Ethics in Linked Data Checklist

This checklist was published under a CC-BY license as an Appendix in Ethics in Linked Data (Litwin Books/Library Juice Press, 2023). It was developed over the course of a year, in consultation with several LD4 Affinity Groups (especially the Wikidata and Discovery Affinity Groups), attendees at multiple LD4 events and conferences, and was circulated to the authors of other chapters in this volume for peer review and additional comments. 

It is divided into three major areas (Planning, Implementation, and Maintenance) that are meant to represent the lifecycle of a linked data project. The initial area, Planning, focuses largely on questions about source data, and is aimed at projects in their developing stages, but could also be useful for long-running initiatives that would like to re-examine their foundations. Many of the questions would be useful for project leads/principal investigators to ask during their initial planning stages, and/or to inform discussions with data providers. The second area, Implementation, offers more practical questions about what the data or project looks like in action, including how it adheres to broader standards and guidelines. This section also offers questions about the individuals and teams that are responsible for the implementation of the project. The final section, Maintenance, offers questions meant to provoke discussion around what day-to-day and ongoing maintenance entails for a specific project, and how a project engages with its audience or users.