Digitalization, Data and Welfare

Edited by Vasilis Galis Professor in Science and Technology Studies, Technologies in Practice section, IT University of Copenhagen and Vasileios-Spyridon Vlassis, Assistant Professor, Technologies in Practice section, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark

‘The modern welfare state is being transformed by and through digitalization, sometimes for the better and sometimes for worse. We desperately need more research on how digitalization impacts critically important welfare systems so we can make the difficult collective and democratic decisions about their future and our future welfare needs. Digitalization, Data and Welfare is a book that takes this task seriously, delivering on the promise to unpack the implications of digital welfare systems for modern societies without succumbing to technological or political-economic determinism. We have choices to make and this book can help us to make these choices.’

• ContentsPART I INTRODUCTION1 Introducing digital technologies for welfare provision 2Vasilis Galis and Vasileios-Spyridon VlassisPART II HOW ARE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIESINTEGRATED IN CONTEMPORARYGOVERNANCE?2 Aiming at a moving target: how to research the automation ofwelfare 25Agnes Liminga, Anne Kaun and Stine Lomborg3 The beginning of AI-driven welfare? An inquiry into howpublic sector AI experiments shape the Danish welfare state 38Jakob Laage-Thomsen, Helene Ratner and Ida Schrøder4 Interoperability for welfare: digitalization and statetransformation in Greece 57Giorgos PertsasPART III THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR INSTATEHOOD5 Outsourcing response-ability: tales from ‘agile’ governance 73Irina Papazu, Cancan Wang, Jessamy Perriam and SannaMarttila6 Unstable by default: the public-private framework inbroadband access for vulnerable populations in the MidwestUS 91Kainen Bell, Jorge Rojas-Alvarez, Chieh-Li (Julian) Chin,Anita Say Chan and Tracy Smith7 Navigating between the (non-)use and endurance ofinformation platforms for refugees: a case study of Integreat 107Olga Usachova8 Infrastructure after welfare: communal infrastructure and theproblem of (digital) monopolisation 122Caroline Anna SallingPART IV HOW DO DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES FORWELFARE PROVISION TRANSFORM PUBLICSERVICE WORK?9 Digitalization as imaginary: a study of self-employment incare and platformization of German eldercare 140Franziska Baum10 “Let’s make data meaningful for teachers”: configuring theteacher through data visualizations 155Helene Friis Ratner11 Implementing a sociotechnical network for welfaretechnology in a small Swedish municipality: bringing theinvisible work into the light 170Karin Skill and Vangelis AngelakisPART V EXPERIENCE-BASED ACCOUNTS OFTHE ALTERATIONS OF WELFARE VIADIGITALIZATION12 Thief or toddler: Experiences of unemployed benefitrecipients in the Dutch digital welfare state 185Margot Kersing, Lieke Oldenhof, Kim Putters and Liesbetvan Zoonen13 Flexible access? Digitalisation of Danish healthcare throughvideo consultations 203Cæcilie Sloth Laursen, Sisse Finken and Rachel Douglas-Jones14 The role of relatives in e-governance access among elderlycitizens: vignettes from the Danish Covid-19 vaccination 218Tobias Pedersen, Victor Vadmand Jensen, Signe StrandsbjergKloppenborg and Rasmus Mølgaard HansenPART VI AFTERWORD15 Afterword: Digitalization as a zombie grand narrative cravingspecification 235Christopher Gad