The work of reuse: birth certificate data and healthcare accountability measurements

Data reuse – long a key focus of information studies and CSCW research on eScience – is increasingly a major issue in organizations attempting to leverage data gathered using information systems for accountability functions such as performance measurements. Carrying out organizational analytics and performance measurements for accountability typically rests on the ability to successfully reuse existing, procurable data. We present results from an ethnographic study of the practices of recording birth certificate data and related attempts to assess and improve birth certificate data in response to a new reuse of birth certificate data for measurements introduced to hold hospitals accountable for the quality of the care they are delivering. Drawing on literature on data reuse and information infrastructure, we describe the situated work that must take place in order for birth certificate data to be reused for accountability purposes, and the organizational capacity building that must take place to facilitate the reuse of birth certificate data for measurement oriented to organizational improvement and accountability.