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- Title
Safeguarding Data: The Data Consensus and the Public Good in Children's Social Services.
- Authors
Cearns, Jennifer; Knox, Hannah
- Abstract
Over the past decade, data-driven systems have transformed how UK public services engage with the population. This ethnographic study, conducted in one of the United Kingdom's poorest boroughs, investigates the implementation of a machine learning data system for identifying at-risk children in need of safeguarding. It examines the concept of a 'data consensus' amongst council workers pursuing the 'public good'. Within this consensus, the article explores contrasting stances on data's potential, namely that of data scientists, who use it as a tool to predict human behaviour and prevent harm, and social workers, who resist the notion that a person is predictable and therefore incapable of change. This reveals the political implications of these opaque algorithmic systems as various groups harness data in the name of public benefit.
- Subjects
UNITED Kingdom; SOCIAL services; COMMON good; HUMAN behavior; MUNICIPAL services; SOCIAL workers
- Publication
Cambridge Journal of Anthropology, 2024, Vol 42, Issue 1, p23
- ISSN
0305-7674
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3167/cja.2024.420103