From media welfare to data welfare Broadening the scope of media welfare

• Main Authors: Kaun, Anne, Löfgren, Helena
• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Nordicom, University of Gothenburg 2024
• Subjects: data welfare state; datafication; Media; Media and Communication Studies; Media and Communications; mediation; Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap; Medie-, kommunikations-, och informationsvetenskaper; Samhällsvetenskap; smart sensor; Social Sciences
• ISBN: 9789188855886; 9188855880; 9188855899; 9188855902; 9789188855893; 9789188855909
• DOI: 10.48335/9789188855893-12

This chapter engages with the notion of the data welfare state, extending the discussion of digital media welfare. Our main aim is to address the shifts in welfare provision under the paradigm of datafication. This primarily conceptual contribution puts forward the normative ideal of the data welfare state as a point of departure from the media welfare state. In the chapter, we highlight the current limits of data welfare and outline the prospects of the data welfare state by drawing on two empirical case studies of data-based technologies implemented by 1) a Swedish municipality to automate social benefit applications, and 2) a smart-sensor project of a public housing company to improve public safety. The case studies serve as an illustration of the conceptual arguments being made while shifting the focus from traditional media institutions to broader welfare infrastructures that are increasingly being datafied. To develop a better understanding of data welfare, we suggest revisiting the concept of mediation in the context of the data welfare state, in which the process of datafication is becoming a major way of mediating the social good.