Balancing Open Science and Data Privacy in the Water Sciences

Zipper, Samuel C.; Stack Whitney, Kaitlin; Deines, Jillian M.; Befus, Kevin M.; Bhatia, Udit; Albers, Sam J.; Beecher, Janice; Brelsford, Christa; Garcia, Margaret; Gleeson, Tom; O'Donnell, Frances; Resnik, David; Schlager, Edella

doi:10.1029/2019WR025080

Title: Balancing Open Science and Data Privacy in the Water Sciences

Journal Article · 22 May 2019 · Water Resources Research

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR025080 · OSTI ID:1559690

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Univ. of Victoria, BC (Canada)
Rochester Inst. of Technology, Rochester, NY (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States)
Northeastern Univ., Boston, MA (United States); Indian Inst. of Technology, Gandhinagar (India)
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, British Columbia Provincial Government, Victoria, BC (Canada)
Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States)
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Auburn Univ., AL (United States)
National Inst. of Health (NIH), Triangle Park, NC (United States)
Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)

Open science practices such as publishing data and code are transforming water science by enabling synthesis and enhancing reproducibility. However, as research increasingly bridges the physical and social science domains (e.g., socio-hydrology), there is the potential for well-meaning researchers to unintentionally violate the privacy and security of individuals or communities by sharing sensitive information. Here we identify the contexts in which privacy violations are most likely to occur, such as working with high-resolution spatial data (e.g., from remote sensing), consumer data (e.g., from smart meters), and/or digital trace data (e.g., from social media). We also suggest practices for identifying and addressing privacy concerns at the individual, institutional, and disciplinary levels. We strongly advocate that the water science community continue moving toward open science and socio-environmental research and that progress toward these goals be rooted in open and ethical data management.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1559690

Journal Information:: Water Resources Research, Journal Name: Water Resources Research Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 55; ISSN 0043-1397

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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