Many organizations are developing policies that reflect a commitment to share data openly and accessibly.

Context

This section contains examples of policies that reflect an organizational-wide commitment to open, accessible sharing. There are not yet any standards for these policies, so we’ve provided several for your consideration

Choices/Tradeoffs

Not all organizations seek a single approach to information sharing. Such organizations don’t usually develop or share policies regarding their choices. Nonprofits and foundations that are actively trying to share their materials and data as widely as possible face different challenges in doing so. Sometimes the challenges come from outside – such as publishing incentives for university researchers. In other cases, the challenges arise when a new policy needs to account for actions taken in the past. Still another approach is to base your policy in a particular value frame, such as “rights-based” framework. All of these policies pay attention to changes over time.

Related Documents

Open Access Policy
Outlines an organization’s goal of making its material easily available .
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Data Policy – Rights-Based Organization
Outlines data collection and use from a human rights perspective. Provides a description at each stage of the data lifecycle.
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