The Question

Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 11:03:48 -0400
From: Kristen Travers <ktravers@stroudcenter.org>
Subject: [volmonitor] Data sharing policy

Hello,
Does anyone have a written policy/guidelines, that can be shared, regarding how and when they share their volunteer data? A small watershed association in our area is concerned about their data being used by a large corporate farm to downgrade a local stream and would like a written policy providing
flexibility for how/when to share their data in the future.

Thanks for the assistance,

--
Kristen Travers
Stroud Water Research Center
970 Spencer Road
Avondale, PA 19311
610-268-2153 x239

Responses

Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 11:48:04 -0400
From: Geoff Dates <gdates@rivernetwork.org>
Subject: Re: [volmonitor] Data sharing policy

Hi Kristen,

Great question. The real issue may not be whether to share or not. I think it’s fair to assume that the data will eventually get out. If not, what was the purpose of collecting it? And once the data are out there, they are fair game. That means that anybody can use them for whatever they want.

I think that at least the following should accompany the data:

get it out accompanied by the group’s summary and interpretation. Then they can place it in the context they define and perhaps create a situation where any entity tempted to misuse it will develop credibility problems.
They also need to be able to back up the data and establish their own credibility with a good monitoring plan (including data management, summary, and interpretation) and/or quality assurance plan.

I’m an advocate for sharing data. In fact, I’m an advocate for involving communities and interested residents in the interpretation process. This may not be possible or wise in some area, especially if there are bad actors. But the information and “buy-in” you get may be well worth it.

--
Geoff Dates
River Watch Program Director
River Network
Home Office:
231 24D Heritage Conds
Woodstock, VT 05091
802-457-9808 w & h
email: gdates@rivernetwork.org
River Network Web Site: www.rivernetwork.org

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