Situated Data: Feminist Epistemology and Data Curation

Open science seeks to improve the reliability of science by making it possible to share tools and products of research, including data, more readily. Data sharing is said to promote scientific transparency, maximize the value of federal research support, create opportunities for reanalysis and reuse, discourage fraud, and provide a means for reproducibility and replication, indicators of objectivity in high-stakes science. I propose “situated data” as a framework for critical data practice. By connecting feminist epistemology to data curation, I provide a frame for understanding data sharing as a critical library practice with the potential for engaging a wider range of knowers in scientific knowledge production and producing better, more objective, and more just accounts of the world.