An overly favorable narrative has developed around the role played by digital technologies in containing Covid-19, which oversimplifies the complexity of technology adoption. This narrative takes sociomaterial arrangements for granted and conceptualizes technology affordance - the problem-solving capability of a technology - as a standard built-in feature that automatically activates during technology deployment, leading to undiversified and predetermined collective benefits. This paper demonstrates that not everything is as it seems; implementing a technology is a necessary but insufficient condition for triggering its potential problem-solving capability. The potential affordance and effects of a technology are mediated by the sociomaterial arrangements that users assemble to connect their goals to the materiality of technological artifacts and socio-organizational context in which technology deployment takes place. To substantiate this argument and illustrate the mediating role of sociomaterial arrangements, we build on sociomateriality and technology affordance theory, and we present the results of a systematic review of Covid-19 literature in which 2187 documents are examined. The review combines text data mining, co-occurrence pattern recognition, and inductive coding, and it focuses on four digital technologies that public authorities have deployed as virus containment measures: infrared temperature-sensing devices; ICT-based surveillance and contact-tracing systems; bioinformatic tools and applications for laboratory testing; and electronic mass communications media. Reporting on our findings, we add nuances to the academic debate on sociomateriality, technology affordance, and the governance of technology in public health crises. In addition, we provide public authorities with practical recommendations on how to strengthen their approach to digital technology deployment for pandemic control.

围绕数字技术在遏制 Covid-19 中所发挥的作用，出现了一种过于有利的叙述，这过度简化了技术采用的复杂性。这种叙述将社会物质安排视为理所当然，并将技术可供性（技术解决问题的能力）概念化为标准内置功能，在技术部署期间自动激活，从而带来单一且预定的集体利益。本文表明，并非所有事情都像看上去那样。实施一项技术是触发其潜在解决问题能力的必要但不充分的条件。技术的潜在可供性和影响是通过社会物质安排来调节的，用户将其目标与技术工件的物质性和技术部署所在的社会组织环境联系起来。为了证实这一论点并说明社会物质安排的中介作用，我们以社会物质性和技术可供性理论为基础，并提出了对 Covid-19 文献进行系统回顾的结果，其中检查了 2187 份文件。该审查结合了文本数据挖掘、共现模式识别和归纳编码，重点关注公共当局部署作为病毒遏制措施的四种数字技术：红外温度传感设备；基于信息通信技术的监视和接触者追踪系统；用于实验室测试的生物信息工具和应用；和电子大众传播媒体。在报告我们的研究结果时，我们为有关社会物质性、技术可供性以及公共卫生危机中的技术治理的学术辩论添加了细微差别。 此外，我们还为公共当局提供有关如何加强数字技术部署以控制流行病的实用建议。