When research and history are disappearing, heroes emerge in the forms of librarians, IT professionals, and archivists, who aim to preserve the vital information affecting public health, history, and civil rights. They collaborate on the Data Rescue Project and have active recruiters in a subreddit called r/DataHoarder. Together, they are racing to secure and protect this knowledge for future generations, ensuring that crucial data remains accessible and intact in the face of erasure.
What's Working
Story by Julian Lucas, The New Yorker
The Volunteer Data Hoarders Resisting Trump's Purge
After President Donald Trump’s administration began removing key research and datasets from government websites, archivists, librarians, and organizations banded together to form the Data Rescue Project, which is coordinating efforts to preserve vital information. The movement has recruited volunteers from a subreddit forum called r/DataHoarder that’s frequented by hobbyists with IT knowledge, and so far the project has cataloged more than 400 publicly available backups of government data compiled by volunteers.
