Towards a Public Sector Data Culture: Data as an Individual and Communal Resource in Progressing Democracy

Abstract

An increased use of data has swept through many policy areas and shaped procedural and substantive policy instruments. Hence, citizens and governments, as both producers and consumers of data, become intertwined in even more complex ways. But the inherent logic of data-driven services and systems sometimes challenges the prerequisites and ideals of liberal democracy. Though a democratically sound data-practice and data-culture is crucial for ensuring a democratic usage of citizens data, discourse tends to overlook these aspects. Drawing on insights from the project Democracy Data, this chapter explores the opportunities and obstacles for establishing democratically oriented public sector data cultures.

Co-creation in Public Services for Innovation and Social Justice

“…Particularly in highly technical services, such as health or social care, increasingly, the service value is associated with technical knowledge. This includes handling big data generated based on simplified algorithms from citizen interactions with services (Falk, 2021). Also, while service professionals and care workers enjoy the trust placed upon them by service users, they also have to cope with their interventions being assessed against legal requirements of standardised services and predefined policy goals or organisational objectives.…”

Data Cultures: a scoping literature review

“…The financial and legal structures influencing data cultures, for instance those supporting data sharing initiatives or restricting access to organizational boundaries. The papers which appeared to most strongly represent this level included those considering data cultures from a regional perspective (papers 9,10,30,65,76) as well as those specifically focused on legal aspects (papers 22,24,77).…”