A collaborative platform for open metadata built on intersectional and inclusive practices of ethical data governance.

CIVIC Data Library of Context is a project of Civic Software Foundation, a nonprofit organization that creates technology and supports applied practices that promote equity and democratic values. Our vision is to demonstrate the power and potential of collaborative systems, owned entirely in the public interest.

In June 2020, CIVIC led a cohort of 36 people from around the world inspired by the publication of Data Feminism, by Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren Klein. Specifically, the focus of this workshop had a goal to translate concepts from a chapter entitled "The Numbers Don't Speak for Themselves" and imagine what it could look like to bring structured context from theory into a collective practice at scale.

The outcomes from the Structured Context Cohort laid the foundation for schemas and frameworks included in CIVIC's methodology for Context Aware Systems represent aspects of research and the work of many brilliant people, as well as our own experiences and case studies.

You'll see members of the original cohort now as members of our organizational staff and leaders in our CIVIC Data Library of Context program. We're thrilled for the culmination of this work to be presented later this year, and invite participation of new collaborators and partners to learn from and co-create with our team as we continue to actualize intersectional principles of ethical governance through living technology forms.

If you'd like to get involved, applications are now open for our Emergent Lab for Context Aware Systems.