Data Sharing Agreement

Our intention is to make this project data and model open for future use in research and applications.

While we are sharing data, we want everyone to take responsibility for their own use, and understand that no individual or institution who have contributed to this project in current or past work, is liable for the use of the data and model.

When individual public institutions develop public data products, access to that data historically follows a formal request process (based on the Freedom of Information Act FOIA). When a public institution receives such a request, they deliver that data with disclosures and disclaimers that ensure the data user is aware that they are using the data 'at their own risk'.

When the University of Washington makes an individual agreements with a private or public entity, we do not need to include these notifications and disclosures, because they are implicit in the individual contracts.

However, in the case of continual improvement of the Skagit DHSMV research model with interactive data products, there are multiple institutions building individual contracts to build a collective product.

When this data is made public outside of the FOIA process (on HydroShare, Github, etc.), extending the data sharing and use outside of the individual contracts, our institutions need to include a data use agreement, e.g. our data sharing agreement, to ensure that all future data users are made aware that they take on all risks and responsibilities for the use of the data.

Further, the data use agreement ensures that if a new data user builds on the product, that the result of their work is also made public.

We are implementing this process using a software feature on the HydroShare collaborative web platform. When published data is downloaded, the user must check a box confirming that they agree to this data use agreement.

Link to pdf of Skagit DHSVM Glacio-hydrology Model Data Use Agreement