From CARE to Code: The History and Development of the IEEE Indigenous Data Provenance Standard

Christopher John Ruiz, MBA, CTO| Innovation
December 01, 2025•10 min read

Keywords: Indigenous Data Sovereignty, IEEE 2890 standard, Indigenous data provenance, CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance, Tribal data governance, Indigenous research ethics, Provenance of Indigenous Peoples’ data, Indigenous data governance framework, IEEE Indigenous data standard, Sovereign Indigenous data rights

TribeFlow From Care to Code

“There is an abundance of data available about Indigenous homelands and even more being collected on a daily basis, but far too often Indigenous peoples and their governance practices are separated from the data.”

— Lydia Jennings (Pascua Yaqui / Huichol), environmental scientist and Indigenous data governance scholar
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Imagine this:

You’re working in a tribal office, a research lab, or a community archive. Someone asks a simple question:

“Where did this data actually come from—and who decided it could be used this way?”

You open the file. There’s a spreadsheet, maybe a PDF, maybe a database record.

But there’s no clear answer about:

  • Which Indigenous Peoples are connected to it,

  • What territory it comes from,

  • Whether anyone agreed to this use,

  • Or what responsibilities come with touching it at all.

That gap isn’t just an inconvenience. For Indigenous communities, it’s a justice issue. (Hudson et al., 2023; GIDA – History of Indigenous Data Sovereignty) (Frontiers)

And that’s exactly the problem the new IEEE standard for the Provenance of Indigenous Peoples’ Data (IEEE 2890-2025) is trying to fix. (IEEE 2890-2025; GIDA – IEEE Provenance) (IEEE Standards Association)

Why “Where This Data Comes From” Is About Power

For years, Indigenous leaders and scholars have been saying something that doesn’t fit neatly into a database schema:

Data about Indigenous Peoples is not neutral. It carries stories, relationships, and obligations.

The Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov) movement grew out of this reality. It starts from a simple, powerful idea:
Indigenous Peoples have the right to control data about their peoples, lands, and cultures, as an extension of their right to self-determination. (Hudson et al., 2023; IWGIA, 2022 overview of IDSov) (Frontiers)

From that came the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance:

  • Collective Benefit

  • Authority to Control

  • Responsibility

  • Ethics

CARE doesn’t tell you which database to buy. It asks a deeper question:

“Who benefits from this data, who has the authority to decide what happens to it, and are we acting responsibly and ethically?” (Carroll et al., 2020; GIDA – CARE Principles) (Data Science Journal)

What was missing for a long time was a way to encode those concerns into the actual plumbing of data systems.

That’s where provenance comes in. (Ruckstuhl, 2022) (Frontiers)

Watch: Introductory videos on IDSov and power in data

Provenance: More Than a Technical Footnote

“Provenance” sounds like a word you’d hear in an art museum—who owned this painting, where it’s been, whether it’s real.

In data, provenance is similar: it’s the record of where data comes from and how it’s been used or changed. (IEEE Draft P2890 abstract) (BibBase)

But for Indigenous communities, provenance isn’t just a log. It’s a place to say:

  • This dataset is connected to these Peoples and territories.

  • It was collected under these agreements and protocols.

  • These are the conditions, restrictions, or expectations that come with it.

Until now, there was no widely recognized, technical standard to make that kind of provenance visible and machine-readable across all the big systems—repositories, AI pipelines, government databases, etc. (RDA IIDSov IG – P2890 post) (RDA)

IEEE 2890 is the first attempt to change that at a global scale. (GIDA – IEEE Provenance) (Global Indigenous Data Alliance)

How an Indigenous-Led Working Group Changed IEEE

IEEE is one of the world’s biggest standards bodies—the folks behind Wi-Fi standards, hardware specs, and many of the invisible rules that make tech work. (IEEE Standards Association) (IEEE Standards Association)

For them to publish a standard centered on Indigenous Peoples’ data is a big deal. And it didn’t happen by accident.

An Indigenous Data Working Group inside IEEE, chaired by Dr. Stephanie Russo Carroll (Ahtna), pulled together Indigenous leaders, lawyers, librarians, technologists, and allies from around the world. They spent years drafting a “Recommended Practice for the Provenance of Indigenous Peoples’ Data”—first as a project called P2890, now finalized as IEEE 2890-2025. (IEEE 2890 project page; SSIT SC news on WG 2890) (IEEE Standards Association)

Their goal wasn’t just to add another checkbox to metadata. It was to build a standard that:

  • Names Indigenous Peoples and communities in the provenance record,

  • Connects data to specific lands and waters,

  • Documents how and under whose authority the data was collected,

  • And points to any protocols, restrictions, or obligations tied to that data. (RDA / IEEE provenance summary) (RDA)

In other words, it takes what Indigenous communities have been saying for years and translates it into something databases, tools, and platforms can’t easily ignore.

What the Standard Actually Does (In Plain Language)

You don’t need to read the full technical document to understand the heart of IEEE 2890. At a high level, it does three key things:

  1. Defines what counts as provenance for Indigenous Peoples’ data.
    Not just “created on this date by Dr. X,” but “connected to these Peoples, these territories, collected under these conditions.” (IEEE 2890-2025) (IEEE Standards Association)

  2. Provides a set of fields and vocabulary.
    It gives data systems a way to consistently label:

    • the Indigenous communities involved,

    • the territories related to the data,

    • the agreements, protocols, or ethics involved,

    • and any ongoing responsibilities. (RDA IIDSov IG – P2890) (RDA)

  3. Explains how to embed this in real systems.
    It’s designed to sit alongside existing standards (like FAIR, W3C PROV, etc.), so repositories and platforms don’t have to reinvent everything—they extend what they already do. (O’Brien et al., 2024 – Earth science repositories & CARE) (indigenousgreatlakesnetwork.org)

On its own, the standard doesn’t enforce consent, fix every archive, or guarantee benefit-sharing. But it creates a place to encode those governance decisions, so they can be seen, tracked, and acted on.

Why This Matters for You (Even If You Don’t Write Standards)

If you’re:

  • A tribal leader trying to assert more control over data,

  • A researcher who works with Indigenous communities,

  • A data manager in a repository or agency,

  • An activist or advocate trying to push institutions to do better—

IEEE 2890 gives you something powerful:

A concrete, internationally recognized reference point. (UArizona news on first global standard) (University of Arizona News)

You can now ask:

  • “Does your system support the IEEE Provenance of Indigenous Peoples’ Data standard?”

  • “Where are the fields that show which Indigenous communities are connected to this dataset?”

  • “How are you recording our protocols, agreements, and responsibilities in your metadata?”

Before, those questions could be brushed off as “nice to have.” Now, they sit squarely inside a formal standard. (GIDA – IEEE Provenance) (Global Indigenous Data Alliance)

It won’t magically make institutions behave better. But it shifts the burden. Instead of you trying to prove why Indigenous data needs special care, institutions have to explain why they are not using a standard that exists precisely for that purpose.

The Hard Part: Implementation

Of course, a standard on paper is only the beginning.

Real questions are coming:

  • How will repositories retrofit old data that was collected without proper provenance?

  • How will AI and machine learning teams flag and treat Indigenous data differently before they throw it into training models?

  • Who maintains and updates the vocabularies and fields so they actually make sense to the communities they describe? (Hudson et al., 2023) (Frontiers)

There’s also a capacity question. Implementing IEEE 2890 well will require time, funding, training, and true partnership. Many Indigenous communities are already stretched thin by constant consultation requests. If institutions are serious, they’ll need to invest in Indigenous-led governance and technical capacity, not just add new fields and move on. (GIDA; Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance) (Global Indigenous Data Alliance)

How to Start Using This in Your Own Work

You don’t need to be a standards expert to bring this into your world. Here are a few practical moves you can make:

  • Ask about it.
    In grant proposals, MOUs, data management plans:

    “Will this project implement the IEEE standard for Indigenous data provenance? If not, what alternative are you using?”

  • Treat provenance as a governance tool, not just a log.
    When you design forms or systems, include fields that reflect Indigenous governance—who decides, what protocols apply, what obligations continue over time.

  • Pair it with CARE.
    Use CARE as the values and IEEE 2890 as one of the tools to act on those values. (Carroll et al., 2020) (Data Science Journal)

  • Bring community voices into implementation.
    Don’t let technical teams implement this in a vacuum. Ask Indigenous partners how they want to be named, how territories should be described, and which protocols must be visible.

Want to Go Deeper? Watch and Listen

If you’d like to feel the heartbeat behind this standard—not just the mechanics—these talks are a strong starting point:

  • Stephanie Russo Carroll – “Indigenous Peoples Breathing Data Back” (TEDxUArizona) – Watch on YouTube
    A powerful story about reconnecting Indigenous communities with their data and why standards like IEEE 2890 matter in that process. (UC Press Online)

  • Maggie Walter – “Delivering Indigenous Data Sovereignty” – Watch on YouTube
    A clear, stirring lecture on what Indigenous Data Sovereignty really means and why control over data is central to justice and futures. (youtube.com)

  • Lydia Jennings – “Indigenous Data Sovereignty: How Researchers Can Empower Data Governance” – Watch via NCEAS / YouTube listing
    Practical guidance for researchers and institutions who want to do better than “business as usual.” (youtube.com)

The Bigger Picture: Standards as One Piece of a Larger Fight

IEEE 2890 is historic. It’s the first global technical standard explicitly about Indigenous Peoples’ data. It came out of years of organizing, advocacy, and movement-building by Indigenous peoples and their allies. (UArizona news; SSIT 2890 launch note) (University of Arizona News)

But it’s not the final word.

It’s one tool in a broader fight for Indigenous futures where:

  • Communities define their own research priorities and questions,

  • Data serves collective wellbeing, not just institutional metrics,

  • And the systems that hold information about Indigenous Peoples finally reflect Indigenous governance, law, and worldviews.

So the next time you open a dataset, a report, or an archive, and you see nothing about the Indigenous Peoples connected to it, you can say:

“There is now a standard for that. Why aren’t we using it?”

That question, repeated often and in the right rooms, is how a technical document becomes a living instrument of change.

Works Cited

Videos

- Christopher John Ruiz, MBA, CTO
TribeFlow Development Labs & Consulting

Keywords:

Indigenous Data SovereigntyIEEE 2890 standardIndigenous data provenanceCARE Principles for Indigenous Data GovernanceTribal data governanceIndigenous research ethicsProvenance of Indigenous Peoples’ dataIndigenous data governance frameworkIEEE Indigenous data standardSovereign Indigenous data rights
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