Being Fair about the Design of FAIR Data Standards

Abstract

Since 2014 the FAIR data movement has been rapidly altering the landscape of data sharing and re-use. Support for the FAIR movement has seen the evolution of disciplinary-specific standards to foster data that are “finable, accessible, interoperable and reusable.” While these exciting developments should not be minimised, it is important to interrogate how these standards are set. Key questions to ask include how representation in standard setting communities is addressed; what infrastructures and resources these emergent standards are reliant on; and how standards dictate specific interpretations of “value” and “valuable data.” Asking such questions introduces a needed reflexivity into FAIR discussions, as standard setters interrogate what data practices commit present—and future—researchers to.