Upholding the Data Policy

Overview

Teaching: 10 min
Exercises: 0 min

Questions

• How do I handle data requests?

Objectives

• Understand how to uphold the Network’s Data Policy.

As an Node Data Manager, you will have the key responsibility to uphold your Network’s Data Privacy Policy and/or Data Sharing Agreement. You have access to every member’s public and private datasets, a level of access that not even your direct supervisors will have.

For this reason, you need to be intimately familiar with the types of data which are under embargo/private, and what is publicly available according to the Data Policy / Data Sharing Agreement for your Network. You will need to develop an internal protocol for when requests for data access are submitted, to ensure appropriate care is taken to protect the integrity of your members’ data.

OTN recommends creating a “Data Request Response Policy”.

External Requests - Restricted Data

This is an example of how OTN handles these requests:

1. Request for data (from person other than data owner) submitted
2. Data request is scoped, in a GitLab Issue. All details from requester is included.
3. Impacted PIs are identified, and contacted, seeking written permission for requester to access the information.
4. Written permission is documented in GitLab Issue, to preserve the paper-trail.
5. Data request report is compiled and provided to requester, once all permissions have been received.

Internal Requests

Internal requests, from other Network staff, need to be handled in a similar way. While all Network staff should be familiar with the Data Policy, this may not be the case. It is the Node Manager’s responsibility to ensure that information from the database is not shared outside of internal reports. We need to track requests from all sources, for OTN this even includes the OTN Glider and Field teams, so we can have a record of who has asked for what, and be able to enforce the appropriate Data Policies.

Partner-Node Data Policies

In order to meet everyone’s expectations when it comes to data sharing and maximize the utility of tags releeased, there is one shared rule across all participating Node data policies and data sharing agreements. All nodes and OTN agree that the Data Policy of the Network which holds the tag records will apply to the detections of those tags, in all of the other Nodes in which it is detected. You cannot share information/detections of tags from outside your Node, without first consulting with your partner’s Data Policy. This will likely not be an issue for most Nodes, but is a key consideration for OTN staff when creating data products.

For guidance on the interpretation of your Data Policy, or the Data Policy of a parter Node, OTN, and especially the Director of Data Operations, is available to assist.

Key Points

• Node Managers have a key responsbility to ensure the Data Policy is followed.