Enhance frontline communities’ agency
Communities’ agency is respected when they are able to lead or co-lead in decision-making. When researchers or technology developers set goals without community input, they risk overlooking local knowledge and undermining self-determination. For example, analyzing monitoring or sensor data without input from or discussion with communities risks sharing incomplete knowledge that can demotivate further collaboration or intervention as analytical assumptions might not reflect the communities’ lived experience. Achieving this level of input from communities may demand forms of communication that go beyond typical research or technology development activities, such as participating in community organizing activities, sharing stories, or simply one-on-one or in-person conversations.
Solutions
1.
Collaborate on goals over time
Co-develop research and/or design goals, prioritizing transparency in decision making and flexibility throughout the research or design process. Researchers and developers support community agency and indigenous data sovereignty when they remain flexible and transparent, recognizing that community members may hold heterogeneous views or that priorities may evolve over time.
2.
Secure consent before sharing
Discuss the possibility and methods of sharing information and publicizing research outputs, as well as the mechanisms through which they will be shared. Obtain community consent before sharing. For indigenous data in particular, consider the use of data licenses or labels for respecting cultural protocols around the sharing and use of knowledge.
3.
Let communities own their data
Ensure that communities can retain control over data about them or collected by them. Work towards reaching agreements that clearly delineate what can be shared publicly. Explain to users that they have influence over the data production and sharing process and what your role is within it. When using open platforms and repositories to share data or documentation, opt for those that enable differentiated access and privacy.
4.
Start with the community
Prioritize interventions and practices that support or leverage communities' known and accepted settings and activities. This might include creating documentation in local languages, and requesting input or sharing results at existing community meetings. Create opportunities for community members to lead or co-lead when it comes to making decisions.
Know of another resource or solution?
Resources
Animikii’s Pathfinding process
Animikii’s Pathfinding process supports co-design of technology, specifically with Indigenous communities
LiteFarm’s Informed Consent Form and Privacy Policy
LiteFarm’s Informed Consent Form and Privacy Policy is a good example of a mechanism for obtaining informed consent to share environmental data collected by individual community members—in this case, farmers using the open source LiteFarm app to record information about their farm management practices, which includes potentially sensitive data.
OpenTEAM’s Data Use Documents
OpenTEAM’s Data Use Documents include good examples of tools to request and manage consent to share or use data. In particular, see the Agriculturalists’ Bill of Data Rights and the Data Hosting and Storage Agreement.
Local Contexts’ Data Labels
Local Contexts’ Data Labels identify and clarify indigenous communities’ rules, expectations, and responsibilities for Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural information.
OEDP’s Tools and Templates for Community Data (Sharing)
OEDP’s Tools and Templates for Community Data support community data stewards in being able to safely and equitably use and share community environmental data. You can find things like a co-ownership agreement template and data sharing agreement questions. The Data Co-ownership Template and “Our Data, Our Rules” zines are particularly relevant.
The Data Ethics Toolkit (Recompense)
The Data Ethics Toolkit from the Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences includes a worksheet on “Recompense,” or ensuring appropriate benefits and recognition to communities.
University of Reading’s Participatory Action Research Toolkit
The University of Reading’s Participatory Action Research Toolkit, developed from the real-world experiences of community members and researchers, guides community researchers through the process of building trust, sharing power, and fostering the relationships needed to make a genuine impact.