Introducing EbolaCheck: potential for point-of-need infectious disease diagnosis

The 2013–2015 Ebolavirus disease humanitarian crisis has spurred the development of laboratory-free, point-of-care nucleic acid testing solutions. EbolaCheck is an international consortium of public health, academic and biotechnology industry stakeholders aiming to deliver clinical molecular diagnostic standard-of-care testing suitable for the West African milieu within 12 months. In this article, the current status of the EbolaCheck platform is discussed in the context of the current regulatory framework. Presented here are future goals to achieve differential diagnosis of hemorrhagic fever disease from <5-μl of whole blood samples or mucosal biofluids, in a single tube process, under 40 min and with minimal operator training requirements.

Understanding citizen media as practice: agents, processes, publics

Much recent commentary on citizen media has focused on online platforms as means through which citizens may disseminate self-produced media content that challenges dominant discourses or makes visible hidden realities. This chapter goes beyond a concern with media content to explore the much broader range of socially situated practices that develop around citizen media. Drawing on Couldry’s proposal for a practice paradigm in media research, it suggests shifting the focus from ‘citizen media’ to ‘citizen media practices’ and demonstrates, through a case study of communication activism in the World Social Forum, how this framework can bring into view a broad range of citizen media practices (beyond those directly concerned with the production and circulation of media content), the different forms of agency that such practices make possible, and the social fabric they can help generate. I conclude by arguing that a practice framework necessitates a rethink of the way that the concept of (counter-) publics is used in the context of citizen media. Citizen media practices of the kind described here can be understood not only as practices of ‘making public’ previously unreported issues and perspectives, but as practices of public¬-making: practices that support the formation of publics.