The skeptical movement is based on drawing conclusions from reliable data. Historically, one of the world’s largest producers of datasets – with both commercial and research value – has been the federal United States government. This data is used all over the world, not just in the US.
For example, agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) produce important datasets on climate change that impact us all. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) produced the Demographic and Health Survey, which operated around the world and ultimately produced data that went into UN reports.
Unfortunately, the US statistical system is in crisis. The Trump administration is threatening government data gathering in three distinct ways.
First, the administration has fired many of the staff members responsible for collecting and maintaining US government datasets. The National Center for Education Statistics, which runs studies on American education, is reportedly down to only three staff members. Creating and maintaining data is skilled and time-consuming work and, without staff for these datasets, the information will become out of date and eventually unavailable as websites begin to fail. Moreover, many sensitive datasets are only available through “controlled access,” where a staff member reviews and approves access requests in order to protect participant privacy. Without staff, these datasets become inaccessible. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has ended their restricted access program altogether.
Second, data that conflicts with the administration’s ideological and policy goals is under threat of being altered or deleted. For example, climate.gov, a government web hub for public educational resources related to climate change, was taken down, including mapping datasets that were housed on the site.
Finally, all of this threatens trust in the statistical system as a whole. The most vivid example of this came after the firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, Dr Erika McEntarfer, because BLS reported accurate but politically inconvenient jobs numbers. This raises the real possibility that we will not be able to trust statistics from BLS, which oversees both employment and consumer price data in the US. In addition, an article in The Lancet showed ongoing and undocumented changes to various government datasets. While government datasets do change as improvements are made, these should be transparent so that researchers and the public can use the dataset correctly.
The Data Rescue Project
Since the start of the new administration, I have been part of a group of librarians, data professionals, and others who are working to preserve US government data, called the Data Rescue Project. The DRP’s mission is to ensure that public access to public data can remain a public good.
Our work has proceeded along two separate tracks. First, we have been working directly on data rescues and capturing at-risk data. Our volunteers have been downloading at-risk data and uploading it to a repository called DataLumos, which is housed at the University of Michigan and allows anyone to contribute government data. We have also hosted hackathons and created a toolkit for others who want to host events.
Second, we have launched a Data Rescue Portal, which acts as one central place for researchers and the public to search for datasets that have been rescued, both by DRP and other rescue organisations. We hope that we can increase the navigability of rescued datasets for everyone. More generally, we have tried to act as a general switchboard for people reaching out with tips about federal data and to help convey the impact of these cuts.
Eventually, we hope that we can create a more sustainable infrastructure so that those who find themselves leading the next data rescue – whether from war, regime change, or climate change – don’t need to start from zero.
How Can You Help?
Stay Informed
This situation is constantly changing, and we do our best to keep people informed. You can subscribe to our newsletter or follow our Bluesky account if you want to keep up to date.
Raise Awareness
People in the skeptical community are well positioned to explain the importance of access to reliable data. This issue can be esoteric to the general public, and we need all the help we can get in boosting awareness. Please take any opportunity you get to let people know about what is happening, and particularly to explain how loss of access to good data will impact the lives of regular people outside of the US.
Volunteer
If you are interested in getting more involved, we welcome you to fill out our volunteer interest form. We have a range of tasks that require different levels of skill and expertise.
aIt is easy to be discouraged by the situation with the current US federal government – I often am. Working with the Data Rescue Project reminds me that there are many of us out here working to make a positive and measurable difference, given the situation, and making some progress every day.
