Research Data Management is important throughout the research process. Ensuring that data are properly managed and information about this management is properly communicated to all involved with research is essential to ensuring that research is ethical and of the highest quality. This is essential when working with Indigenous communities and Indigenous data.
Three sets of principles are helpful for looking at best practices for RDM:
FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) Principles inform RDM strategy, process, and plans and should be understood by everyone engaged in research.
“The first step in (re)using data is to find them. Metadata and data should be easy to find for both humans and computers. Machine-readable metadata are essential for automatic discovery of datasets and services, so this is an essential component of the FAIRification process.”
“Once the user finds the required data, she/he/they need to know how they can be accessed, possibly including authentication and authorisation.”
“The data usually need to be integrated with other data. In addition, the data need to interoperate with applications or workflows for analysis, storage, and processing.”
“The ultimate goal of FAIR is to optimise the reuse of data. To achieve this, metadata and data should be well-described so that they can be replicated and/or combined in different settings.”
Go Fair. (2022, January 21). Fair principles. GO FAIR. Retrieved February 14, 2023, from https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/
Coast Mountain College works closely with the First Nations in the region it serves. Following the Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP) principles shows our commitment to these relationships and the recognition of the importance of the role of these communities and nations in research, including First Nations data and Information.
Ownership refers to the relationship of First Nations to their cultural knowledge, data, and information. This principle states that a community or group owns information collectively in the same way that an individual owns his or her personal information.
Control affirms that First Nations, their communities, and representative bodies are within their rights to seek control over all aspects of research and information management processes that impact them. First Nations control of research can include all stages of a particular research project-from start to finish. The principle extends to the control of resources and review processes, the planning process, management of the information and so on.
Access refers to the fact that First Nations must have access to information and data about themselves and their communities regardless of where it is held. The principle of access also refers to the right of First Nations’ communities and organizations to manage and make decisions regarding access to their collective information. This may be achieved, in practice, through standardized, formal protocols.
Possession While ownership identifies the relationship between a people and their information in principle, possession or stewardship is more concrete: it refers to the physical control of data. Possession is the mechanism by which ownership can be asserted and protected.”
The First Nations Information Governance Centre. (2022, June 8). The first nations principles of OCAP®. The First Nations Information Governance Centre. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://fnigc.ca/ocap-training/
As publicly funded organizations, the tri-agencies are strong advocates for making the results of the research they fund as accessible as possible. Their expectations include: