Turam Purty
Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDS) and the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance provide robust guidance for building ethical and community-driven digital systems. Yet, many contemporary digital infrastructures often operate within technical and institutional limitations that do not fully recognize or create space for the practical application of IDS and CARE principles. This presentation introduces Secure Relational Jumps (SRJ), a file format, designed to operationalize the values of IDS and CARE in digital environments. SRJ reimagines file compression containers, like ZIP file archives, as sites of innovation for data governance, embedding consent, provenance, and relational accountability directly into file metadata before it can be shared externally. Developed through an Indigenous-led approach, SRJ centers data stewardship “by us, for us,” translates, authority to control, responsibility, and collective benefit, into concrete system-design features. To illustrate this system, a live demonstration will guide attendees through the process of compressing digital files, such as images, audio, video, and documents, into an SRJ container. showing how IDS and CARE principles can become an active part of the file’s metadata. SRJ demonstrates how Indigenous approaches can reshape the design of digital infrastructures that hold our data. The session concludes by outlining pathways for co-developing similar infrastructures across research, archives, and community networks, advancing IDS as a relational practice that upholds shared benefits, transparency, and sovereign control in digital environments.