mHealth monograph. Now a classic text. Essential for medical students. Inspiring for any sociological scholar.
Print by Mariann Hardey. Holding Onto You. March 2020.
Following spells at the University of Surrey, Southampton Medical School and Department of Sociology at the Universit of Southampton, Newcastle University Social Science Department and the Hull-York Medical School (HYMS) at the University of York, where Mike lived and loved until his passing in 2012. Mike's work was finely tuned to long-term effects of identity, men’s health, digital technology and social media, and above all the all encompassing theme of human relationships.

This page includes extracts from various outputs. There is more to follow in the form of research diaries, journalism, memoirs, maps, advertisements etc. and the full text of articles that will be ‘let loose’ once permission has been secured from the publishers.

This part of the site has been intended to provide some account of the man himself, and how his work continues to be used extensively by scholars, authors, students and the general public.

I dearly wish there could be a never-ending continuation of his work, but sadly just as the man came to an end, so too do his words.
In this book Mike sought to highlight the opportunities and dilemmas that confront older people and all those concerned with their welfare in the network society. I think it will be of interest to all those working with older people and anyone concerned about an aging and dependent population.
Print by Mariann Hardey. Heartless Wireless. March 2020.

Mediated relationships

This paper is about the internet as a new mode of meeting people and forming relationships. Published before SNSs and ‘social media’, Mike argues that the rapidly growing number of internet’ dating resources’ constitute a domain where people are entering into particular forms of interactions that are characterised by…

And this is where you’ll have to read it to find out more. It is exceptionally good and considering it’s publication ‘age’ in technology terms, very relevant for todays social theorist and digital generation of critical thinkers.

Doctor in the house: the Internet as a source of lay health knowledge and the challenge to expertise

This paper investigates the new and unique medium of the internet as a source of information about health. The internet is an inherently interactive environment that transcends established national boundaries, regulations and distinctions.

Mike’s innovative approach here heralded a new era of eHealth and self-patient digital diagnosis. You know that thing you do before you visit your GP – when you Google your symptoms. This paper is the inspiration for my own research into the digital age of the Professions currently being written and set for publication 2014 within Organisation Theory outputs.

The city in the age of Web 2.0: a new synergistic relationship between place and people

This paper examines how the development of Web 2.0 resources is providing new ways of seeing, experiencing and understanding the city. A particular focus is on the increasing role of user-generated geolocational data and the opportunities this affords to reimagine space and place.
Mike’s take is not out of place with other social and geographical theorists such as Nigel Thrift and the work of Mike Crang who is a great colleague of mine at Durham.

Inspired by this work and more, it is no coincidence that Michael and I are currently pursuing a project on innovative methods of sustainability and digital promotion.
This book is about single parents, who make up an increasingly important and controversial group in Western society. The growth in the number of single-parent households is linked to debates about the 'decline of family values' and questions about state involvement in family life. Their economic and social deprivation relative to two-parent households is now a persistent theme of political and academic debates about social policy.
Mike Hardey was a lone parent.
Print by Mariann Hardey. Hello, Baby. March 2020.

Life beyond the screen: embodiment and identity through the internet

With a great overview and critique of Sherry Turkle’s work.

Mike’s exploration of the self through mediated technologies allowed him to pursue later interests in eHealth, eDating and ePublications.

Appraising the evidence: reviewing disparate data systematically

Mike and his co-authors describe a method of systematically reviewing research from different paradigms. They draw on the methods adapted, developed, and designed during a study concerned with the delivery of care across professional boundaries.


Mike’s time for a reflection on methods and forbearer for his later ePatient and data research. A must for all medical students.

'E-health': the internet and the transformation of patients into consumers and producers of health knowledge

This article analyses the use and production of health information on the Internet. The paper will show that users of health services have also become significant providers of health information and advice. This analysis is based on two studies.


Mike’s work provides a good context for the arrangement of patient data and fits rather well with George Ritzer’s context of prosumer production. I highly recommend you read both these work!

Nursing research has been struggling to establish its theoretical roots and legitimate place within the wider arena of research in the health sciences. Overshadowed by the medical endeavour, both resources and support have been meagre. Nursing and nurses have rapidly recognized that health-related research problems often require a multi-faceted approach that can be realized most effectively through multi-disciplinary activities. For Mike, the aim of this book was to gather together material that reflects the diversity and richness of research in nursing. In writing the book, Mike hoped to provide readers with an understanding of nursing research through a consideration of the issues involved.
Print by Mariann Hardey. Red Diagnosis. March 2020.

Interactions between nurses during handovers in elderly care

This paper explores the role of nursing interaction within the context of handovers and seeks to identify the clinical discourses used by registered nurses, student nurses and care assistants in acute elderly care wards, to determine their inuence on the delivery of patient.


A  poignant and telling analysis of patient care, as told by the nurses themselves. Mike’s concentration on medical social theory is beginning to root from this research and his later position as an academic Chair at Hull York Medical School.

'The story of my Illness': Personal Accounts of Illness on the Internet

Narratives about health have an established place in the study of the nature of illness and lay encounters with medical expertise. This article is based on research in the electronic realm of the Internet.


Within this new and unique space, people have recreated a sense of self. An innovative account of digital identity AND one of the first papers to encounter a proper digital methods research collection approach. Inspiration for my own reflections on autobiography. We talked about this paper a LOT down the pub.

'Scraps': hidden nursing information and its influence on the delivery of care

The effective use of information is central to the successful delivery of contemporary clinical care which is grounded in the conceptualization of nursing as a process.


Here Mike and friends also provide a good cross-comparison of evidence from the United Kingdom and United States. Research with an international context.

The use of the internet is transforming our knowledge about health and illness and this creates opportunities as well as dilemmas for users, health professionals, the health services and the health care industry. In this book, Mike explores the world of health on the net with a sociologist's eye for meaningful contradictions. The result is a fascinating account of our current attitudes to health as he maps a largely neglected sociological territory.
Print by Mariann Hardey. Sickness By Orange. March 2020.