Through artistic interventions into the computational backbone of maternity services, the artists behind the Body Recovery Unit explore data production and its usages in healthcare governance. Taking their artwork The National Catalogue Of Savings Opportunities. Maternity, Volume 1: London (2017) as a case study, they explore how artists working with ‘live’ computational culture might draw from critical theory, Science and Technology Studies as well as feminist strategies within arts-led enquiry. This paper examines the mechanisms through which maternal bodies are rendered visible or invisible to managerial scrutiny, by exploring the interlocking elements of commissioning structures, nationwide information standards and databases in tandem with everyday maternity healthcare practices on the wards in the UK. The work provides a new context to understand how re-prioritisation of ‘natural’ and ‘normal’ births, breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact, age of conception and other factors are gaining momentum in sync with cost-reduction initiatives, funding cuts and privatisation of healthcare services.
MULTIFILE
Engeland en Wales waren lange tijd gidslanden voor het reclasseringswerk in Europa. Het is pijnlijk om te zien hoe een goede praktijk wordt afgebroken op grond van politiek-ideologische motieven. Toch kunnen we ook nu van Engeland en Wales leren: uitbesteden van reclasseringswerk aan de goedkoopste aanbieder is geen goed idee. Reclasseringswerk is een complex vak dat niet zomaar uitgevoerd kan worden door een organisatie die daarnaast bedrijfsrestaurants beheert en huishoudelijk hulp verzorgt (Sodexo is een van de aanbieders van reclasseringswerk in Engeland). Daarom zou ik politici en ambtenaren van het ministerie van Veiligheid en Justitie die overwegen om het reclasseringswerk aan 'de markt' over te laten, willen adviseren: ga eerst over de grens kijken en keer dan op je schreden terug.
MULTIFILE
Careers work is a very political business. Since the early 1990s, successive governments in England and the Netherlands have persistently challenged those working in the careers sector to demonstrate the educational, social and economic value and impact of their work. In this context, the marketisation of career guidance policies and practices has expanded, with a growing assumption that market-based goods and services ensure greater responsiveness to consumer choice and offer better and/or more innovative services for lower prices. In this article, we do not intend to give a comparison of trends in England and the Netherlands. We only examine the impact of market principles applied to career guidance provision in both countries. Findings indicate such provision for young people is on a steady decline. Lessons learned from these two nations indicate that a market for quality career services does not exist in schools and colleges. As a result, marketisation and privatisation of career services have led to an impoverished and fragmented supply of services. Greater attention by governments in career guidance policies for young people (and adults) is necessary to reduce the widening gap between ‘the haves and have nots’ in society. Failure to reduce labour market mismatch through new forms of careers dialogue is not only damaging and costly for individuals, families and employers, but for the taxpayer too.
