Decolonizing big data: addressing data colonialism in social work’s grand challenges

ABSTRACT

The acceleration and escalation of datafication has increased interest in advancing the use of big data throughout social work. While one of the current Grand Challenges of Social Work focuses on harnessing technology for the social good, the present work expands on this endeavor with a particular focus on big data in social work. Despite mandates from the CSWE EPAS to engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research, prior work has extensively documented social work students' general fear and apprehension of research in practice. At the same time, big data continues to grow, perpetuating colonialism inherent within the data. This work delineates how social work can rise to the occasion, remain dedicated to social justice, and work to decolonize big data.

KEYWORDS:

• Big data
• grand challenges
• data colonialism
• decolonization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).