Information Access Seminar

Data Governance: Another Side of Data Curation

Friday, April 20, 2012

3:10 pm - 5:00 pm

MacKenzie Smith

Data governance is the system of rights and accountabilities for who can take what actions with what data and when, under what circumstances, using what methods. It includes laws and policies associated with data, as well as strategies for data quality control and management in the context of organizations, be they physical or virtual (such as large, international research collaborations). Data governance ensures that data can be trusted and that people made accountable for actions affecting it. There are also related technological issues, such as how to implement mandatory attribution on the Web or insure persistence of cited data. The seminar will provide an overview of the issues and current activities in this emerging aspect of data curation.

Until 2012 MacKenzie Smith was research director at the MIT Libraries, where she oversaw digital library research and development. Her research focused on the Semantic Web for scholarly communication, and digital data curation in support of e-research. From 2002 until 2011 she was the Library's Associate Director for Technology, overseeing the library's use of technology and its technology strategy. MacKenzie is now based in the Bay Area and is consulting on several cutting-edge digital library and related initiatives, including a Science Fellowship at Creative Commons, Special Consultant to the Association of Research Libraries' E-Science Institute, and the Digital Public Library of America. Her interest in data governance stems from working with Creative Commons on their Science program. Her interest in data governance stems from working with Creative Commons on their science program.

Last updated: March 26, 2015