2017 ESIP Summer Meeting

In the past few months, a range of grassroots initiatives, termed "data rescue," "data refuge," and "guerrilla archiving", have gained significant momentum to duplicate US government agency data. These initiatives are inspired by recent reports that scientific data and documentation have been removed from government websites, and by concerns over US budget proposals that slash scientific budgets. Much of this effort has focused on creating copies of Earth science data generated and held by US federal agencies, with hundreds of volunteers across the country and internationally spending considerable time and energy.

Early connections have been made between the “rescue” volunteers and the federally-funded data community; these conversations have highlighted some of the different perspectives and opportunities regarding agency data. Members of the ESIP Data Stewardship committee recently produced a document that provided information and recommendations from the data center perspective, http://www.esipfed.org/press-releases/stronger-together. This panel will present responses to this document from the “data rescue” community, and will open discussion for any further action the ESIP community can/should take on this issue.