Two days ago, a headline caught my attention: Rogue Scientists Race to Save Climate Data from Trump. It describes how around “60 hackers, scientists, archivists, and librarians” were working together to document climate data. Their fear was that this information would be altered or disappear once the new administration takes over the presidency. The very fact that this group felt compelled to fear the loss of scientific data seems like something out of a dystopian novel. I tip my hat to the fact that they brought in librarians to help preserve the sanctity of the information.
That’s where the librarians came in. In order to be used by future researchers—or possibly used to repopulate the data libraries of a future, more science-friendly administration—the data would have to be untainted by suspicions of meddling.
–Rogue Scientists Race to Save Climate Data from Trump.
Do I really feel that information shared and published will disappear in America? No, I am hopeful that the power of the archival properties and interwoven elements of the heart of the internet will protect the erasing of data. I believe that the veracity of information will win in an educated, aware society (as I referenced in my January 2nd post).
But, the themes and the future painted in Orwell’s 1984 comes to mind in regards to the permeability of reality:
And when memory failed and written records were falsified—when that happened, the claim of the Party to have improved the conditions of human life had got to be accepted, because there did not exist, and never again could exist, any standard against which it could be tested.
We must hold tight to the standard of recorded record. Major changes have happened on the White House website, which is not unexpected. While transitioning from one web host or website to another, pages are sometimes lost and information not carried over. I’ve done that when redesigning my own pages and blogs. I am … hopeful … that the issues are not being erased, just that new resources have not yet been published. I did not watch the changes on the White House page eight years ago. I will say that I do not know how previous transitions have progressed. Today we live in a very digitally connected world where changes are easily documented.
There are recorded instances of disappearing or contradicting of recorded information that happened during the transition of power this week.
- Trump White House takes down website pages about disabilities – Washington Post
- Interior Department reactivates Twitter accounts after shutdown following inauguration – Washington Post
- White House press secretary attacks media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds – CNN
- Trump’s White House Website Takes Down Official Pages on Civil Rights, Climate Change, LGBT Rights – People
I believe that memory will prevail and falsified records will be revealed for what they are.
We must continue to record and remember.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
-The Life of Reason
Learn more about this quote at http://www.iep.utm.edu/santayan/
Your Perspective: What shifting of the truth or misdirected information have you seen this week?