Digital systems and data play a central and increasingly important role in social work, contributing to collaboration and communication between citizens and social workers. At the same time, it also means that the social work profession is undergoing change. Furthermore, there is a risk that data about the citizen may present a misleading picture, and that already vulnerable individuals may find it even more difficult to be involved in their case management.
The purpose of the project is therefore to investigate, describe, and conceptualize digital citizenship in social work at the intersection of vulnerable citizens, social worker expertise, digital systems, and data by involving citizens, social workers, and managers who use and lead with digital data at a governance level.
The project will also provide insights into case management, professional changes, and the involvement of vulnerable citizens as a sociotechnical work practice. This will result in detailed, empirically-based knowledge of digital citizenship, benefiting the development of organizational practices, support for the involvement of vulnerable citizens, and professional development within social work education.
The research has so far been presented at three different conferences (including NOSTS 2023 and DASTS 2024).
We are currently working on four articles based on fieldwork conducted among vulnerable children at a special education center in Aarhus and interviews with social workers. They are planned to be published in e.g. Big Data & Society and Science, Technology and Human Values.
