Segment

Minutes

What happens

Why it matters

5

The number one problem, and data that disappear

Part 1 · The data life cycle

6

Eight stages, eight decisions, file names and metadata

Part 2 · FAIR and CARE

8

Why FAIR is not open, and who governs tribal data

Part 3 · Plans, repositories, licenses

9

The 2026 NIH and NSF formats, where data go, which license

Wrap-up

2

Five takeaways

Discussion

20

Draft the NIH 2026 plan for a two-site study

1

If you gave your data to a colleague unfamiliar with your project, could they make sense of it?

2

If you returned to your own data in five years, would you understand it?

3

Which federal dataset does your project depend on, and where is your copy?

5 FEB 2025

EJScreen removed

EPA takes its environmental-justice screening tool off its website.

SAME WEEKS

203 CDC datasets

Go offline until a court orders them restored.

COMMUNITY

Mirrors fill the gap

Public Environmental Data Partners, Harvard LIL data.gov archive, Data Rescue Project.

SEPT 2026

Still absent

EJScreen is still not back on epa.gov.

ARIZONA

Tailings, tissue, biomass

Arsenic in 50 tailings samples, lung tissue images, phytoremediation biomass. Would they know the units, the detection limits, and which sample came from which site?

NEW MEXICO

Water, wells, a survey

Uranium, arsenic and vanadium water chemistry on Navajo Nation, well screening, an NNHRRB-approved survey. Would they know which records may never leave the community that owns them?

01

Plan

Data, formats, storage, access. Write the plan.

02

Collect

Naming and folders set before the first sample.

03

Assure

Flag missing, estimated and questionable values.

04

Describe

Metadata to a standard, people with ORCID.

05

Preserve

Repository with a persistent ID. Backup is not preservation.

06

Discover

Findable via re3data, Dataset Search, DataCite.

07

Integrate

Never assume two columns mean the same thing.

08

Analyze

Notebooks, version control, recorded versions.

Site codes, not coordinates

Site codes in filenames, never GPS coordinates or household IDs

Metadata to a standard

DataCite for datasets, ISO 19115-1 for spatial, MIxS for environmental samples

What metadata holds

Dataset, people with ORCID, context, variables and units, quality, access terms

F

Findable

A persistent identifier (DOI), rich metadata, a searchable registry.

A

Accessible

Retrievable by a standard protocol; metadata stay available even when data are restricted.

I

Interoperable

Standard formats (CSV, NetCDF, GeoTIFF; GeoParquet, COG, Zarr) and shared vocabularies.

R

Reusable

A clear license, documented provenance, community standards.

Human subjects data

Can be FAIR and access-controlled

Endangered species locations

Findable in metadata, not accessible

Data collected on Navajo Nation

FAIR to the Nation and its chapters; everyone else is governed by NNHRRB conditions, with a metadata-only public record

C

Collective benefit

Data serve the community's development, governance and equitable outcomes.

A

Authority to control

Indigenous peoples govern their data.

R

Responsibility

Researchers build relationships and capacity.

E

Ethics

Minimize harm, maximize benefit, consider future use.

BEFORE COLLECTION

Approve and resolve

NNHRRB approves the protocol; the affected chapter passes a supporting resolution.

DURING

The Nation owns the data

Stored and governed under the research agreement.

BEFORE ANY RELEASE

Final Report and Dissemination Plan

NNHRRB approves both before sharing in any form: preprints, talks, deposits.

ARIZONA

Public, with care for plots

Arsenic and phytoremediation data from state land go to Zenodo or EDI with a DOI and CC BY; coordinates of plots that could be looted are generalized.

NEW MEXICO

Findable, under community control

Well-water and biomonitoring data stay in tribally controlled storage or the Native BioData Consortium, with a metadata-only record and a Local Contexts Notice.

Funder

What the plan is now

NIH

Due on or after 25 May 2026: Yes/No sharing commitments, a 300-word justification for any limitation, a 100-word table of data types and repositories. Compliance reported in RPPR C.5.c from 1 October 2026.

NSF

A two-page Data Management and Sharing Plan via a Research.gov webform since 27 April 2026; data underlying publications shared at publication; PIDs and minimum metadata.

Superfund Research Program

A Data Management and Analysis Core (DMAC) is mandatory for every P42 center. Budget its time and repository fees.

COMMITMENTS

Yes / No

For each data type: will it be shared? Every No must be explained.

JUSTIFICATION

300 words

The only free text. Use it for consent scope, tribal data governance, site-location sensitivity.

TABLE

100 words

Data types paired with repositories.

Data

Repository

Toxicology and biomarkers

NIEHS CEBS, SRP Tox Data Commons; dbGaP for human subjects (controlled access)

Environmental chemistry and geospatial

EDI, DataONE, EPA Science Inventory; Zenodo for large spectroscopy files

Anything, from your institution

UA ReDATA; UNM Digital Repository; Dryad (UNM member, no fee)

Tribal community data

Tribally controlled storage or the Native BioData Consortium; a metadata-only record elsewhere

RESEARCH DATA

CC0

No restrictions. Maximizes reuse and integration.

RESEARCH DATA

CC BY

Attribution required.

AVOID

NC licenses

Non-commercial terms block integration and reuse.

NOT YOURS TO CHOOSE

Tribal data

The research agreement and review board set the terms. Publish metadata with a Local Contexts Notice instead.

1 · Plan early

Data management starts before data collection

2 · FAIR is not open

A framework that needs interpretation, not a mandate to publish everything

3 · CARE

Authority sits with the community: on Navajo Nation, the NNHRRB and the chapter decide

4 · Short formats

The 2026 plans reward honest, specific answers; budget the DMAC

5 · Preserve

Federal datasets can vanish: keep and cite your own copy

SITE A · STATE LAND

Arizona mine tailings

ICP-MS for arsenic and metals; plant tissue from phytoremediation plots; quarterly hyperspectral drone imagery; a weather station; GPS site data. Public by publication; some plot locations may need restriction against looting.

SITE B · NAVAJO NATION

Abandoned uranium mine

Well and livestock water ICP-MS for U, As, V; dust wipes and gamma spectrometry; urine biomonitoring; a household survey. The Nation owns the data; chapter resolution first; NNHRRB approves any release; household locations never public.

1 · YES / NO

Commitments

For each data type, will it be shared? Which answers are No, and why?

2 · 300 WORDS

Justification

In bullets: what goes in it for Site B, and for the Site A plot locations?

3 · 100 WORDS

The table

Data type to repository: Zenodo? EDI? Tox Data Commons? Tribally controlled storage with a metadata-only record?

Question

Answer

True or false: FAIR data must be openly available to everyone

False. Access can be controlled; the metadata must still be findable and persistent.

Your NIH application is due in October 2026. What does the plan look like?

The NOT-OD-26-046 format: Yes/No commitments, up to 300 words of justification, a 100-word table.

Who decides whether Navajo Nation well-water data go to a public repository?

The Navajo Nation, through the NNHRRB and the chapter. Not the PI, the IRB or the repository.