Updates
what has happened since our January 2025 Seattle Data Rescues?
a lot. A LOT has happened.
After our Seattle public education, peer collecting and collective description Data Rescue efforts, numerous changes have occurred. Many bad, some good.
FIRST THE GOOD Internet Archive received a backup copy of the CDC, End of Term project is processing the anticipated 300 TB of select Biden public admin files, and the Public Environmental Data Project collected ~52 massive datasets now slowly coming online. But given the scale, complexity, lack of labor and resource, and frequent sabotaging of US federal government agencies to identify, duplicate, store, and provide access to all federal data, it has tended to be very difficult to not only preserve ALL relevant public data, but also communicate where backup copies can be found. Sadly more visibility also means increased vulnerability towards people/orgs hosting vulnerable and targeted data (for example the Internet Archive had a cyberattack this past fall) Sharing in a vulnerable space like the internet might take a backseat for at least a few months. With current government targeting of certain data, researchers might have the best luck finding accessible copies via university data repositories like the UW Dryad collection. Research data repositories are great alternative especially if you know which researchers you might work with or lean on but they really depend on individuals to deposit their own copies of research data.
Registry of Research Data Repositories https://www.re3data.org
Other suggested alternatives include: - PEW Research Center - nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. - PolicyMap – offers a free tier that can be used to view basic information down to the tract-level, but more detailed data and functionality requires a subscription - FRED - They have some demographic data as well; free and open source - Census Reporter – is a free, open-source platform focused on making American Community Survey (ACS) data more accessible, including the recent upload of the 2022 1-Year ACS data - Esri – for mapping users, the GIS vendor publishes several U.S. Census Bureau data sets, including the ACS, through its ArcGIS Online Platform - IPUMS – Even when the government operates normally, many analysts turn to Minnesota Population Center products to access ACS, Current Population Survey microdata and Decennial Census data
THE BAD...
In a surprise move to no one, thousands of federal files, websites, and datasets were either removed, scrubbed, revised, or simply put offline. Crucial areas of research, teaching, and community knowing including life saving Public Health issues for marginalized populations in particular are experiencing ruthless obstruction of online information sharing. This year's extensive purging of government data is also a reaction by federal agencies to the disastrous January 2025 Executive Order to freeze government research funding until agencies can confirm that their work aligns with the new government's ideologies. For UW updates see Office of the Provost website
As many scramble to gain or give access to tampered websites and datasets, the following news articles are just a starting point.
National Data Rescue Efforts Center for Advances in Libraries, Museums, and Archives holds data rescuing event ahead of Trump Administration https://www.dailyuw.com/news/center-for-advances-in-libraries-museums-and-archives-holds-data-rescuing-event-ahead-of-trump/article_90e0487a-d6e0-11ef-8457-074d190990d5.html Archivists Work to Identify and Save the Thousands of Datasets Disappearing From Data.govhttps://www.404media.co/archivists-work-to-identify-and-save-the-thousands-of-datasets-disappearing-from-data-gov/
Health Doctors sue over removed health data https://www.axios.com/2025/02/04/doctors-sue-trump-removed-health-data US government removes health websites and data, here’s a list of non-government data alternatives https://journalistsresource.org/home/as-the-us-government-removes-health-websites-and-data-heres-a-list-of-non-government-data-alternatives/ What we saved from the federal government’s data purge https://19thnews.org/2025/02/federal-government-data-purge-information-saved/ As admin deletes online data, scientists and digital librarians rush to save it https://www.salon.com/2025/02/04/as-the-admin-deletes-online-data-scientists-and-digital-librarians-rush-to-save-it/ Environment Why EDGI is Archiving Public Environmental Data https://envirodatagov.org/why-edgi-is-archiving-public-environmental-data/
As Data Goes Off-Line, Environmental Researchers Are Uploading Backups https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/research/2025/01/29/data-goes-line-under-trump-researchers-upload-backups
Watchdog Groups Anticipate ‘an All-Out War on Science and Scientists’ https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31012025/trump-administration-war-on-science/
Labor & Demographics Thousands of U.S. Government Web Pages Have Been Taken Down Since Friday https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/upshot/trump-government-websites-missing-pages.html
OMB Head Installs Illegal Server to Seize All Federal Workers’ Data https://newrepublic.com/post/191075/elon-musk-power-grab-server-federal-worker-data
Education big cuts to the U.S. Education Department https://www.npr.org/2025/02/03/nx-s1-5282233/trump-to-make-big-cuts-to-education-department
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