Our Data, Our Rules: A How-To Guide for Environmental Data Co-Ownership

With the growing availability of environmental data, there has also been an increase in collaboration between organizations to efficiently collect, use, and manage the data to inform their programs. These collaborations typically involve joint ownership over the data collected by the partnering organizations. Data co-ownership refers to multiple organizations sharing the responsibility of managing a set of data, meaning ownership is divided between the organizations or individuals involved. To set the expectations and guidelines on the management and use of the data, these organizations can create a data co-ownership agreement. This how-to guide zine aims to help you and your partnering organizations understand how to navigate data co-ownership and begin drafting a data co-ownership agreement to outline the goals and expectations for your data.