Making Data Right: Embedding Ethics and Data Management in Data Science Instruction

Abstract

Learning how to wield data ethically and responsibly is a critical skill for data scientists, but one that is often lacking from traditional curriculum. Libraries have a long history of teaching data stewardship and sharing, and, in collaboration with collegiate research support entities, are good candidates to expose students engaging in data science to data ethics. This chapter presents four case studies on how the University of Minnesota Libraries and its partners have deeply integrated ethics into data management instruction. The chapter will highlight ethics for general data management instruction to undergraduate and graduate students from various disciplines, human subject data de-identification, qualitative methods and sharing, and biodiversity location data. Together, the case studies show how libraries and their partners are a natural fit to advance the work of data science curricula when it comes to managing data and the myriad ethical considerations that go along with this work.