Negotiating Complexity in the Management of Sensitive Digital Data

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Openness & Sensitivity: Practical Concerns in Taking Archaeological Data Online" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Appropriate stewardship of sensitive archeological data necessarily involves overlapping and intertwined authorities, systems, and institutions. The authorities, in turn have different limits and requirements, while various entities have divergent purposes, needs, and protocols. Archeologists, librarians, data managers, planners, and resource managers who work with sensitive data require a thorough understanding of the nature of both the physical and digital resources and the contexts in which they are embedded. Healthy institutional relationships and the effective communication that comes with those relationships are as critical to ensuring appropriate access to data as they are to protecting them from unwanted disclosure. Legacy data present a particular challenge, especially when methods for their appropriate disposition are ambiguous. I describe some of the complexities of managing these data, and examine practices and procedures for the stewardship of older data and examine some consequences of inappropriate disclosure.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Openness & Sensitivity: Practical Concerns in Taking Archaeological Data Online

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26118