Work of the Unemployed: An inquiry into individuals’ experience of data usage in public services and possibilities for their agency

Public services increasingly presume a new and more active role for individuals to play in datafied society. While design efforts increasingly attempt to include stakeholders, such attempts are often limited to professional perspectives. Little is known about how individuals who are subject to these solutions experience the increasing use of data about them. One example of public services is job placement. Taking design fiction as our approach, we invited individuals enrolled in job placement (n=20) to reflect on the ‘work of the unemployed’, a fictive scenario where individuals make themselves eligible for support through sharing data. The fiction addresses power dynamics. The study shows how approaches, such as design fiction, are effective at including marginalized communities through changing the conditions for design. Showcasing the fictional outlook, and how the ‘design experience’ can be disempowering if not qualified through a deeper critique, the paper contributes to agendas on design justice.