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About us Policy and strategy A Roadmap to Data Autonomy
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Data Autonomy and Academic Freedom

Date:14 February 2024
Author:Titus Stahl
As universities become more and more dependent on digital infrastructure provided by Big Tech companies, many researchers are increasingly worried about the resulting phenomenon of “digital dependence”. There is the worry that...

(Critical) Data Autonomy: digital archiving for an uncertain future

Date:20 December 2023
Author:Marije Miedema
Google just announced its plans to invest 600 million to build a new datacenter in Winschoten that serves as a back-up for the hyperscale datacenter at the Eemshaven. By introducing the Cloud as the ultimate solution to future proof our data storage, Google and other Big Tech corporations ensured that our digital infrastructures now depend on these large investments.

GÉANT and its contribution to Data Autonomy

Date:30 October 2023
Author:Erik Huizer
Data autonomy can only be achieved if the underlying infrastructure and services used to capture, store, transport and handle the data are autonomous as well. Therefore GÉANT and the national research and education networks (NRENs, such as SURF in the Netherlands) aim to contribute to data autonomy by providing an autonomous e-infrastructure for Research and Education.

Open-source versus SaaS: Educational applications at the University of Groningen

Date:11 October 2023
Author:Ferry Helweg
The team IT for Education is responsible for all educational applications that are used by both students and lecturers at the University of Groningen. This set of applications includes systems such as Brightspace, Ocasys, the scheduling system, and Kaltura. As you can imagine, a lot of data is being processed by these systems.

Data Autonomy in higher education: the quest for 'public values in the cloud' - workshop video

Date:27 September 2023
Author:Oskar J. Gstrein
On 25 May 2023 the Center for Information Technology of the University of Groningen (UG) hosted a workshop on data autonomy in higher education. This workshop was part of the 16th edition of the international Conference on Computers, Privacy and Data Protection (CPDP) that took place on May 24 - 26 in Brussels, Belgium.

Take back control of research communication, embrace Mastodon

Date:12 September 2023
Author:Babette Knauer
In this article, Babette Kanuer explores why academics and their institutions should consider a transition from Twitter to Mastodon to support open principles and avoid relying on centralised, commercial platforms where users lack control and data autonomy.

Overpaid bankers? Think again. Scientific publishers top the charts

Date:31 August 2023
In which sector do the highest-paid Dutch CEOs work? The banking industry? Tech industry? No, it's scientific publishers. This is what we found during our research about executive compensation practices in the Netherlands between 2017-2020. The figures come from companies' annual reports.

Data Autonomy and Open Source: a match for transparency

Date:14 August 2023
Author:Daniël Vos
Data autonomy can be understood as the process of gaining control of the information we collect and produce. By regaining control, we will be able to decide which data goes where and who can see what. This increases transparency around the use of...

Data Autonomy and Data Privacy Workshop at Noorderzon Festival

Date:10 August 2023
Author:Dali Fekete
“I don’t care about my data, I’ve got nothing to hide!” We have probably all heard someone around us say this, or even said it ourselves before learning more about data privacy and data autonomy. Yet, many are still turning a blind eye to privacy issues. In an era where information becomes...

National developments towards more Data Autonomy (1)

Date:26 July 2023
Author:Ronald Stolk
The regaining of more autonomy over our data at the university is a major undertaking. Apart from activities within the UG, this requires national and even international collaborations...