Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
Science Policy

Why a ‘Guerrilla Archiving’ Project Seeks to Preserve Climate Data Before Trump Takes Office

By Goldie Blumenstyk December 15, 2016
A lake of water stands at the foot of Austria’s receding Pasterze glacier this summer. Glaciers across Europe have been receding since approximately the 1870s, but the process has accelerated since the early 1980s, and many scientists attribute that phenomenon to global warming. In the United States, professors who worry that the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump will be “willfully hostile toward the scientific process” are leading a campaign to preserve huge amounts of federal climate-science data.
A lake of water stands at the foot of Austria’s receding Pasterze glacier this summer. Glaciers across Europe have been receding since approximately the 1870s, but the process has accelerated since the early 1980s, and many scientists attribute that phenomenon to global warming. In the United States, professors who worry that the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump will be “willfully hostile toward the scientific process” are leading a campaign to preserve huge amounts of federal climate-science data.Sean Gallup, Getty Images

Scientists, librarians, and digital historians from a growing number of universities have begun a crowdsourced effort to copy and archive thousands of federal-government websites and data sets related to climate change, the environment, and other areas of scientific research that they fear could become compromised or inaccessible under the incoming Trump administration.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

A lake of water stands at the foot of Austria’s receding Pasterze glacier this summer. Glaciers across Europe have been receding since approximately the 1870s, but the process has accelerated since the early 1980s, and many scientists attribute that phenomenon to global warming. In the United States, professors who worry that the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump will be “willfully hostile toward the scientific process” are leading a campaign to preserve huge amounts of federal climate-science data.
A lake of water stands at the foot of Austria’s receding Pasterze glacier this summer. Glaciers across Europe have been receding since approximately the 1870s, but the process has accelerated since the early 1980s, and many scientists attribute that phenomenon to global warming. In the United States, professors who worry that the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump will be “willfully hostile toward the scientific process” are leading a campaign to preserve huge amounts of federal climate-science data.Sean Gallup, Getty Images

Scientists, librarians, and digital historians from a growing number of universities have begun a crowdsourced effort to copy and archive thousands of federal-government websites and data sets related to climate change, the environment, and other areas of scientific research that they fear could become compromised or inaccessible under the incoming Trump administration.

The movement, now known by its hashtag, #DataRefuge, took off in response to an essay in The Washington Post in which a meteorologist and journalist named Eric Holthaus described how he had begun “to systematically catalog and preserve as much of the federal government’s publicly available climate-science data as possible in the next five weeks.”

Mr. Holthaus said he was acting because President-elect Donald J. Trump, who has called climate change a hoax perpetuated by the China, was “relentlessly converting” his anti-science rhetoric into action through nominations for key posts in an administration that is “likely to be willfully hostile toward the scientific process.”

Given the hostility toward climate science and environmental regulations shown by some of the president-elect’s nominees, some scientists say it’s prudent to take steps to ensure that vital information isn’t compromised.

Mr. Holthaus posted an online form that allows scientists and others to suggest specific data sets and websites to be archived. The form automatically puts the suggested material onto a spreadsheet that is openly accessible. Volunteers can also use the form to “claim a data set to rescue.”

“The spreadsheet went crazy,” says Bethany Wiggin, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who directs its Program in Environmental Humanities.

On Tuesday, the Penn program, whose professors and graduate students had already been discussing an effort of this sort, agreed to take over management of the spreadsheet. With support from Penn Libraries, the program will help coordinate and advance the fast-evolving project. Librarians and professors from several departments at the University of Toronto are also partners in the #DataRefuge effort.

On Saturday, the Toronto institution will play host to an event it calls a “guerrilla archiving,” during which professors will work with students and other volunteers on creating digital tools to improve the process of uploading, tagging, and archiving government data sets, as well as getting started on saving some “vulnerable” data. The Penn program will host a similar event next month. Academics at the two institutions say they are also making connections with scholarly and technology organizations like the Society of American Archivists, the Coalition for Networked Information, and the Internet Archive for additional expertise and volunteer help.

The Chronicle spoke Wednesday with Ms. Wiggin and with Patrick Keilty, an assistant professor at Toronto’s faculty of information, about the scope, challenges, and rationale for the project. Here are some answers to key questions about their efforts.

ADVERTISEMENT

Why do this? Is this just some kind of anti-Trump political statement?

Both professors say they’re undertaking the project in a better-safe-than-sorry vein.

“It’s not meant to be alarmist,” says Ms. Wiggin, but given the hostility toward climate science and environmental regulations shown by some of Mr. Trump’s nominees, she says it’s prudent to take steps to ensure that vital information isn’t compromised.

The worst-case scenario, says Mr. Keilty, would be outright deletion. But “even if the data isn’t deleted on Day 1,” he says, “it can slowly be made inaccessible by lack of maintenance.” Routine decisions, like federal departments’ remaking websites to reflect new priorities, can also mean “links go down” and key files go dead, he said. And for departments targeted for defunding, like the Environmental Protection Agency, he says new leaders there may not provide the labor or resources needed to maintain data.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Access to government-funded research shouldn’t be a controversial issue. Evidence-based policy making shouldn’t be a controversial issue,” says Mr. Keilty. “It’s hard to create evidence-based policies if the evidence goes missing or becomes inaccessible.”

Ms. Wiggin says the #DataRefuge project fits within the purview of the “strong public-engagement component” of her program, while also acknowledging that the effort could be seen as “a political intervention.” But, she says, that doesn’t make it inappropriate. “Research happens in a social context. It doesn’t happen in a vacuum, Part of it is the political context.”

Any significance to the fact that a Canadian university is involved?

Canadian academics are especially attuned to this issue, says Mr. Keilty, because in 2014, under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the government abruptly closed a number of well-respected natural-science libraries, to the alarm of many scientists and environmentalists. Mr. Harper was also viewed as being hostile to scientists. In the United States, Mr. Keilty added, the George W. Bush administration sought over a period of several years to close down the EPA library system.

ADVERTISEMENT

Ms. Wiggin, who teaches courses on censorship as well those on the social impacts of climate change, says projects like the archiving effort make sense “if you’re somebody who teaches that history provides lessons.”

Since 2008, the Internet Archive has been working with partners to preserve federal websites and records as presidential administrations change, as part of the End of Term Web Archive. Doesn’t this duplicate that effort?

The Internet Archive uses tools known as web crawlers that can capture sites with URLs. Mr. Keilty says the #DataRefuge project will prioritize documents held in PDF files, Excel sheets, and other digital formats that web crawlers don’t pick up.

The effort is a giant lift, not just in terms of technology and digital storage space, but also manpower, data security, and resources. How is that being handled?

ADVERTISEMENT

Many of those questions are still being resolved. Project organizers say they’ll need secure storage for data measured in petabytes, and they’ll want to be sure the storage sites are dispersed. “More copies in more places is a better idea,” says Ms. Wiggin. Both professors say they’ve received offers from companies and other organizations for free and low-cost storage, as well as offers of financial support from people Ms. Wiggin calls “angel investors,” but for now the professors have declined to name them. Mr. Keilty says he’s also heard from professors, librarians, and others from at least a dozen other universities with offers of help, but doesn’t yet know how many of them will formally become involved or be identified. With so many librarians, archivists, and technologists showing interest, Ms. Wiggin says they are prepared to “really tap into a hugely active and knowledgeable community.”

What about data sets in other fields — say, the social sciences — where academics might fear political interference?

“We staked out climate and environmental data,” says Ms. Wiggin. But she adds that she wouldn’t be surprised if academics in other fields followed suit.

“I hope we inspire other people,” she says. “We can’t download the internet.”

Goldie Blumenstyk writes about the intersection of business and higher education. Check out www.goldieblumenstyk.com for information on her new book about the higher-education crisis; follow her on Twitter @GoldieStandard; or email her at goldie@chronicle.com.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
Blumenstyk_Goldie.jpg
About the Author
Goldie Blumenstyk
The veteran reporter Goldie Blumenstyk writes a weekly newsletter, The Edge, about the people, ideas, and trends changing higher education. Find her on Twitter @GoldieStandard. She is also the author of the bestselling book American Higher Education in Crisis? What Everyone Needs to Know.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Content

Post-Truth President
Awaiting Trump, Scientists Are Caught Between Hope and Fear

More News

Joan Wong for The Chronicle
Productivity Measures
A 4/4 Teaching Load Becomes Law at Most of Wisconsin’s Public Universities
Illustration showing a letter from the South Carolina Secretary of State over a photo of the Bob Jones University campus.
Missing Files
Apparent Paperwork Error Threatens Bob Jones U.'s Legal Standing in South Carolina
Pro-Palestinian student protesters demonstrate outside Barnard College in New York on February 27, 2025, the morning after pro-Palestinian student protesters stormed a Barnard College building to protest the expulsion last month of two students who interrupted a university class on Israel. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Campus Activism
A College Vows to Stop Engaging With Some Student Activists to Settle a Lawsuit Brought by Jewish Students
LeeNIHGhosting-0709
Stuck in limbo
The Scientists Who Got Ghosted by the NIH

From The Review

Vector illustration of a suited man with a pair of scissors for a tie and an American flag button on his lapel.
The Review | Opinion
A Damaging Endowment Tax Crosses the Finish Line
By Phillip Levine
University of Virginia President Jim Ryan keeps his emotions in check during a news conference, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022 in Charlottesville. Va. Authorities say three people have been killed and two others were wounded in a shooting at the University of Virginia and a student is in custody. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The Review | Opinion
Jim Ryan’s Resignation Is a Warning
By Robert Zaretsky
Photo-based illustration depicting a close-up image of a mouth of a young woman with the letter A over the lips and grades in the background
The Review | Opinion
When Students Want You to Change Their Grades
By James K. Beggan

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin