Department of Gender Studies

This report provides a starting point for how organizations can begin the process of developing a set of technocultural data protocols for safeguarding local communities’ and Indigenous Peoples’ rights to data sovereignty. Local communities and Indigenous Peoples are quite heterogenous with different histories and concerns, and several have begun to develop distinct Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles and Indigenous Data Governance protocols for how to protect and promote their data, knowledge, lands, and cultural heritage (See Appendix A). In response, organizations must establish their own internal guidelines (e.g., technocultural data protocols) for how to align their policies and practices to ensure they are acting responsibly to safeguard the data of local communities and Indigenous Peoples whom they collaboratively work with. Technocultural data protocols, in other words, are policies and guidelines created by organizations to ensure that they are adhering to the Indigenous Data Governance requirements that Indigenous Peoples and local communities have established for themselves and those who handle their data.