A new standard developed with University of Arizona Indigenous data sovereignty expert Stephanie Russo Carroll at the helm outlines how scientists and technology professionals across an array of fields should record the provenance – or origin and history of use – for data about and relating to Indigenous Peoples. 

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – known as IEEE and dubbed the "world's largest technical professional organization" – voted and approved the first-ever international standard regarding the "appropriate disclosure of Indigenous peoples' relationships and/or links to all data," which was published on Friday, Nov. 14. 

The standard details the process for describing and recording the provenance of data about or related to Indigenous Peoples and their cultures, lands and knowledge systems. The development of IEEE Standards are overseen by the IEEE Standards Association while the content of those standards is "determined by a consensus body of materially interested parties," according to the organization.

IEEE maintains an archive of more than 1,000 active technology standards, with several hundred others in development at any given time. These standards are used by researchers and industry professionals in more than 160 countries to develop emerging tech products and processes, impacting everything from the smartphones, to generative artificial intelligence, to the infrastructure that powers communities.

Carroll, associate professor in the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, has been on the forefront of the Indigenous data sovereignty movement for the past decade. IDSov, as the concept is often called, asserts that Indigenous Peoples have the sovereign right to control the collection, application and use of data about their citizens, lands and cultures.

Carroll, who is a Dene/Ahtna public health scholar and citizen of the Native Village of Kluti-Kaah in Alaska, served as the chair of the Indigenous Data Working Group responsible for creating the new standard. Researchers at NYU, Harvard and multiple international universities also played key roles in the collaborative project.

The publication of a standardized process for documenting the proper provenance for Indigenous Peoples' data, Carroll said, is a critical first step in the right direction for Indigenous Peoples and the scholars seeking to engage in ethical research with them. 

"Provenance details the history of a particular set of data," said Carroll, who is also an associate research professor at the University of Arizona Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy. "It tells you where it originated from. It should also tell you how it's moved over time and how it's potentially changed over time." 

Not only is such background information important for sharing the potential benefits of research with Indigenous communities, Carroll said it's also crucial to creating possibilities for Native communities to benefit from data and research relationships in general. 

"Provenance is the first step in making sure that relationships are embedded in the digital infrastructure so that Indigenous Peoples can govern the use, storage and distribution of data that are rightfully theirs," she said.

The new standard does not just address research data, but the wide range of contexts where Indigenous data is collected and used. It also includes the definition of "data actors" to include non-human entities like devices, applications, systems and organizations as well as humans. With data increasingly being used to train non-human entities like generative artificial intelligence engines, the new IEEE standard is the first to ascribe responsibility for how those entities steward that data – including recording provenance – to the humans in charge.

"This is where we started to use the term 'data actors' to acknowledge that it's not just people," Carroll said. "Some data actors are obviously machines and algorithms today, but ultimately people are responsible."

Though users typically pay to access IEEE standards, the new IDSov standard will be available for free to anyone interested in referencing or implementing the guidance for at least a year after it is published. This open access is possible via funding channeled through projects shared between Carroll and Max Liboiron, a professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada who is Red River Métis. Those projects are based at Memorial University and funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

"In the absence of policies enshrining IDSov at research institutions and at the nation-state level in the U.S. – and with other nation-states, institutions and individuals actively seeking guidance – having a standard like this in place is key to protecting the data rights of Indigenous Peoples," Carroll said. "This not only gives Indigenous Peoples and Native nations something to point to when it comes to asserting their data rights, but this standard will also provide a scaffolding on which to build such policies at all levels in the future."

A feature-length version of this article originally appeared on the Udall Center website.