Paradata
Documenting Data Creation, Curation and Use

The first comprehensive book-length volume on paradata, information on data creation, management and use, which ensures data reusability.

Isto Huvila (Author), Lisa Andersson (Author), Zanna Friberg (Author), Ying-Hsang Liu (Author), Olle Sköld (Author)

9781009366588, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 August 2025

238 pages, 60 b/w illus.
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.3 cm, 0.36 kg

'This insightful volume introduces the concept of paradata: documentation of the circumstances in which data is made, managed, and used. Huvila and co-authors integrate comprehensive literature synthesis with robust empirical findings to produce an accessibly written, thought-provoking book. Scholars, practitioners, and students of data practices, data management, and data policy will find this book to be a rich and helpful resource.' Melanie Feinberg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

To make sense of data and use it effectively, it is essential to know where it comes from and how it has been processed and used. This is the domain of paradata, an emerging interdisciplinary field with wide applications. As digital data rapidly accumulates in repositories worldwide, this comprehensive introductory book, the first of its kind, shows how to make that data accessible and reusable. In addition to covering basic concepts of paradata, the book supports practice with coverage of methods for generating, documenting, identifying and managing paradata, including formal metadata, narrative descriptions and qualitative and quantitative backtracking. The book also develops a unifying reference model to help readers contextualise the role of paradata within a wider system of knowledge, practices and processes, and provides a vision for the future of the field. This guide to general principles and practice is ideal for researchers, students and data managers. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

1. Introduction: paradata: documenting data creation, management and use Isto Huvila
2. The concept of paradata Olle Sköld
3. Paradata 'in the wild': how and where paradata emerges in research documentation Olle Sköld and Lisa Andersson
4. Methods for generating and documenting paradata Ying-Hsang Liu and Isto Huvila
5. Methods for identifying paradata for data reuse Ying-Hsang Liu and Isto Huvila
6. Methods for managing paradata Zanna Friberg and Isto Huvila
7. A paradata reference model Isto Huvila
8. Future directions: making paradata matter Isto Huvila
Index.

Subject Areas: Ethical & social aspects of IT [UBJ]