Should we even be talking about this?
All the reasons your business should be talking about DEIA metadata
Erica Hornung
Seinfeld - The Wizard (1998)
You’ve likely heard of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA) initiatives, maybe at your business, school, or even in the news. Most of us tend to think of DEIA in terms of hiring practices that create a more diverse workplace, ensure wage equity, or provide accommodations so that all members of an organization can participate equally. But what does it mean for your company’s data practices?
Any metadata that describes people – employees, customers, subjects, even fictional characters – can be looked at through a DEIA lens. If your company collects, stores, analyzes, or utilizes data about people, it’s necessary to have a DEIA metadata management program in place to manage that data.
Why is that? Especially since the concept of DEIA seems so divisive these days, it may seem better to not get involved in a DEIA practice at all – much less expend time and effort to build a DEIA metadata program. However, there are very good reasons to start a DEIA data management program.
As society and language changes, companies must keep up or lose relevance. Institutional goals must be reflected in data policies just as much as in other areas. User demand might dictate necessary changes in data practices. Risk management is another important factor to consider – metadata related to people often overlaps with Personally Identifiable Information (PII), and it's important to establish proper data governance policies and procedures to balance the demands of representation and privacy. Failure to properly manage DEIA metadata can result in negative publicity, legal penalties, and loss of user trust.
Why should we be talking about DEIA metadata? More and more, our digital and real lives are becoming more intertwined. There's an expectation that our digital experiences accurately and authentically represent us and our values – both as institutions, and as individual users. At the same time, DEIA concepts and vocabulary are constantly evolving, making it essential for businesses to constantly update data practices to provide an equitable experience for all users while keeping up with the changes.
Metadata describing the great diversity of people in your system
Diversity in metadata can be thought of as the variety of descriptive categories in your metadata model: how we describe people in terms of race, national origin, ethnicity or race, gender, sexual orientation, or age, to give just a few examples. Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility refer to why we include certain categories, and how we use them to remove biases and ensure all individuals in a system have equal access.
Other categories fall under the DEIA umbrella that may not be immediately obvious, but they are just as important to consider. For instance, your company may want to track metadata related to national origin, immigration status, socio-economic status, skin tone, eye color, height, body size, or medical conditions. What types of data you track are determined by your institutional goals, the demands of your users, and the legal requirements governing the privacy of user data.
DEIA Content Strategy
Salt Flats has recently worked on several metadata models for clients that include unique and specific needs for tracking DEIA metadata, which go beyond what one might typically expect.
In one case, a streaming studio wanted to track their content based on affinity profiles, including content by women-only creative teams or dealing with LGBTQ themes, to make better recommendations to customers and fulfill internal DEIA goals. Salt Flats designed a metadata model to track DEIA metadata that describes content creators, the content itself, and customers. This included information about creators and contributors such as writers, producers, and actors, narrative elements like fictional characters, plotlines, and themes, and customer information such as affinity groups, taste profiles, age groups, interests, and location.
In another example, a publisher of business case studies sought to broaden their content's searchability and reflect global business diversity. This publisher needed a metadata model that describes people in DEIA terms so that users can identify diverse global businesses and creators. The metadata model tracks creators and contributors, case study topics such as businesses outside of the US and Western Europe, and minority-owned businesses.
Why focus on DEIA metadata?
Risk management is an important factor to consider when it comes to DEIA data management programs. There is a growing expectation from employees, customers, and the public at large that companies are transparent about their data practices and are actively working to ensure that their practices are inclusive and equitable. Any mismanagement or misuse of data can quickly lead to negative publicity and loss of trust from customers and stakeholders.
But more importantly, our digital and real selves are becoming more intertwined. There's a growing expectation that our authentic selves and values be reflected in our digital experiences – both as institutions and as individual users. These evolving expectations affect marketplace behavior - making it essential for businesses to constantly update data practices to provide an equitable experience for all users while keeping up with the changes.
People – your users and customers – want to be able to represent themselves accurately authentically. When they can’t, they are hidden from systems and denied access. Undertaking a DEIA-focused metadata project not only protects your institution from legal and reputational risks, it enriches your business by treating all users with respect.
Next in our series
Embarking on a DEIA metadata project can seem overwhelming. How do institutions navigate such a project? In our next post in this series on DEIA metadata practices, we will look at some building blocks to get your business started.
Is your business ready to look at metadata with a DEIA lens? Get in touch with our experts, or fill out this form for a FREE Collective Intelligence Workshop to explore the ways a DEIA lens can benefit your company.