Empowering communities with data: Role of data intermediaries for communities' data utilization

Abstract

Data have significant potential to address current societal problems not only at the federal and state levels, but also in smaller communities, in neighborhoods, and in the lives of individuals. While the proposition for this potential is that data are and will be shared with and reused by and for communities at different levels, not all data are not systematically or routinely shared for reuse with communities due to social, structural and technical infrastructure barriers. Data intermediary organizations can play a significant role in removing existing barriers while unlocking the potential of data for all, particularly for communities with limited human or financial resources, limited access to existing data infrastructures, and underserved populations. Considering the significance of the data intermediary organizations on local communities, this study aims to explore the role of intermediaries that usually facilitate community members/organizations’ data utilization. The findings of this study reveal that data intermediary organizations play four major roles that are crucial in communities’ data utilization: (1) democratizing data, (2) adding value to existing data, (3) enhancing communities’ data literacy, and (4) building communities’ data capacity. This study has several important implications to offer a solution to overcome the challenges of data reuse at the local level.