celebrating, the emotional landscape of innovators would more closely resemble that of patients. I suggest ambiguating the innovation cycles and their affective registers by incorporating more diverse actors at the outset of vision-building. Furthermore, comparing the emotional landscapes of innovators and recipients of technology offers opportunities to note bad faith, exclusion, and preventable setbacks.