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Caring for People, Caring for Their Data: Data Stewardship and Collaborative Care in Social Service Provision for People Experiencing Homelessness

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Information for a Better World: Normality, Virtuality, Physicality, Inclusivity (iConference 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13972))

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Abstract

This paper reports findings from a study on service provision for people experiencing homelessness in the Austin/Travis County region. Drawing on 39 interviews with stakeholders in service provision and 137 open-ended surveys with service users, we explore how ‘matters of care’ Baker & Karasti, [1] become central when collecting and using data describing this vulnerable population. We propose that collaborative care structures clients’ and social workers’ interactions around data, and that attention to matters of care serves to both reduce harm and improve data quality and coverage.

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Acknowledgement

This study was funded by the City of Austin #2021–01-UT-DACC. We would like to thank Min Kyung Lee, Robert Kingham, Raeesa Khan, David Cruz, Varshinee Sreekanth, Apoorva Gondimalla, Vasudha Singh, and Takayuki Suzuki for their collaboration and contributions to recruitment, study design, and data collection. Thank you to Rachel Tunis for your comments on early drafts. We also thank all of our participants for their intellectual contributions to this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Stephen C. Slota & Kenneth R. Fleischmann

  2. LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Sherri R. Greenberg

Authors
  1. Stephen C. Slota
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  2. Kenneth R. Fleischmann
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  3. Sherri R. Greenberg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen C. Slota .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. iSchool Organization, Berlin, Germany

    Isaac Sserwanga

  2. Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Anne Goulding

  3. University of Missouri, Chicago, IL, USA

    Heather Moulaison-Sandy

  4. University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

    Jia Tina Du

  5. University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    António Lucas Soares

  6. Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Viviane Hessami

  7. University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Rebecca D. Frank

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Slota, S.C., Fleischmann, K.R., Greenberg, S.R. (2023). Caring for People, Caring for Their Data: Data Stewardship and Collaborative Care in Social Service Provision for People Experiencing Homelessness. In: Sserwanga, I., et al. Information for a Better World: Normality, Virtuality, Physicality, Inclusivity. iConference 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13972. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28032-0_38

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28032-0_38

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-28031-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-28032-0

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