OPENING SESSION

Personal data and social data are today registered in large amounts. The use of data is highly discussed in western society today. The registration of personal and social data has long roots. This research project will examine how personal and social data has been registered from 1890 till the present day? Why did we become so good to register this data? What are the gender aspects in the registration?
Registration of personal data as well as social data from the public authorities shows us, how the public authorities view the citizens and furthermore what criteria were important for them to get knowledge about. Criterias such as for example the fysical address, the possibility to tax people, insurance relations, social benefits and criminal matters seems important. How were humans seen as ‘attractive’ for the authorities, did it shape them as humans? Which data was concretely registered? Furthermore the data itself has clear gender dimensions.
In the beginning of the examined period the 1890’ties the personal and social data was often registered under the last name of the father of the household or the family. In the late 1960’ties the introduction of the personal unique registration number in Denmark (CPR) meant a kind of change in the registration of personal and social data.
In my preliminary research on this topic it is uncovered that many places in the public authorities the husbands personal registration number was the key where certain personal and social data of the wife was registered until 2007. It seems that the tradition of making the registration of the entire social unit of the family (the husband) was broken as a result of introducing electronic systems and as a specialization of the social field within the public administration.