PhD Fellow: Architecture for data sharing is anything but smooth and seamless 

Regulation and policy papers on data sharing often paints a picture of clean and seamless transfer of data to the enlightenment and benefit of everyone involved. In reality, the process of creating interoperability between data systems is both dirty and ugly. 

“It is imagined that the new data architectures create a new beginning, where data movements are unhindered. But because every data architecture is dependent on older infrastructure created to suit other specific purposes, we see friction and tensions,” said Srijan Butola, a newly started PhD Fellow at the Department of Science Education. 

“A data architecture does not just fall from the sky. It’s the result of a negotiation between a multitude of ideas and interests, that can crystallise differently in the design. If we look beyond the purely technical aspects of the data architecture, we can see the underlying politics.” 

Over the next three years, Srijan Butola will research the data infrastructures used when health data needs to be shared. Not from the technical perspective, which already receives much focus, but with a view towards the people who develop and work with the data infrastructure and the historical context embedded within them.  

“In the technical understanding, we see data architectures as models with particular logics, structures, and qualities, which are considered standard. But there is very little investigation into how these standards come about and why one standard prevails over another,” said Srijan Butola. 

Far reaching consequences 

Besides the historical context shaping the data architecture, you also must be mindful of the ripple effects the new architecture might create.  

“In Denmark, we have CPR numbers, which started as a tax number, and subsequently have been built into all systems and have evolved to be the most important piece of personal data we have.” said Srijan Butola.  

“This affects how these architectures are conceived and how they function. Today, you need your CPR number to get phone service. You have to consider the consequences of the data architecture – also a long time after, the project has ended.” 

Srijan Butola hopes his research will help bridge the gap between the philosophy of science, technology, and society studies. Additionally, he hopes that people working in the data infrastructure field can gain a better understanding of some of the friction they experience. 

“I want to talk to them about how they can better understand the resistance and how they can be sensitive to the political dimensions in the architecture. I believe this will help them understand the purpose of the architecture they are working with.” 

Understanding Friction 

Some of the resistance to data sharing stems from the emotions involved in relinquishing control when data, for example, needs to be shared across borders. 

Where databases might be seen as merely an organised collection of information, for the owners of the database, they are like digital Japanese gardens, meticulously tended and nurtured over generations. 

“There are researchers who feel enormous national pride in the databases they are responsible for,” said Srijan Butola. 

“These are databases that have been perfected through decades of data collection. And this creates an attachment that the database owners cannot relinquish without a sense of loss.” 

A Practice Passed Down 

Resistance to transitioning to a common standard can seem arbitrary—for example, when it comes to how a database owner customarily names elements. 

“You cannot view data as mere data. It is part of a practice that is passed down within institutions. And this creates an affective and emotional dimension in our relationship with data,” said Srijan Butola. 

There are researchers who feel enormous national pride in the databases they are responsible for.

According to Srijan Butola, we should not glorify this attachment to data. But it must be respected. 

“The COVID pandemic showed very clearly that we need to share data,” he said. 

“But the point is that if you only view data architecture from a technical angle, you only see the information it carries at this moment. You do not see the attachment that exists, and the sense of loss felt in the transition from one infrastructure to another.” 

Understanding interoperability 

As part of the EU-funded research project DataSpace, Srijan Butola's research will draw from the European efforts to better utilise health data collectively. 

This is exemplified by the EU-HIP project, which, with the IT platform HERA, aims to create interoperability between national systems. But getting the national systems to work together involves much more than common data standards, said Srijan Butola. 

“The individual countries are not just going to abandon the practices they have had until now and switch to an EU standard without question, so what does interoperability mean? Does it mean that we have some kind of interpreter between the national and European systems? Or will some follow the EU standard while others do not?”