The Histories, Practices, and Policies of Community Data Governance in the ‘Global South’
The Histories, Practices, and Policies of Community Data Governance in the ‘Global South’, in 'Unskewing the Data Value Chain' (Forthcoming, IT For Change).
Faculty of Laws University College London Law Research Paper No. 11/2023
20 Pages Posted: 20 Jul 2023
Date Written: June 1, 2021
Abstract
'Community-based' governance has emerged as a contentious issue in law and policy discussions around data governance. Some jurisdictions in the Global South have mooted 'community-based' data governance mechanisms as a means to counter inequities in the global digital economy. In this paper, we argue that there is substantial scope for data governance policies for the Global South to draw from theories and practices informed by the idea that data can be a subject of decentralized, community-centric governance. First, we highlight the importance of recognizing communities and groups as agents with interests and rights in various forms of data, and how this challenges many of the assumptions upon which contemporary data policy and globalized information systems are built. Second, we explore how the idea of community data governance is informed by notions of knowledge commons, and the importance of the theoretical framework of commons governance to information and knowledge economies. Third, we identify three distinct theories and practices of community data governance, which have responded to concerns about power, information, and knowledge in the post-colonial context, and identify how these theories and practices can inform data governance policy in the Global South.
Keywords: Data Governance, Community Data, Community Archives, Indigenous Data Sovereignty
JEL Classification: o38, k29
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation