Data for Indigenous Implementations Interventions and Innovation (D4I) presents a Tribal Data Repository (TDR).
Our Tribal Data Repository (TDR) was built by a group of Indigenous academics and Tribes in order to protect / create / enact Tribal Data Sovereignty. In our TDR, participating Tribes and Indigenous people have access to and management of their data. Our repository is culturally responsive and a trustworthy digital and policy infrastructure that safeguards Indigenous data.
The historic lack of respect for Tribal Nations’ rights for participatory governance in past research and data collection has moved this team to do something about it and create a new path forward.
Our repository is created by and for Indigenous Peoples. We want responsible data sharing and management practices for Tribally derived data. This project originated from the need to store Indigenous Common Data Elements from the National Institute of Health’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics - Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) COVID-19.
Participating Tribes can direct the terms on which their data is used, and by whom. Their needs and goals are accommodated on their terms. They may choose to use their data specifically or take a collective approach with other Tribal communities if and when it serves them to do so.
Furthermore, our team provides education and research capacity for Tribal use. Our communities have historically received this from external sources due to a lack of technical expertise, research infrastructure, and colonial extraction. The D4I team is expanding ongoing efforts to train our Tribal members and representatives in data management and analytics to develop our own future with data sovereignty.
