Travel: Improving Data Management Practices in Anthropology

Documentary Educational Resources, Watertown MA

Investigators

Abstract

This project supports the travel expenses for two researchers to work with communities on the management of data from a vast audio-visual record collected over a 50-year period. Specifically, the researchers are exploring best practices for coordinating with Indigenous communities in the digitization and annotation of visual materials. Existing metadata and contextual information in those records are being updated as well. The project’s central objectives are centered around improving the public’s understanding of anthropological science and the scientific method, by optimizing practices for the communication of data and findings to wider audiences. The activities also improve infrastructure for the preservation, storage, and access of scientific materials for future use, and building capacity for scientific engagement with Indigenous communities. The activities advance scientific understanding of appropriate data management and sharing practices involving Indigenous groups, exploring how to best integrate the requirements that data involving Indigenous communities to be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable (FAIR), while also adhering to the CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, and Ethics) principles for data governance. 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.