Data Driven Communities: Using a Data Rescue Event to Build and Bridge Scientific Networks

• In Event: Climate Data Protection Under Trump: Strategies and Tactics

Abstract

The bridge between scientific communities and the general public has grown increasingly strained in recent years, as funding cuts, inefficient communication, and pressure around ideals of scientific efficiency fuel the divide (Wynne, 2006; Ray, 2014). Without adequate public investment in scientific data management and preservation, such strained conditions create prime opportunities for the devaluing and disappearance of public scientific data. Anxiety around these potential outcomes as a result of the 2017 US governmental administration transition launched a movement dedicated to preserving datasets identified as potentially controversial or at odds with the political agenda of the new administration. A team of researchers at UCLA held its own data rescue event on January 20th, gathering over 60 participants together to nominate federal datasets for archiving.

This paper will discuss key takeaways gained from the January 20 event, particularly viewing the event as one method of data use and activism to form meaningful community bonds. An overarching argument presented here is that one of the key benefits of the event and its positioning within a larger network of data rescue efforts is its contribution to an ongoing community building process, both within branches of the scientific community and between scientists and the greater public. Relevant STS literature including Epstein (1993) and Martinez-Alier et al. (2011) is employed to reveal the strengths of this form of data activism for building community and ultimately weakening the scientist vs. public divide, with an additional focus on the role of digital media in facilitating this process.

Author

• Jennifer Pierre