The Future of Data Autonomy

On the 28th of June, a group of 25 University of Groningen members and guests gathered to open the discussion on Data Autonomy. It was the very first moment when a diverse range of participants (academics, students, as well as supportive staff members, members of the interdisciplinary schools and the Dutch cooperative SURF) discussed the topic together.

Through this discussions and interactive sessions the group tried to get a grip on the topic by drafting first working definition(s) and reconfirming whether this is a concern and for whom. As a result, the project proposal including a roadmap toward more Data Autonomy was finished. Later, the proposal was approved in an amended form by the University management, which enabled the Data Autonomy project to fully take off. The adopted project plan outlined a series of events to create a platform for diving deeper in the topic in group discussions on a larger scale. For example, one of the very clear takeaways of this event was that the concern over data dependency differs in various groups/roles within the university and their view needs to feed into the overall RUG data autonomy definition. Only then we have a clear goal that applies to the RUG as a whole, a goal towards which we can outline a roadmap.

Speakers

• Prof. Oskar Gstrein (RUG, Campus Frysland)
• Prof. Titus Stahl (RUG, Faculty of Arts)
• Andres Steijaert (SURF)
• Student Marit de Jong (RUG faculty of Arts)