I bought a brand-new laptop just for my research. The laptop was so light that I could barely notice it when I carried it with me. I used the laptop to upload my research data (interviews and field diaries) and everything else related to the research. In hindsight, for a completely incomprehensible reason, all the data was only on that laptop. Then once walking around the city I just forgot the laptop somewhere. It was so light that I didn’t notice its absence. From my point of view, there were only a couple of small problems: the data was sensitive and it was not stored anywhere else. Fortunately, the files were encrypted and behind passwords. In our community, we also have good security guidelines, but unfortunately, I didn’t read them that carefully. Now, however, it became clear that I need to report deviations from information security and data protection regulations. The worst part is that the data is history for me. The fellow researcher still dared to ask if I had made a data management plan and a risk assessment. It would have helped me to anticipate problems.
Data Horror Week 25.-29.10.2021. Stories published during the week are fictional.
#DataHorrorWeek
