Co-producing Dialogues and Valuing Lived Experience to Counter Racial Inequality in Everyday Digital Services

Quyoum, A. and Wong, M. (2023) Co-producing Dialogues and Valuing Lived Experience to Counter Racial Inequality in Everyday Digital Services. 3rd International Data Justice Conference, Cardiff, UK, 19-20 June 2023.

Abstract

In the UK, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the movement towards large-scale digitalisation of everyday services; from healthcare, social housing, social security to utilities. The continued digitalisation of our everyday lives has implications on the datafication of citizenship while entrenching existing inequalities related to digital poverty (infrastructure and access) and digital exclusion (knowledge and skills). However, what is lesser known and understood are the vulnerabilities minoritized ethnic citizens face in datafication processes collectively and how they are racialised within everyday data systems. From accessing GP services, the allocation of social housing, to how types of citizen data are exploited to facilitate unfair decision-making (e.g. ethnicity information or via proxies) - the potential for everyday digital services to amplify systemic racism and inequalities is concerning yet under-studied, particularly in the UK context. Existing research has highlighted persistent inequalities in the use, experience and outcomes of key public services such as health and housing in relation to race, while others have frequently noted the reality that data systems perpetuate the wider racial biases of society. It is, therefore, essential to understand the lived experience of racialised minorities in digital services, in order to inform and improve the design of such services to be more inclusive and “human-centred”. Otherwise, these services may risk having a disproportionately negative impact on people who are racially marginalised. The UKRI-funded PRIME project was developed to focus on the everyday digital experiences of racialised communities in England and Scotland, with a particular focus on health, housing and energy services, led by an interdisciplinary team of social science and computer science researchers. This paper draws on audio-visual interviews from the project with individuals (n~100) who identify as a racialised minority across 4 case study sites. We will synthesise and explore responses from people on their lived experience including: acceptance of a poorer service, abstention, withdrawal, resistance, and at times, feelings of coercion to comply to data systems. Such experiences are shaped by intersecting factors including socioeconomic status, age, gender, language, low levels of trust in institutions as a result of direct racism, and policies which are felt to enforce a ‘hostile environment’. This paper also outlines the development of a series of co-design workshops, which sought to strengthen capacity amongst racialised communities and stakeholders to articulate and understand how to counter harm and improve equity of access and outcomes of digital services by valuing lived experience in service design. Workshop participants included community organisations, service and platform designers, data and computer scientists, service providers, the voluntary sector, and local and national policymakers in England and Scotland. The workshops facilitated conversations between racialised communities and stakeholders to articulate and examine the risks, co-create solutions to counter harm, and principles to improve equity of digital services based on valuing lived experiences in the design of digital services. The paper will outline our methodological contribution and how we co-created a framework for public and private sectors to guide decision-making, so policies and digital serv ices are equitable and responsible by design.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Quyoum, Dr Aunam and Wong, Dr Mark
• Authors: Quyoum, A., and Wong, M.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies

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