(In)visible everyday work of fostering a data-driven healthcare and social service organisation

Abstract

This article combines the frameworks of (in)visible work and articulation work to examine the everyday articulation work ascribed to a knowledge production and technology expert team (KT) in the transition to a data-driven healthcare and social service organisation. The article structures the results of an ethnographic study spanning 2.5 years around four roles of the KT's work: (1) mediating messy and incomplete technologies in-the-making, (2) facilitating bleeding-edge technologies in-the-making, (3) coaching in new data practices and technologies in-the-making, and (4) advocating for care staff. Additionally, insights are provided into the invisible articulation work of the care staff performed in support of these KT roles. With these results, the study advances our understanding of the complexity, power dynamics, and instability of work invested in transitioning to a data-driven public organisation. It also contributes to the critical discussion on the perpetual piloting nature of this transition.