Preserving and Sharing Data Suitable for Conversation Analysis of Health Interactions
Fiona A. Stevenson, Barbara Caddick, Geraldine Leydon · Research on Language and Social Interaction · 2025
Digitization presents opportunities for preserving and sharing data, but compliance with regulatory requirements can mean problems with access to data in formats that conversation analysis requires. Debates in relation to security and anonymization are particularly acute for data that capture health-related interactions. In this article we consider the particular challenges in relation to sharing and reusing these kinds of data. We also focus on the opportunities afforded by the development of a repository hosted in a trustworthy research environment (TRE) to preserve and share digital video- and audio-recorded health interaction data with and without anonymization. Compared to existing models for depositing and sharing interactional data, such as Talk Bank, a TRE uniquely allows data to be shared via a centrally managed virtual desktop removing the requirement to download data. We consider how a TRE might operate as a possible model for the future to support the safe and secure sharing of interactional data.