New Tools to Guide Data Sharing Agreements
This piece by Andrew J. Zahuranec, Stefaan Verhulst, and Hannah Chafetz was originally published on the Open Data Policy Lab blog site.
The process of forming a data-sharing agreement is not easy. The process involves figuring out incentives, evaluating the degree to which others are willing and able to collaborate, and defining the specific conduct that is and is not allowed. Even under the best of circumstances, these steps can be costly and time-consuming.
Today, the Open Data Policy Lab took a step to help data practitioners control these costs. “Moving from Idea to Practice: Three Resources to Streamline the Creation of Data Sharing Agreements” provides data practitioners with three resources meant to support them throughout the process of developing an agreement. These include:
- A Guide to Principled Data Sharing Agreement Negotiation by Design: A document outlining the different principles that a data practitioner might seek to uphold while negotiating an agreement;
- The Contractual Wheel of Data Collaboration 2.0: A listing of the different kinds of data sharing agreement provisions that a data practitioner might include in an agreement;
- A Readiness Matrix for Data Sharing Agreements: A form to evaluate the degree to which a partner can participate in a data-sharing agreement.
The resources are a result of a series of Open Data Action Labs, an initiative from the Open Data Policy Lab to define new strategies and tools that can help organizations resolve policy challenges they face. The Action Labs are built around a series of workshops (called “studios”) which given experts and stakeholders an opportunity to define the problems facing them and then ideate possible solutions in a collaborative setting. In February and March 2023, the Open Data Policy Lab and Trust Relay co-hosted conversations with experts in law, data, and smart cities on the challenge of forming a data sharing agreement.
Find all the resources here. We invite you to download these documents and use them for your organization. If you have any questions or feedback or would like to share how this guide helped you, please contact us at datastewards@thegovlab.org.