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Safeguarding Data. The Data Consensus and the Public Good in Children's Social Services

Cearns, Jennifer; Knox, Hannah; (2024) Safeguarding Data. The Data Consensus and the Public Good in Children's Social Services. The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology , 42 (1) pp. 23-41. 10.3167/cja.2024.420103. Green open access

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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.

Type: Article
Title: Safeguarding Data. The Data Consensus and the Public Good in Children's Social Services
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.3167/cja.2024.420103
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.3167/cja.2024.420103
Language: English
Additional information: © The Authors 2024. Original content in this paper is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Anthropology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10192688
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