Welcome data actors!
We are excited to announce the upcoming launch of the CARE Data Maturity Model (CARE DMM)! This effort is a culmination of nearly four years of collaboration and dialogue with hundreds of Indigenous and allied data practitioners and we are excited to share this collective offering with you.
The CARE DMM is designed for all data actors, from Indigenous community leaders to agency professionals, funders, publishers, and more, who are working towards strengthening Indigenous governance of Indigenous Peoples’ data through operationalizing the CARE (Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, and Ethics) Principles for Indigenous Data Governance. By sharing resources, tools, and guidance, we hope to build consistent practices and robust standards for governing Indigenous data across diverse and global data ecosystems.
To stay engaged and hear updates on the launch, workshops, and more, join our mailing list linked below. We also welcome support in piloting the CARE DMM – please email the team at CAREDMMhub@gmail.com if this is of interest to you! Thank you for joining in, wherever you are at.
About the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance
The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance are one of the leading data governance frameworks supporting the ethical use of data worldwide. Developed by Indigenous researchers with input from Indigenous communities, it guides ethical practices and processes for the governance of Indigenous Peoples’ data around the world, through:
Collective Benefit: Data ecosystems shall be designed and function in ways that enable Indigenous Peoples to derive benefit from the data.
Authority to Control: Indigenous Peoples’ rights and interests in Indigenous data must be recognised and their authority to control such data be empowered.
Responsibility: Those working with Indigenous data have a responsibility to share how those data are used to support Indigenous Peoples’ self-determination and collective benefit.
Ethics: Indigenous Peoples’ rights and wellbeing should be the primary concern at all stages of the data life cycle and across the data ecosystem.
CARE implementation should create data ecosystems and infrastructures that reinforce the rights, interests, and protocols of the Indigenous Peoples and communities from which the data derive. In this spirit, the CARE DMM points users “home,” and asks data actors to respect pre-existing and/or community-specific frameworks and protocols Indigenous people have for the care of their data.
Introduction to the CARE Data Maturity Model
While CARE offers an ethical framework for Indigenous data governance, the CARE DMM provides more detailed guidance and implementation strategies to strengthen CARE across diverse projects, domains, and ecosystems.
Drawing inspiration from the FAIR Data Maturity Model, our team co-developed the CARE Data Maturity Model (DMM) through an iterative and collaborative design process building on foundational work by the Global Indigenous Data Alliance and Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance.
For more about the CARE DMM and its creation, see the video below.
Utilizing the CARE Data Maturity Model
The CARE DMM guides data actors through assessing their alignment with CARE across project or organizational-level initiatives and offers a phased waterway to identify where to begin, depending on their current level of alignment and capacity.
Along this waterway, the CARE DMM offers a range of indicators that data actors can use to measure and evaluate their progress and also steer towards actions that lead to greater levels of Indigenous data governance “maturity.” Iterative assessment and re-alignment are fundamental to the CARE DMM, and we are developing evaluation tools (e.g., maturity ratings and a self-assessment) to assist in this process.
We encourage users to treat these resources as a starting point for dialogue with Indigenous communities, and for Indigenous communities to use it as a potential (but non-exhaustive) resource in assessing the applicability of CARE in engagements with external partners.
CARE Data Maturity Model Phased Waterway
Examples of the CARE Data Maturity Model in practice
Data actors have begun working through what CARE implementation looks like for them. Each is beginning from a place that they have identified works best for their organization.
The examples shared in the video below highlight CARE engagement from research funders, data repositories, and publishers.
CARE Directs Us Home: Indigenous Peoples’ Standards
The CARE Principles demand operationalizing locally-designed Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance models, principles, and frameworks as a priority activation of CARE to ensure that implementation of the CARE Principles adheres to the rights of peoples related to the data.
Aotearoa New Zealand
Australia
Canada
United States
Sápmi
(Saami Council- NGO working across Finland, Sweden, and Norway)
CARE in Policy
Many institutions, governments, organizations, and other data related entities have shown significant interest in and implementation of the CARE Principles in policy and processes since their initial publication in 2019. The following examples show uptake across international, national, and independent institutions.
Globally
Within Nation States
Meet our CARE Data Maturity Model Team
Award Abstract # 2412372
