Exploring the Caribbean in DH: Ethical Re-Use, Disaster Related Data

Ethical Re-use: Disaster Related Data
June 18, 11am-12:30pm EDT
Facilitated by Dr. Schuyler Esprit

The Caribbean is a historically vulnerable region for many reasons, including its relationship to climate and the environment. The region’s experience with extreme disasters – from the magnitude 7earthquake in Haiti to Category 5 hurricanes barrelling through many countries’ and now the eruption of the volcano at St. Vincent’s La Soufriere – and with public health threats, including Chikungunya, Dengue fever, Zika and now COVID-19, is well documented. As a result of the frequency and intensity of these events, the region’s history of disasters is now a major focus of Caribbean Studies research. DLOC data becomes valuable for contextualizing our current moment through the lens of the Caribbean’s sociopolitical and environmental history. This workshop aims to reflect on the theories and praxis of research and data use, and to think through best practices for navigating data about disaster.

The workshop will address some key topics including:

• Urgency of preserving and using digital resources in our current moment, amid climate, COVID, etc.
• Need for not just accessibility, but also equity in distribution and representation
• Fragility of solutions for access, even when they appear equitable, framed around the question, “Can the people who need dLOC the most actually access it?”
• Questions of ownership beyond copyright and location of resources. Questions of ownership of narrative and story: is the analysis and storytelling emerging from use of these resources ethical, i.e. honoring those represented in the archives?

To register, please click here: REGISTER.