datarescueDC
Georgetown University
February 18-19, 2017
Saturday: Lauinger Library, Murray Conference Room, Room 541
Sunday: Reiss Science Building, Room 103
We are at capacity for registrations to the event! Those that didn't
get a chance to sign up should watch this space for future events!
Over the course of two days datarescueDC will help to seed, sort, harvest, and store valuable and at risk federal government data in Data Refuge, a project facilitated by the University of Pennsylvania’s Program in Environmental Humanities. Specifically we will be using this workflow model developed at the first DataRescue event in Philadelphia, and which has been further refined at events in Los Angeles, Chicago and Ann Arbor.
Whether you are a researcher who actively uses federal datasets, someone who values the data publishing work the federal government, a software developer, designer, or writer who we’ve got work for you to do, and would love for you to be involved.
Please note that participants will need to show a valid photo ID to enter the Lauinger Library, but information will not be recorded.
Schedule
Saturday, February 18th: 12:00 pm to 5:30 pm
Lauinger Library, Murray Conference Room (Room 541)
Saturday’s sessions will include:
Humanizing Climate Data: A teach-in on the importance of climate data (12:00-1:30 pm)
- Moderator: Elizabeth Foster, Public Policy and Social Sciences Librarian, Georgetown University Library
- Bethany Wiggin, Founding Director, Penn Program in Environmental Humanities; Associate Professor of German, University of Pennsylvania
- Raphael Calel, Assistant Professor in the McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University
- Denice W. Ross Public Interest Technology Fellow, New America
Guide training for Sunday’s team leaders (1:30-4:00 pm)
Open data/data vulnerability: A round table discussion (4:15-5:15 pm)
- Moderator: Alex Howard, Deputy Director, Sunlight Foundation
- Laurie Allen, Assistant Director for Digital Scholarship, University of Pennsylvania Libraries
- Laura Wrubel, Software Development Librarian; End of Term Archive participant, GWU Libraries
- Mike Kruger, Former Deputy Director of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Commerce
- Michael Halpern, Deputy Director, Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists
You’re welcome to come for Saturday events even if you can’t come Sunday.
Sunday, February 19th: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Reiss Science Building, Room 103
Sunday’s session will include a creative coding and archive-a-thon. Please bring a fully charged laptop and a charger, a water bottle (fill stations available), and yourself! A light lunch will be provided courtesy of Johns Hopkins University Sheridan Libraries. You’re welcome to come for Sunday events even if you can’t come Saturday, stay the whole time or come whenever works for you.
Transportation
Check here for transportation options. Here is also some parking information, note that the visitor lot at Georgetown is cash only. There may also be street parking in the neighborhood.
Get Involved
Please look over our field guide which provides more information about the days’ events and our code of conduct.
Get in touch: datarescuedc@gmail.com. Press inquiries should be directed to Annalisa Dias. Please also see this press kit for further information.
We have a #datarescuedc channel going within the DataRefuge Slack, drop us a line to join the conversation.
If you would like to attend DataRescueDC please fill out one of the following forms after reading the information below about the types of teams that we are looking for and deciding whether you want to work as a guide or not.
Data Rescue Teams
Guides will take you on these Paths: choose one according to your interests and skills. If you have skills in one of these areas and want to serve as a guide, please sign up using the [Guide Registration]. If you would like to help out fill out the [Participant Registration] form. If you’d rather remain anonymous for now but can fill out an anonymous participant reigstration, that’ll help us know how much food to get.
Seeding & Sorting
Feeding the End of Term Archive: This is the widest path and requires a variety of skill levels. Consider this path if you are a coder, hacker, have front end web experience, or just have a great attention to details.
DataRefuge Path
These are the various interwoven paths to get “uncrawlable” data into DataRefuge:
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Researchers: to review URLs the Seeders & Sorters mark as Uncrawlable. Consider this path if you have a strong front end web experience and like to find out more information about things.
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Harvesters: to figure out how to capture the uncrawlable data. Consider this path if you’re a hacker
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Checkers: to inspect a harvested dataset and make sure that it is complete: The main question the checkers need to answer is “will the bag make sense to a scientist”? Checkers need to have an in-depth understanding of harvesting goals and potential content variations for datasets.
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Baggers: to do a quality assurance check and package the data. Consider this path if you have data or web archiving experience, or have strong tech skills AND attention to detail.
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Describers: includes a few people from the Baggers path. Consider this path if you have experience working with scientific data (particularly climate or environmental data) or with creating metadata. Trained librarians and scientists will be very helpful on this path.
Documentation & Storytelling
Calling people with skills in social media, arts, blogging, photography, journalism, and media. Why and to whom does this data matter? How does this data matter to you and your community? In what ways do you imagine this data being used in the future?
A diverse group of people-not just climate scientists-benefit from this information in a number of ways. From archaeologists and city planners, to indigenous communities and local citizens that inhabit coastal towns, this data is valuable to a variety of stakeholders. We welcome you to write a story about who and which local communities, organizations, and institutions currently use specific datasets, and how.