Critical FAIRness

Exploring open research data (ORD) in art and design is essential to the transdisciplinary discourse and development of open research data. “Critical FAIRness” is an experimental study that investigates questions of “accessibility” and “re-use” in regard to research data in the fields of art and design. The project aspires to define methods and techniques to generate ORD – findable, accessible, interoperable, and re-useable information collected, observed, generated, or created in a research process.

Drawing on ongoing SNSF research projects from the Critical Media Lab at the FHNW Academy of Art & Design Basel, the project explores the status and significance of data in practice-based research in art and design. It further experiments with different modes and methods of sharing and re-using and defines publishing processes for data of selected research projects. This case study-based approach was designed to engage hands-on with the needs of researchers in the field, to unearth field-specific issues linked to ORD, and hence foster the implementation of sustainable ORD practices in art and design in dialog with the producers of data.

The project will be developed in a series of workshops and concludes with a closing symposium presenting best practice case studies and recommendations for standards of ORD practices in art and design. A publication will document the project’s results and disseminate them to peer communities in art and design.