Responsible Research and Engagement Practices for Indigenous Data Governance in Earth Science Institutions

Battelle Memorial Institute, Richland OH

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this project is to identify ethical practices for large open data research projects. It will contribute to creating networks for Indigenous scholars and community members, data managers and social scientists to develop processes and guidelines for databases that ensure data collection, storage, and dissemination are done in ethical ways for stakeholders. The project will engage scientists and community members working with data stored in the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) database as a pilot effort. The project’s outcomes will be of interest to researchers, community members, policy makers and educators. The goal of the project is to develop processes and guidelines that are applicable across Earth science data repositories and address Indigenous Data topics in each stage of the data and specimen lifecycle (i.e. collection, storage, publication, citation, re-use). In this incubation phase, the project will rely on working group interactions and use a participatory research framework to develop guidelines that can be applied broadly across Earth science research and open data repositories. Throughout planning and implementation, the project will connect to the people and institutions in the Rising Voices Network to build a robust collaboration of participants that includes Indigenous scholars, educators, and community leaders as well as atmospheric, social, ecological, and data scientists. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.