Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 702-718 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Information, Communication & Society |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 28 Feb 2024 |
| Publication status | Published - 2024 |
Abstract
Keywords
- Data care work, datafication, social work, welfare, education, data work
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Communication
- Social Sciences(all)
- Library and Information Sciences
Cite this
- Standard
- Harvard
- Apa
- Vancouver
- BibTeX
- RIS
In: Information, Communication & Society, Vol. 27, No. 4, 2024, p. 702-718.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Who cares about data? Data care arrangements in everyday organisational practice
AU - Jarke, Juliane
AU - Büchner, Stefanie
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The increasing datafication of social life has led to a growing body of research on data work which focusses on new data practices like self-tracking, new professions like data analysts or new occupational roles. In these new types of data work, people develop strong affective relations to data, and caring for data (quality) is key. This attention to ‘spectacular’ data work however leads to an important oversight: Much of the data work in everyday organisational practice is done by workers ‘somehow’, in addition to and alongside their existing tasks. This article sets out to better understand this mundane data work. It asks: Why and how do people in organisations care for data? Based on two qualitative case studies, we present the concept of data care arrangements. Data care arrangements are configured through the ascription of values to (specific) data sets and the work of generating, maintaining, and repairing data. This data care work is not necessarily homogeneous in organised settings but can become stabilised in data care arrangements. Thus, the notion of data care arrangements underlines that data in everyday organisational practice are not an object of care per se, but that data care is an accomplishment.
AB - The increasing datafication of social life has led to a growing body of research on data work which focusses on new data practices like self-tracking, new professions like data analysts or new occupational roles. In these new types of data work, people develop strong affective relations to data, and caring for data (quality) is key. This attention to ‘spectacular’ data work however leads to an important oversight: Much of the data work in everyday organisational practice is done by workers ‘somehow’, in addition to and alongside their existing tasks. This article sets out to better understand this mundane data work. It asks: Why and how do people in organisations care for data? Based on two qualitative case studies, we present the concept of data care arrangements. Data care arrangements are configured through the ascription of values to (specific) data sets and the work of generating, maintaining, and repairing data. This data care work is not necessarily homogeneous in organised settings but can become stabilised in data care arrangements. Thus, the notion of data care arrangements underlines that data in everyday organisational practice are not an object of care per se, but that data care is an accomplishment.
KW - Data care work
KW - datafication
KW - social work
KW - welfare
KW - education
KW - data work
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186903798&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1369118X.2024.2320917
DO - 10.1080/1369118X.2024.2320917
M3 - Article
VL - 27
SP - 702
EP - 718
JO - Information, Communication & Society
JF - Information, Communication & Society
SN - 1468-4462
IS - 4
ER -