About the Case Studies
In 2024, the Open Environmental Data Project (OEDP) launched an open call for participation in a workshopping space for community partners to work through environmental data governance questions and challenges. We partnered with three communities that were collecting environmental data, each situated in a distinct social and environmental context, and conducted workshops to identify and co-design governance solutions. Emelia Williams (OEDP) worked alongside Kate Wing (Intertidal Agency) to design and facilitate planning meetings, workshops, resources, and debriefs with each community partner.
The following three case studies delve into the collaborations we had with our community partners: Self-Help Enterprises in California’s Central Valley, Community Health Aligning Revitalization Resilience and Sustainability (CHARRS) in Atlanta, Georgia, and CoAct in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
See below for a breakdown of each case study:
| Self-Help Enterprises | CHARRS | CoAct | |
| Geographic scope | San Joaquin Valley, California | Atlanta, Georgia | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Type of data collected | Water level and water quality data from private wells | Air quality data | Observational data about water quality, biodiversity, and redevelopment |
| Type of organization | Medium-sized non-profit | Small non-profit | Collaboration between university researchers and legal non-profit |
| Challenges/Goals | - Building trust with communities - Standardizing co-ownership with participants - Sharing data responsibly with government, researchers, and the public |
- Opening up data access safely and effectively - Sharing data responsibly with government, researchers, and the public - Interoperability and data analysis |
- Communicating data governance with non-academic partners and the public - Reaching agreement between diverse stakeholders - Bolstering their data governance framework to withstand changing political or social conditions |