ADVANCING ETHICAL OPEN SCIENCE PRACTICES IN PALEOECOLOGY AND ZOOARCHAEOLOGY

Quaternary scientists have long been at the forefront of advancing open data for global biodiversity research, via efforts to assemble and share data on fossil occurrences, taxonomies, traits, and stratigraphic/age position. Through time, however, the paleodata ecosystem has become increasingly complex, spurred on by rapid growth in the volume and variety of data curated by open community-curated data resources. Because of this complexity, data resources differ in their degree of adoption (or knowledge) of common data standards, and researchers face knowledge barriers in understanding how or where to best contribute or access data of different types. Additionally, many scientific practices, including primary data curation, carry legacies of past and present colonialism that lead to inequities in data access, data distribution, and data governance. Recent work has urged particular attention to Indigenous data sovereignty and governance rights, e.g. as advanced by the CARE Principles and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance. In response, a network of Quaternary paleoecological and archaeological data resources, called the Ethical Open Science for Past Global Change Data (https://eos-rcn.github.io/web/home), has launched to advance technological and cultural practices to these key priorities: building data systems that can link and aggregate dispersed, heterogeneous datasets, while also establishing cultural norms and workforce expertise to support ethical open data sharing and reuse within a scientific ecosystem of data managers (informaticists, information scientists, and data curators) and disciplinary practitioners (data contributors and data users). We have focused efforts in four areas: community building and reflection, improving interoperability, repository governance, and outreach and education. In particular, we have used this network to explore the ethical dimensions of open data, build new partnerships and engagement tools, engage in self-reflection as individuals and data repositories, and take first steps towards refining practices aimed at advancing both FAIR and CARE principles in our data resources. We hope that these efforts will support and cross-pollinate with similar efforts by other scientists and resource leaders interested in advancing open, ethical data and science.