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Responsibly managing Indigenous research data takes a great deal of care and intention, especially given a long history of harmful practices. A research team at the Information School is charting a path forward that respects Indigenous people’s sovereignty over their data. 

The project, called , is helping information professionals gain a better understanding of data sovereignty and working with data repositories to ensure that Indigenous groups control representation, access and ownership of culturally sensitive data.

With support from a $1.5 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, the researchers are moving on to the second phase of the project, in which they will create practical resources to support responsible stewardship of qualitative data about Indigenous communities. The Information School is leading the project, in across the UW and at other universities.

The first phase of work, also supported by a Mellon grant, developed case studies, learning resources and priorities for implementing the CARE (collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility and ethics) principles, which were developed by the International Indigenous Data Sovereignty Interest Group. The principles reinforce the rights of Indigenous communities, tribes and nations across the globe to control the data collected about them. The second phase of the project will create a repository testbed and practical instructions to support application of the principles in libraries and repositories, working in partnership with Indigenous scholars and data repository experts. 

“We learned in the first phase how much the CARE principles apply to already existing archival collections sitting in institutions. Now, in addition to supporting how new research data are archived, we’re asking how we can help with the collections that are already in library catalogs,” said Carole Palmer, an iSchool professor and principal investigator. “There really is this ongoing need to be able to improve how we care for Indigenous data, new and old.” 

(Cherokee Nation), a professor in the Department of American Indian Studies, has joined the project as co-principal investigator. Teuton, co-author of the book “Cherokee Earth Dwellers: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World,” is leading work that will demonstrate how to ensure responsible archiving of research materials, including recordings, transcripts, drafts and more.

“I really stand behind the goals of the project,” he said. “The archiving and protecting of Indigenous data are really important. And it’s really important to look at how data are maintained and archived and shared, no matter your discipline.”

Teuton and the UW team will collaborate with Cherokee community members and work with the Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) at Syracuse University to create a demonstration platform to show how the CARE principles can be put into action. One aim of the platform is to effectively describe the origins and context of the data. That “relational integrity” is a vital part of working with Indigenous communities. Partnering with QDR makes it possible to build on processes and tools they have in place for describing qualitative data and limiting who has access to it. Together, the team will fine tune them to work well for Indigenous scholars and their communities.

Indigenous communities’ data is largely held in outside institutions, including libraries, museums, online databases and other collections. Indigenous peoples often do not have the legal rights to those materials, and many of the materials are incomplete, wrong or don’t contain proper information about where the data came from. 

“I think it’s really hard to overcome some of the deeply embedded practices,” said Sandy Littletree (Navajo/Eastern Shoshone), an assistant professor at the iSchool and co-principal investigator. “It’s hard for folks to think about other ways of doing things.”

She said that while sometimes it is easy to get people to acknowledge harm, it can be harder to move from that to doing better. She hopes this project can help people find that better path forward. “Trust building is a core principle and goal of what we’re doing,” Littletree said. “We’re mindful that it will take time and lots of conversations.” 

Palmer hopes to show good examples of relationships between institutions and Indigenous communities and discover steps to enhance those relationships, as well as make collections that are responsive to the needs and interests of the communities they came from. “We’re in a good spot to do that based on our collaborators.”

The most recent Mellon grant will help the project expand in this second phase. David Strand, MLIS ’25, has joined as a research coordinator; post-doctoral researcher Joshua Brown (Séliš/Aaniiih/Nakóda) will join soon. The grant funding will make it possible to involve more collaborators and experts, including Indigenous community members, and for researchers and collaborators to travel as necessary. 

Palmer emphasizes the importance of reciprocity in stewarding Indigenous research data. As researchers gather data from Indigenous communities, they need to work collaboratively to ensure that those communities benefit. The importance of that, as well as practical skills and experience, will ultimately be passed on to iSchool students. Palmer hopes that as those students move forward into their careers, they will put those lessons to work. 

“Our work will help professionals who we train and educate in our school have a more complex understanding of research data stewardship, that it’s not all about moving toward openness. Qualitative data has a lot of sensitivities,” Palmer said. “It’s beholden upon our profession to lead in the responsible stewardship and preservation of knowledge resources. The people we educate really need to be experts and authorities on how to steward different kinds of research materials over time.”