Spring has finally arrived in Denmark, and we are already halfway through the spring semester. Many things have been happening at the Center for Digital Welfare, and we are excited to share the many great news with you!

In early March, we had the great pleasure of opening a new working group led by Associate Professor Louise Harder Fischer and titled Future of Work and Well-Being. As Louise writes on the CDW-website, the new working group's 'overarching interest is to understand how to promote well-being and quality of life as fundamental aspects as digitalization and new technologies are transforming work, working lives and the society we live in'. A very warm welcome to Louise and the new members of her group - we are happy to have you with us!

As announced in a previous newsletter, the CDW is focusing increasingly on youth and young people's engagements and challenges with digital welfare. These efforts are already bearing fruit with our brandnew student group, kicking off this April. Besides engaging with the researchers and the member organizations, the new CDW-students will get a chance to learn about project pitching in theory and practice, and get the chance of going to this year's Folkemødet on Bornholm with the CDW. At Bornholm we are setting up a paneldebate on digital exclusion/inclusion of young people together with Krogerup Højskole, as well as initiating a couple interactive pop-up events on the topic of youth and digital welfare. If you want to learn more about the student group or the CDW-events at FM23, reach out to Kitt via kitn@itu.dk.

In this edition of the newsletter you can also read about our new student assistant Emilie Groth and her aspirations as a junior researcher, you can check out past and near-future events, and you can be updated on the most recent publications from the CDW-researchers.

We hope you will enjoy the read!

 
Sincerely,
Irina & Kitt

On 16 February, HoC Irina Papazu published an op-ed in the Danish media FINANS.dk titled: “Drop Zuckerberg-metoden i digitaliseringen af det offentlige” | On 21 February, Professor Ellen Helsper joined us for the CDW Distinguished Speakers Series with a keynote titled “Inequalities in Digital Wellbeing: What Explains Different Experiences in and of Online Spaces?” | On 1 March, the CDW introduced the new working group Future of Work and Well-Being led by Associate Professor Louise Harder Fischer | On 14 March, we held an ideational workshop for both researchers and external center members on future research projects | On 24 March, the Agile State working group went to the Danish National Courts Administration to study up close the principles of and experiences with e-governance in the Danish judiciary system | On 28 March, Louise Harder Fischer gave a keynote on digital implementation at Danish Municipalities’ (Da: Kommunernes Landsforening) kick-off for their new Technology Partnership.

As a master’s student at Digital Innovation and Management at ITU, Emilie Mørch Groth, enrolled with an interest in data and how this impacts our everyday lives. This interest, coupled with a background in design, aligned when EthosLab presented the opportunity to join their Junior Research Program: a program where students take on a self-chosen research topic and follow a yearly cohort.

The topic became the 40 Danish so-called “Signature Projects” administered by the Agency for Digital Government under the Ministry of Finance (Da: Digitaliseringsstyrelsen). These AI-driven projects are set assail to test and explore the use of AI in public bodies.

'My idea was to map the signature projects creatively to understand them better. I wanted to enable ‘the user’ to explore different aspects of the projects – their data approach, sector, geography, partners, etc.'

But as the Junior Researcher cohort is nearing its end with their final pitch in April, the result does not quite match this initial ambition. Early on, the work met roadblocks in form of absent information, which pivoted the project from a mapping exercise to a dataset creation. The dataset will summarise what the investigative research led to and what it could not uncover regarding the signature projects.

'I had trouble unfolding the many partners in some of the projects. The landscape is murky and confusing, and this lack of transparency proved to be the most interesting aspect. So, I ditched the mapping, and dove into the missing data and the fact that I cannot uncover who is involved in some of these projects. This is an issue, in my eyes, relating to data ethics and accountability. Topics which are generally deemed important when we talk about AI.'

And for the future and final leg of the project, Emilie says:

'I hope this data collection can enable further understanding of the signature projects and help bring forth transparency in public AI projects – or lack of same. The dataset will not be exhaustive, but I hope future collaboration will enable filling in the blank spots.'

Emilie has since the project start joined the CDW as student assistant and is keen to speak with anyone who finds this topic relevant, or who might have an interest in seeing the final result. Reach out to Emilie at emig@itu.dk or stay tuned at EthosLab’s channels, if you wish to see the final blogposts from all junior researchers.

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15 April marks the deadline for contributions to ”Exploring Critical Challenges in The Changing Nature of Work”, an international research workshop in Kristianssand, Norway organized by Louise Harder Fischer. | On 20 April, we are hosting a centerwide workshop on key concepts in digital welfare, where both researchers and member organizations will analyze and discuss the roles of concepts like “seamlessness”, “citizen-focused digitalization” and “wellbeing”. | On 27 April, Steen Hildebrandt and Tobias Bornakke are joining the CDW management for our annual advisory board meeting – we are looking forward to insightful ideas and feedback on the current center activities. | On 11 May, the Digital Citizenship working group ventures out on an expedition to National Association for Join-In Centers to learn about their work with socially marginalized citizens and the concept of citizen inclusion. | On 25 May, docent and professor Minna Ruckenstein joins us for the second edition of the CDW Distinguished Speakers Series this spring. More information follows after Easter – stay tuned via the CDW profiles on either Twitter or LinkedIn. | On 26 May, the CDW together with the Technologies in Practice research group hosts a talk & workshop with Minna Ruckenstein exclusively for our researchers at the ITU.

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Stald, Gitte. 2023. "Mobile Democracy: Changing Conditions for Young Danes’ Democratic Information and Participation" Journalism and Media 4, no. 1: 272-288. https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia4010019

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We are working on improving the accessibility of our newsletter. If you run into any issues while browsing the newsletter, or you have suggestions to make it more enjoyable, reach out to Kitt Plinia Nielsen at kitn@itu.dk

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Emilie Groth | Irina Papazu | Kitt Plinia Nielsen

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