Professional work in an era of FAIR data sharing: vulnerabilities, negotiations and sacrifice

Purpose This study aims to examine cultural and social issues that influence the work of professionals using open, digital data. The growth in open data is significantly changing how some professionals work, engendering changes in professional practice, knowledge and identity. While it is recognised that the integration of open data offers benefits, the new associations of humans with data and digital technologies generate a range of cultural and social barriers related to identity, agency, practice and knowledge. These changes intensify the need for forms of workplace learning that open opportunities for professionals not only to learn new skills and knowledge but also to negotiate how they adapt to changes they face. Design/methodology/approach The research is designed in two stages. Firstly, co-laborative ethnography (Bieler et al., 2021) is used to examine cultural and social issues by research professionals facing increasing demands for data sharing, expressed as vulnerabilities. This methodology combined document analysis, semi-structured interviews, participant observation, group discussions and interactive workshops to engage closely with participants and their experiences. Secondly, co-design methodology was used to design forms of professional learning to address these vulnerabilities. Representatives of professional communities engaged in a workshop to co-design ways to address these barriers by reflecting on the benefits of using open data and thinking about what might be sacrificed to achieve these benefits. Findings Thematic analysis identified vulnerabilities: uncertainty around leadership support, concerns about inadequacy, anxiety about lack of recognition and fear of losing control. Professional learning co-designed by community representatives ranged from a Community of Practice for culture change; peer support to address concerns of inadequacy; a workshop to rethink roles; structured learning to encourage engagement in new ways of working. These learning designs were analysed through lenses of human vulnerability, agency, benefits and sacrifice to identify whether the activities designed extend beyond learning new skills and knowledge towards enabling professionals to negotiate the social and cultural challenges they experience at work. Research limitations/implications The authors acknowledge several limitations of this work. Firstly, the interviews and thematic analysis used to identify the cultural challenges is limited by sampling, what participants are willing to say and the interpretation of the researchers. As outlined in the method section, the authors took steps to minimise these problems. Secondly, the analysis involved data collected from a range of different participants representing diverse epistemic cultures, creating difficulties in interpretation of terms and language. As far as possible, the authors asked domain experts for help with interpretation. Thirdly, the communities they worked with in the co-design process represent a small number of disciplines and are not representative of every epistemic domain. So, they recognise the limitations of generalising the findings. Nevertheless, there are high-level implications for research communities that can broadly be interpreted. Practical implications Through this work, the authors produced an applied learning framework which is intended to be used as a template on which professional communities can rethink and plan how to supported professionals overcome cultural challenges as part of their work and learning. The Framework highlights the discreet stages that should be taken into consideration to achieve this goal. Social implications Use and reuse of shared FAIR data leads to greater interdisciplinary. As new ways of working are introduced, to address these tensions, new identities need to be reflected upon in a reflexive way and negotiated at the intersection of the individual and the collective. Originality/value The growth in open, digital data is changing how some professionals work, transforming professional practice, knowledge and identity. These new identities sometimes are in conflict with previous identifies and values. Therefore, it is important that professionals are able to navigate with these changing identities, tension and vulnerabilities that may develop by negotiating ways forward. This means that professional learning needs to extend beyond knowledge, skills and competencies to include (re)negotiation of culture, identities and ways of working.