As someone deeply interested in data and data systems, I’ve been thinking about how the Trump administration’s attacks on data, these collections of information that are critical to researchers and scientists. And how they’ve also been attacking science, research, and innovation.
This administration has been fighting a sweeping information war meant to distort and suppress facts, ideas, and history that doesn’t “align with the president’s agenda,”
I find this distressing and deplorable. It’s monumentally short-sighted. It’s cost is extreme. America can not maintain it’s lead in innovation and technology without this knowledge. Add this to the cuts to research funding and the US is decimating it’s future. Access to this knowledge is key to moving society forward, aka: innovating. In this case, we’re looking specifically at the CIA Factbook, an amazing tool I’ve used on many occasions as it’s extremely useful, which Mr. Waldman points out seems to be one of the criteria for deletion.
Besides the attack on data, the Administration’s efforts to cut funding to so much scientific research is additionally concerning. This is feeding a brain drain that’s further eroding our scientific and technical leadership. These will take decades to recover from. If we ever can. The global academic community seeks to leverage our short-sidedness.
There are some counterpoints that give me some hope. There are many organizations that are working to collect this knowledge for the Library of Alexandria is burned. Here are just a few (with descriptions provided by Gemini):
- **End of Term Web Archive:** Partners with the Internet Archive, universities (e.g., Stanford, UNT), and EDGI to capture websites during presidential transitions, focusing on preserving federal data on the Wayback Machine.
- **Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI):** Monitors, analyzes, and archives federal environmental data to protect against removal.
- **Data Rescue Project:** Coordinates, archives, and tracks disappearing federal datasets, including from the CDC, NOAA, and EPA.
- **Harvard Library Innovation Lab & Dataverse:** Uses tools like Perma.cc to capture content and provides a repository for at-risk, high-priority datasets.
- **Public Environmental Data Project (PEDP):** A collaborative initiative focused on identifying and securing at-risk environmental and climate data.
- **University and Research Libraries:** Institutions like Stanford, the University of North Texas, and the University of Michigan are active in preserving data.
- **Grassroots and International Groups:** Efforts include the Reddit r/DataHoarder community, the Archive Team, and international researchers like Safeguard.de.
In addition to the efforts to retain the knowledge we’ve already collected, I’m also heartened by the rest of the world seeking to recruit our leading researchers, ensuring that their critical work continues.
An aside: I wonder if, at the macro level, this will benefit humanity. Disbursing talent might make science more diverse and richer. I hope it also make it more resilient to the manic moodswings of social opinions. Even if it’s a net benefit to society, though, this situation will have a painful, negative impact for years to come.
So, please, take a minute to read Paul Waldman’s article “The death of the CIA Factbook and Trump’s war on usefulness”. Then take a moment and look over the list above, and give what you can to help capture this knowledge.