Lost in Digital Translations: Studies of Digital Resistance and Accommodation to the Welfare State in Practice

Alexander Berntsen is a Ph.D. candidate at the Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Social Anthropology. Their dissertation, in progress, explores resistance and opposition in relation to silence and grace. They have recently written philosophical texts on the roles of presence, death, and God in today’s technological society.

Espen Marius Foss is Associate Professor at Østfold University College, Faculty of Health, Welfare and Organisation, and holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Oslo. He has two main research areas: restorative processes (in schools, prisons, mediation services, and NGOs), and the unanticipated consequences of digitalisation of the welfare state, focusing on user appropriations among children and adolescents. He has a preference for participatory approaches, applying methods such as visual ethnography, scenography, and drama pedagogy.

Ragnhild Fugletveit is Associate Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University. She has a Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Policy from Oslo Metropolitan University, and a Cand.Polit. in Sociology from the University of Oslo. She is interested in the interaction between social welfare services and citizens in relation to the introduction of new technology. Her research also involves the areas of child protection, mental health, and substance use.

Hanne Cecilie Geirbo is Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Oslo Metropolitan University. She has an interdisciplinary background in social anthropology and information systems, and a professional background in the telecom industry. She is interested in how information infrastructures shape society, and how conscious choices in designing such infrastructures could help to increase environmental and social sustainability.

Guro Huby is an organisational anthropologist and emerita professor at Østfold University College. Her research interest is the organisation of care, and her work relates to the intersection of research and practice. She has published widely on the coordination of health and social care, with comparative perspectives from Norway and Scotland. A present research interest is digitalisation. She was guest lecturer at a workshop on the special issue of digitalisation and the Nordic welfare state at Østfold University College. A recent publication in the Journal of Extreme Anthropology from 2021 is titled “Bloody Paperwork: Algorithmic Governance and Control in UK Integrated Health and Social Care Settings”.

Hanna Marie Ihlebæk is Associate Professor at Østfold University College. She received her education in social anthropology from the University of Bergen and holds a Ph.D. in the study of professions from Oslo Metropolitan University. Her primary research area is ethnographic perspectives on professional work and knowledge, with a specific focus on current transformations in the health and welfare sector, including digitalisation. 

Pia Eline Ollila is a former architecture student at Aarhus School of Architecture, with an undergraduate degree in social work from Østfold University College. She is currently working as a social worker at the City Church Mission.

Rannveig Røste is Associate Professor in the Department of Welfare, Management and Organisation at Østfold University College. She has a Ph.D. in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from BI Norwegian Business School, and a Cand.Polit. in Political Science from the University of Oslo. Her research interest is in the interdisciplinary field of science and technology studies, in relation to how sustainable innovation co-evolves with organisational, political, and technological processes of stability and change.

Jens Røyrvik is Associate Professor at the Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Social Anthropology. His Ph.D. dealt with techno-logic and the oil industry’s conquest of nature. He works primarily within the anthropology of technology and questions related to technological articulations. This includes a variety of sectors, such as space operations, child welfare, energy, and sustainability. Julian Slettaøien is a current Master’s student in social studies at Oslo Metropolitan University. Julian works as a social worker at NAV in Oslo, and his research interests include sociomaterialism, ontology, and social spatiality.

Christian Sørhaug is Associate Professor at Østfold University College. He has a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Oslo. His theoretical and analytical interests include science and technology studies, practice theory, cybernetics, and ontology. He has done fieldwork in Latin America among the indigenous Warao and has examined modernisation in the welfare society of Norway.

Gunhild Tøndel is Associate Professor of General Sociology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The development of the welfare state–citizen relationship has been a continuous research interest, especially how it is investigated and how it has changed with the introduction of new technologies. Her research includes qualitative studies of quantification as a social process, ageing, technology and care, and the governing of everyday life in public health and care services.

Heidrun Åm is Professor of Sociology at the Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU). Her research combines critical policy studies, and science and technology studies. She has also studied the governance of emerging technologies. Her research has contributed to debates on science and society, responsibility in research, risk regulation, and the democratisation of technology, as well as to discussions of the sociology of science.

Julian Slettaøien is a current Master’s student in social studies at Oslo Metropolitan University. Julian works as a social worker at NAV in Oslo, and his research interests include sociomaterialism, ontology, and social spatiality.

Ann-Mari Lofthus is a postdoctoral researcher at Innlandet University College. Her Ph.D. from the University of Oslo explores Norwegian Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams’ service users’ experiences of their service. Lofthus’ research interests include mental health, substance use and addiction, social services, patient and public involvement, as well as project management.