Balancing FAIR and GDPR: A Governance Framework for Oral Archives

Elvira Mercatanti, Monica Monachini, Giovanni Abete, Silvia Calamai, Sergio Canazza, Alessandro Casellato, Virginia Niri, Cesarina Vecchia, Giulia Zitelli Conti, Giada Zuccolo


Abstract
This paper presents a governance framework developed within the research project ROADS to support thesustainable management of oral archives, which constitute essential linguistic resources for interdisciplinary research and cultural heritage preservation. Oral archives raise complex ethical and legal challenges due to the hybrid nature of voice data, which function simultaneously as historical documents, scientific sources and biometric identifiers, thereby creating tensions between open science principles and data protection regulations. The proposed framework integrates FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) with Privacy by Design and the GDPR accountability principle through a multilayered approach. It introduces an access model that distinguishes between publicly available metadata and controlled access to identifiable audio materials, following trusted repository standards. The framework also incorporates consent management procedures and safeguards for legacy collections, enabling responsible data sharing while preserving scientific usability. More broadly, ROADS provides a transferable model to guide the transition from project-based archives to FAIR, sustainable and reusable research resources, ensuring compliance with data protection requirements and respect for the sensitivity of the documented contexts.
Anthology ID:
2026.legal-1.9
Volume:
Proceedings of the Joint Workshop on Legal and Ethical Issues in Human Language Technologies and Computational Approaches to Language Data Pseudonymization, Anonymization, De-identification, and Data Privacy (LEGAL2026 and CALD-pseudo 2026) @ LREC 2026
Month:
May
Year:
2026
Address:
Palma, Mallorca (Spain)
Editors:
Ingo Siegert, Maria Irena Szawerna, Khalid Choukri, Simon Dobnik, Paweł Kamocki, Therese Lindström Tiedemann, Pierre Lison, Ricardo Muñoz Sánchez, Ildikó Pilán, Lisa Södergård, Kossay Talmoudi, Elena Volodina, Xuan-Son Vu
Venues:
LEGAL | CALD-pseudo | WS
SIG:
Publisher:
ELRA
Note:
Pages:
81–85
Language:
External URL:
https://lrec.elra.info/lrec2026-ws-legal-09
DOI:
10.63317/55kuf2nxe64u
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Elvira Mercatanti, Monica Monachini, Giovanni Abete, Silvia Calamai, Sergio Canazza, Alessandro Casellato, Virginia Niri, Cesarina Vecchia, Giulia Zitelli Conti, and Giada Zuccolo. 2026. Balancing FAIR and GDPR: A Governance Framework for Oral Archives. In Proceedings of the Joint Workshop on Legal and Ethical Issues in Human Language Technologies and Computational Approaches to Language Data Pseudonymization, Anonymization, De-identification, and Data Privacy (LEGAL2026 and CALD-pseudo 2026) @ LREC 2026, pages 81–85, Palma, Mallorca (Spain). ELRA.
Cite (Informal):
Balancing FAIR and GDPR: A Governance Framework for Oral Archives (Mercatanti et al., LEGAL-CALD-pseudo 2026)
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