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Paper short abstract

We examine how the temporalities of biodata are constructed in policy, critically discussing the futures that are imagined, the ways in which the limits of data storage are defined, and the circumstances under which data storage may end.

Paper long abstract

Data repositories and knowledge bases are now central to research in the life sciences. These forms of data storage (collectively termed biodata resources) include well-known knowledge bases such as UniProtKB, but also a wide range of biodatabases and repositories of varying sizes and visibility. These resources are framed as enabling data-intensive research methods, supporting long-term reuse and traceability of research outputs, and allowing researchers to meet open access mandates. As such, there is increasing emphasis on ensuring their ‘sustainability’. Within this expanding patchwork of biodata resources, however, temporal aspects of data storage remain strikingly undefined: how long data should persist, what level of preservation is desirable, and at what point deaccession can become legitimate. 

This project explores these dimensions by examining how the temporalities of biodata are constructed in coordination efforts from bodies such as the Global Biodata Coalition and ELIXIR. We present an analysis of empirical materials from these bodies that lay out the process of selecting ‘core’ resources - those deemed especially important to sustain. In doing so, we identify assumptions about the temporality of data lifecycles, collection, use and preservation, and critically discuss the futures that are imagined, the ways in which the limits of data storage are defined, and the circumstances under which data storage may end. By bringing together STS sensibilities with approaches from archival studies, we suggest that it is important to examine not just what data storage is represented as being for, but when those uses are imagined.