Constraining context: Situating datafication in public administration

The imaginary of data-driven public administration promises a more effective and knowing public sector. At the same time, corporate practices of datafication are often hidden behind closed doors. Critical algorithm studies, therefore, struggle to access and explore these practices, to produce situat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:New media & society Vol. 24; no. 4; pp. 903 - 921
Main Author: Reutter, Lisa
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.04.2022
Subjects:
critical algorithm studies
Constraints
data assemblage
datafication
public administration
sociotechnical imaginaries
ISSN:1461-4448, 1461-7315
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The imaginary of data-driven public administration promises a more effective and knowing public sector. At the same time, corporate practices of datafication are often hidden behind closed doors. Critical algorithm studies, therefore, struggle to access and explore these practices, to produce situated accounts of datafication and possible entry points to reconfigure the emerging data-driven society. This article offers a unique empirical account of the inner workings of data-driven public administration, asking the overall question of how sociotechnical imaginaries of datafication are constrained in the context of public administration. Teams working on datafication in two Norwegian public sector entities have been followed and interviewed over the course of 2 years (2018–2020). While sociotechnical imaginaries thrive in organizational culture and policy discourse alike, the observed data teams struggle to realize data assemblages due to a variety of structural and institutional constraints.
ISSN:1461-4448
1461-7315
DOI:10.1177/14614448221079029