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# GLOBALISE Ethics Policy

**Date:** December 18, 2023
**Date:** February, 2024
**Version:** 1.0

[TOC]



## I. Introduction

This policy document governs and guides GLOBALISE’s work and ethos. We created it because we believe that articulating our values and obligations to one another reinforces the respect and care among the team and in our work. Having a policy also provides us with clear avenues to correct our culture should it ever stray from course.

We openly share this policy document to contribute to the ongoing conversation about inclusion in academia and the ethics of artificial intelligence. We encourage others to adapt and utilise it.


This is a living document which we will revisit and revise. We encourage anyone with inquiries or a desire to discuss it to [reach out to us](https://globalise.huygens.knaw.nl/contact-us/). Your input and engagement are welcomed and valued.


## II. Mission Statement

GLOBALISE is an infrastructure project dedicated to enhancing the way we access and understand the archives of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). This infrastructural endeavour aims to unveil interactions between European stakeholders and, more crucially, non-European entities, operating within and around the VOC’s ‘empire’. By doing so, GLOBALISE will shed new light on the mechanisms of early globalisation, colonialism, and their formative and enduring impact on regions stretching from Europe, especially the Netherlands, to the vast expanses of the Indian Ocean and Indonesian Archipelago.
GLOBALISE is an infrastructure project dedicated to enhancing the way we access and understand the archives of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). This infrastructural endeavour aims to unveil interactions between European stakeholders and, more crucially, non-European entities, operating within and around the VOC’s 'empire'. By doing so, GLOBALISE will shed new light on the mechanisms of early globalisation, colonialisation, and their formative and enduring impact on regions stretching from Europe, especially the Netherlands, to the vast expanses of the Indian Ocean and Indonesian Archipelago.

Our mission can be encapsulated in the following core commitments:

**1. Enhancing Accessibility** At its core, GLOBALISE is committed to making a substantial segment of the VOC archives not just accessible, but contextually relevant to audiences worldwide. Through this project, history enthusiasts, researchers, and the global community will gain an unprecedented level of insight into the VOC's expansive influence and interactions. This objective will be achieved by transforming the archives into digitised and searchable text using handwritten text recognition. Additionally, GLOBALISE will employ historic and semantic contextualisation to enhance research possibilities and allow for richer representations of history. And finally it will develop versatile interfaces, designed to cater to a diverse range of users.

1. **Enhancing Accessibility** At its core, GLOBALISE is committed to making a substantial segment of the VOC archives not just accessible, but contextually relevant to audiences worldwide. Through this project, history enthusiasts, researchers, and the global community will gain an unprecedented level of insight into the VOC's expansive influence and interactions. This objective will be achieved by transforming the archives into digitised and searchable text using handwritten text recognition. Additionally, GLOBALISE will employ historic and semantic contextualisation to enhance research possibilities and allow for richer representations of history. And finally it will develop versatile interfaces, designed to cater to a diverse range of users.
**2. Linked Open Data** We will model, publish, and host our data as Linked Open Data (LOD), link them to external datasets and thesauri, and thus facilitate easy re-use of our data, aligning with the FAIR principles and global LOD initiatives in the GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) sector.

2. **Linked Open Data** We will model, publish, and host our data as Linked Open Data (LOD) to promote a holistic comprehension of the materials, link them to external datasets and thesauri, and allow for easy re-use of our data. Our approach connects well with other LOD initiatives in the GLAM sector.
**3. Tools** GLOBALISE will offer a comprehensive suite of open source tools, allowing users to engage with, analyse, and reinterpret historical archives. These tools are designed to support a range of activities, from data creation, annotation, documentation, filtering and visualisation.

3. **Tools** We will provide a suite of open source tools designed for the creation, querying, filtering, visualisation, sharing, annotation, and refinement of project data.
**4. Addressing Power Imbalances and Biases** We acknowledge power imbalances and historical injustices recorded in and accompanying the creation of the VOC archives and actively work towards amplifying marginalised perspectives, supplementing the VOC archives with non-European perspectives to challenge dominant narratives and foster a more comprehensive understanding of (colonial) history.

4. **Addressing Power Imbalances and Biases** We acknowledge power imbalances and historical injustices recorded in and accompanying the creation of the VOC archives and actively work towards amplifying marginalised perspectives, supplementing the VOC archives with non-European perspectives to challenge dominant narratives and foster a more comprehensive understanding of (colonial) history.
**5. Transparency** We believe in being transparent about the origins and frameworks behind data. We are committed to disclosing our methodologies, acknowledging the limitations of our data, and inviting community feedback to ensure our work is grounded in ethical and responsible practices.

5. **Transparency** We believe in being transparent about the origins and frameworks behind data. This means being clear about how data is constructed, understanding its context, and recognizing its limitations. We also invite public participation, embracing approaches like citizen science and feedback.
**6. Free and Open Access** Adhering to the [FAIR](http://go-fair.org) principles, all our resources, software, and data are licensed under [open and permissive licences](https://opensource.org/).

6. **Free and Open Access** We champion free and unrestricted access. Adhering to the [FAIR](http://go-fair.org) principles, all our resources, software, and data are licensed under [open and permissive licence](https://opensource.org/)s.

7. **Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Decolonisation** This commitment extends across all aspects of the project, from the selection of datasets to resource allocation, community engagement, and team composition.
**7. Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Decolonisation** This commitment extends across all aspects of the project, from the selection of datasets to resource allocation, community engagement, and team composition.


## III. Ethics Guidelines

In the GLOBALISE initiative, ethical adherence is a cornerstone throughout the project lifecycle, encompassing work packages, future plans, and governance. Should any aspect fall short of these ethical standards during periodic evaluations, it is imperative to restructure it to conform to the following core principles.
The GLOBALISE initiative places ethical adherence at the forefront throughout its lifecycle, including work packages, future plans, and governance frameworks. Regular evaluations will identify any aspect of the project falling short of these standards, prompting necessary restructuring to align with our ethics guidelines.

**1. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)** GLOBALISE is dedicated to advancing DEI in every part of the project: people, governance, perspectives, datasets, algorithms, and interfaces.
### 1. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
GLOBALISE is dedicated to advancing DEI in every part of the project: people, governance, perspectives, datasets, algorithms, and interfaces.

**Diversity** encompasses a wide range of differences and variations within any given environment or system. Diversity may include variations in not only individual characteristics like ethnicity, age, gender identity, religion, physical abilities and disabilities, cultural background, and education but also extends to encompass differences in ideas, perspectives, datasets, algorithms, infrastructural elements, and any other factors that contribute to the overall complexity and richness of the system in question. Embracing diversity means recognizing, appreciating, and harnessing the breadth and depth of distinctions.
**Diversity** encompasses a wide range of differences and variations within any given environment or system. Diversity may include variations in not only individual characteristics like ethnicity, age, gender identity, religion, physical abilities and disabilities, cultural background, and education but also extends to encompass differences in ideas, perspectives, datasets, algorithms, infrastructural elements, and any other factors that contribute to the overall complexity and richness of the system in question. Embracing diversity means recognizing, appreciating, and harnessing the breadth and depth of distinctions.

**Equity** strives to rectify disparities and create a level playing field for all elements within a system.
**Equity** strives to rectify disparities and create a level playing field for all elements within a system.

**Inclusion** refers to the behaviours, attitudes, and social norms within our project that ensures that there is space for multiple identities, groups and expressions.
**Inclusion** refers to the behaviours, attitudes, and social norms within our project that ensures that there is space for multiple identities, groups and expressions.

The way in which we advance DEI is visible in the following points:

Expand All @@ -63,59 +59,53 @@ The way in which we advance DEI is visible in the following points:

**Documentation** Finally we include all our interventions and strategies to promote DEI in extensive documentation and reports.

2. **Transparency** means open disclosure about our project’s data sources, algorithms, decisions, and governance structures. This entails:

### 2. Transparency
Transparency refers to open disclosure about our project’s data sources, algorithms, decisions, and governance structures. This entails:

**Documentation** of different parts of the GLOBALISE infrastructure to aid transparency and explainability. This includes data cards/sheets for datasets, model cards for NLP models, thesaurus for terminology, reports on stakeholder participation, etc.
**Documentation** of different parts of the GLOBALISE infrastructure to aid transparency and explainability. This includes data cards/sheets for datasets, model cards for NLP models, thesaurus for terminology, reports on stakeholder participation, etc.

**Communication** of the characteristics, limitations, and potential shortcomings of the system to users and stakeholders, through interface design and user guides.


3. **Accountability** encapsulates the project’s ownership of its decisions and outcomes, adherence to laws and policies, and its obligation to address consequences. This includes:
### 3. Accountability

Accountability refers to the project’s ownership of its decisions and outcomes, adherence to laws and policies, and its obligation to address consequences. This includes:

**Auditability** It is important to establish mechanisms that facilitate the infrastructure’s auditability. This will include providing extensive provenance on the data produced and provided by GLOBALISE and any other authoritative layers that we add, creating meticulous data sheets for every dataset produced and publishing datasets and research in peer-reviewed journals.
**Auditability** It is important to establish mechanisms that facilitate the infrastructure’s auditability. This will include providing extensive provenance on the data produced and provided by GLOBALISE and any other authoritative layers that we add, creating meticulous data sheets for every dataset produced and publishing datasets and research in peer-reviewed journals.

**Training and Education** to help develop accountability practices.

**Redress Mechanisms** Establishing systems to inform and provide recourse to users and third parties.

4. **Societal and Environmental Wellbeing** GLOBALISE should benefit society and ensure that it is sustainable and minimises environmental impact.
### 4. Societal and Environmental Wellbeing
GLOBALISE should benefit society and ensure that it is sustainable and minimises environmental impact.

**Societal Wellbeing** involves recognizing how the project can affect various communities. This entails understanding the social and cultural dimensions of the content within the archive. Archives contain materials that use language or express views that are now considered offensive or inappropriate. It’s important to address this issue sensitively. GLOBALISE will warn users of such content in the VOC archives and will contextualise records of contentious or violent past events with sensitivity toward affected groups.

**Ecological Impact** GLOBALISE will consider the environmental footprint of the project throughout its entire lifecycle, from development to implementation.

**Data and Infrastructure** Choices When building and maintaining our infrastructure, we opt for energy-efficient solutions without compromising on performance or reliability.

**Resource-Efficient Alternatives** Acknowledging the diverse capabilities of our users, we will provide alternative, lighter versions of our models and datasets. This approach ensures that our resources are accessible to a broader audience, including those without access to high-end computing facilities.

**Publishing for Accessibility** In publishing our data and tooling, we ensure that our deliverables are optimised for varied computational environments. We provide clear documentation and support for both our full-scale and minimal models, ensuring that users can choose the most suitable option for their specific context.
**Data and Infrastructure** Choices When building and maintaining our infrastructure, we opt for energy-efficient solutions without compromising on performance or reliability.

**Resource-Efficient Alternatives** Acknowledging the diverse capabilities of our users, we will provide alternative, lighter versions of our models and datasets. This approach ensures that our resources are accessible to a broader audience, including those without access to high-end computing facilities.

**Publishing for Accessibility** In publishing our data and tooling, we ensure that our deliverables are optimised for varied computational environments. We provide clear documentation and support for both our full-scale and minimal models, ensuring that users can choose the most suitable option for their specific context.

The last 2 apply to AI systems:


The last 2 apply to AI systems:




5. **Robustness** Technical robustness focuses on the stability and reliability of the AI systems in the GLOBALISE infrastructure. Additionally, they should be socially robust, implying they should consider potential unintended consequences and harms that may arise from their use. This includes addressing questions such as:
## 5. Robustness
Technical robustness focuses on the stability and reliability of the AI systems in the GLOBALISE infrastructure. Additionally, they should be socially robust, implying they should consider potential unintended consequences and harms that may arise from their use. This includes addressing questions such as:

**Accuracy** Ensuring system reliability in unforeseen circumstances and minimising potential harms from inaccuracies.

6. **Privacy and Data Governance** We prioritise privacy and data protection, ensuring the quality and integrity of data, controlling data access, etc.

**Oversight mechanisms** for data collection, storage, processing and use. GLOBALISE will store their data with institutes such as the IISG which have acquired the [Core Trust Seal](https://www.coretrustseal.org/), making them a reliable and sustainable repository for digital materials.
## 6. Privacy and Data Governance
We prioritise privacy and data protection, ensuring the quality and integrity of data, controlling data access, etc.

**Oversight mechanisms** for data collection, storage, processing and use. GLOBALISE will store their data with institutes such as the IISG which have acquired the [Core Trust Seal](https://www.coretrustseal.org/), making them a reliable and sustainable repository for digital materials.

**Privacy** Assessing who can access users’ data, and under what circumstances.


## IV. References


Chilcott, Alicia. "Towards protocols for describing racially offensive language in UK public archives." In _Archives in a Changing Climate-Part I & Part II_, pp. 151-168. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2022.

Colored Conventions Project, [https://coloredconventions.org](https://coloredconventions.org)
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