Data Galaxy, a startup seeking to tackle the issue of data governance in large companies, recently held a workshop on best practices in this emerging field. As organizations create, purchase, and make decisions based on more data than ever before, proper governance of that data is critical for success.

Data governance refers to the overall management and oversight of data in a company to ensure quality, security, and compliance with regulations. For modern data-driven organizations, a strong governance program can help with:

• Increased reliability and quality: with reliable governance protocols in place, teams can trust that data is clean, accurate, and standardized across systems. Crucial for analytics and decision making.
• Enhanced security and compliance: comprehensive governance helps safeguard sensitive data from unauthorized access or theft. Also ensures privacy regulations are met.
• Better decision making: with governance maximizing data quality and access, leaders can feel more confident basing strategic choices on available data.

While the workshop was focused on the corporate context, I saw opportunities to apply these practices more broadly across sectors. The corporate priorities around efficiency and growth are distinct from the aims of academic digital humanities projects, i.e. Indigenous cultures in Difficult Heritage and the Complexities of Indigenous Data.” In the latter governance not only ensures data quality, but also upholds ethical research standards and community participation in decisions. There is divergence in both the goals and stakes. However, the workshop spurred consideration about how data governance programs could aid industries – both corporate and academic – if tailored appropriately to the context.

It also led me to consider how data best practices could produce reciprocal benefit if documented and shared across industries. Corporations could adopt more thoughtful community and ethical models for data collection. Meanwhile, academics could learn from efficient private sector data management to improve conservation and access. Overall, governance remains crucial wherever data informs important decisions – but its practice may differ across industries. By learning from each other, better standards can emerge sector-wide.