Actually Accessible Data: An Update and a Call to Action
As funder, journal, and disciplinary norms and mandates have foregrounded obligations of data sharing and opportunities for data reuse, the need to plan for and curate data sets that can reach researchers and end-users with disabilities has become even more urgent. We begin by exploring the disabili...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Iowa State University Digital Press
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/article/id/15449/ |
| _version_ | 1797222114677227520 |
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| author | Abigail Goben Randy D. Colón Sebastian Karcher |
| author_facet | Abigail Goben Randy D. Colón Sebastian Karcher |
| author_sort | Abigail Goben |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As funder, journal, and disciplinary norms and mandates have foregrounded obligations of data sharing and opportunities for data reuse, the need to plan for and curate data sets that can reach researchers and end-users with disabilities has become even more urgent. We begin by exploring the disability studies literature, describing the need for advocacy and representation of disabled scholars as data creators, subjects, and users. We then survey the landscape of data repositories, curation guidelines, and research-data-related standards, finding little consideration of accessibility for people with disabilities. We suggest three sets of minimal good practices for moving toward truly accessible research data: 1) ensuring Web accessibility for data repositories; 2) ensuring accessibility of common text formats, including those used in documentation; and 3) enhancement of visual and audiovisual materials. We point to some signs of progress in regard to truly accessible data by highlighting exemplary practices by repositories, standards, and data professionals. Accessibility needs to become a mainstream component of curation practice included in every training, manual, and primer. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:16:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8c79f3c69e1b415fbaf7b60566a11f7e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2162-3309 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:16:11Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | Iowa State University Digital Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication |
| spelling | doaj.art-8c79f3c69e1b415fbaf7b60566a11f7e2024-04-04T17:35:24ZengIowa State University Digital PressJournal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication2162-33092023-08-0111110.31274/jlsc.15449Actually Accessible Data: An Update and a Call to ActionAbigail Goben0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6520-3648Randy D. Colón1Sebastian Karcher2University of Illinois ChicagoDisability Studies, University of Illinois, ChicagoQualitative Data Repository, Syracuse UniversityAs funder, journal, and disciplinary norms and mandates have foregrounded obligations of data sharing and opportunities for data reuse, the need to plan for and curate data sets that can reach researchers and end-users with disabilities has become even more urgent. We begin by exploring the disability studies literature, describing the need for advocacy and representation of disabled scholars as data creators, subjects, and users. We then survey the landscape of data repositories, curation guidelines, and research-data-related standards, finding little consideration of accessibility for people with disabilities. We suggest three sets of minimal good practices for moving toward truly accessible research data: 1) ensuring Web accessibility for data repositories; 2) ensuring accessibility of common text formats, including those used in documentation; and 3) enhancement of visual and audiovisual materials. We point to some signs of progress in regard to truly accessible data by highlighting exemplary practices by repositories, standards, and data professionals. Accessibility needs to become a mainstream component of curation practice included in every training, manual, and primer.https://www.iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/article/id/15449/digital accessibilityFAIR dataresearch data |
| spellingShingle | Abigail Goben Randy D. Colón Sebastian Karcher Actually Accessible Data: An Update and a Call to Action Journal of Librarianship and Scholarly Communication digital accessibility FAIR data research data |
| title | Actually Accessible Data: An Update and a Call to Action |
| title_full | Actually Accessible Data: An Update and a Call to Action |
| title_fullStr | Actually Accessible Data: An Update and a Call to Action |
| title_full_unstemmed | Actually Accessible Data: An Update and a Call to Action |
| title_short | Actually Accessible Data: An Update and a Call to Action |
| title_sort | actually accessible data an update and a call to action |
| topic | digital accessibility FAIR data research data |
| url | https://www.iastatedigitalpress.com/jlsc/article/id/15449/ |
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