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Communities Empowered by Data 101: Tools and Best Practices In-Person / Online
Community-led data practices empower and support community-led grassroots actions and initiatives. Data are valuable and we need to work together to take care of them, from the initial planning stages of a project to where it lives after the work is complete. In this 101-level session, we’ll introduce the Community Research Data Toolkit—a new Pressbook filled with guidance and resources to support communities in taking an active role in data management. Topics include using data management plans as tools for building trust, exploring options for long-term community-held data, and more. Following an interactive overview, we'll save some time to workshop challenges and possibilities through a set of applicable case studies.
Participants will learn to:
- Summarize RDM best practices and what Data Management Plans and Data Deposit look like in community-based research
- Locate available tools, training, and guidance
- Appraise the tools and prepare to implement Community control for data in your work.
This session is designed for non-profits, activists, community organizations, and the researchers and data professionals who work with them!
Details: This workshop will be recorded. The recording will be posted to the Sherman Centre's Online Learning Catalogue.
Facilitator Bio:
Danica Evering holds broad experience with research support, education, project management, advocacy, and knowledge translation; with fluency in social practice art, healthcare, community research, data, and systems development. Danica supports students, postdocs, faculty, and staff with RDM through the data lifecycle—Data Management Plans, storage and backup, data security, data sharing. With an MA in Media Studies from Concordia, they are interested in fostering RDM within curious scholars and disciplines.
Isaac Pratt (he/him) is a research scientist by training and has a PhD in Anatomy & Cell Biology. He leverages nearly a decade of interdisciplinary research experience to help support students, staff, and faculty. His expertise lies in questions surrounding data storage, security, planning, archival, and sharing. Isaac also provides support and curation services for McMaster Dataverse. His other interests include reproducible research methods, open science, and data science.
Subhanya Sivajothy (she/her) brings a background of research in data justice, science and technology studies, and environmental humanities. She is currently thinking through participatory data design which allow for visualizations that are empowering for the end user.
- Date:
- Thursday, February 19, 2026
- Time:
- 12:00pm - 1:00pm
- Time Zone:
- Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)
- Location:
- Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship (1st Floor, Mills Library)
- Audience:
- Open (McMaster + Community)
- Categories:
- New Research Data Management SCDS Sponsored Events Workshops
THE SHERMAN CENTRE FOR DIGITAL SCHOLARSHIP
The Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship (SCDS), located in McMaster University Library, provides consulting, instruction, and technical support to faculty, staff, students, and community members for all aspects of digital scholarship — from teaching and training to research, dissemination, and beyond.
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CODE OF CONDUCT
The Sherman Centre and the McMaster University Library are committed to fostering a supportive and inclusive environment for its presenters and participants. As a participant in this session, you agree to support and help cultivate an experience that is collaborative, respectful, and inclusive, as well as free of harassment, discrimination, and oppression. We reserve the right to remove participants who exhibit harassing, malicious or persistently disruptive behaviour. Please refer to our code of conduct webpage for more information.
Event Organizer
Danica Evering is a Research Data Management Specialist grounded in curiosity and a deep commitment to ethics. They braid together broad fluency in social practice art, healthcare, community research, data, and systems development to provide comprehensive RDM services. Danica is available to help students, postdocs, faculty, and staff with RDM through the data lifecycle—Data Management Plans, storage and backup, data security, data sharing. Danica fosters active interest in research data management across disciplines, with a knack for engaging researchers who might not even realize they have data to manage. Outside of work they sing in a choir, play PC games, maintain an art writing practice, grow a garden, contribute Wikipedia articles, and run.
Isaac Pratt is a Research Data Management Specialist. Isaac holds a PhD in Anatomy & Cell Biology, and has research experience is in biomedical science and social science, specifically in Physics, Biological Anthropology, and Anatomy. He is available to help with any RDM related questions including data management planning, data storage & backup, data security, and data deposit and sharing. Isaac is a member of MREB and can help with questions about data management for ethics and sensitive data.
The Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship supports McMaster students, faculty, and staff, as well as anyone curious about digital scholarship. From research and teaching to training and technical support, we’re here to help bring digital projects to life at every stage!
Send us an Email
View our Website
Book a Consultation
Subscribe to the SCDS Newsletter