👉 Go to the Hackathon's website: https://lmu-osc.github.io/safeguar.de-hackathon/ 👈
The Trump administration has aggressively removed scientific and governmental research data from public access, purging thousands of web pages and datasets related to climate, health, demographics, LGBTQ + issues, and more — silently erasing vital knowledge that underpins scientific progress [1] [2].
While some European institutions start backing up at-risk research data [3] [4], the data rescue movement is driven by grassroots efforts like the Data Rescue Project and the Safeguarding Research initiative, who have mobilized volunteers, librarians, and scientists to download and archive these resources before they are lost forever.
The LMU Open Science Center is running a hackathon where we support, hands-on, the safeguar.de project.
At this hands-on event, we welcome Henrik Schönemann (HU Berlin), an initiator of safeguar.de, for an ignition talk. In the practical part, we will directly support the data rescue efforts. Here’s what we aim to do together:
- Learn & Build: Install a BitTorrent client on your own machine to seed and safeguard critical research datasets.
- Repurpose Old Hardware: Turn old 2.5" HDDs, Raspberry Pis, or laptops into dedicated data rescue nodes by installing Linux and setting up archiving tools.
- Improve Tools & Docs: Write better documentation and develop one-click installation scripts to simplify deployment on any system.
📅 Thursday, 7.8.2025, 16:00 - 19:00
📍 Leopoldstr. 13, 80802 Munich (exact location will be announced to registered participants)
While some parts are technical, we welcome everyone to contribute to: Outreach, documentation, coordination, creative ideas.
Let’s work together to preserve scientific knowledge and build a resilient, community-powered data infrastructure.
Contact: felix.schoenbrodt@psy.lmu.de
- Gather abandoned hardware (RPis, laptops, external 2.5" HDDs, large 3.5" HDDs) - do this before the hackathon
- Software development (see also https://codeberg.org/Safeguarding/sciop/projects)
- Linux/bash
- Python
- SQLite
- htmx
- Scraping/crawling datasets using browsertrix-crawler und scrapy
- Knowledge how to make macOS hardware capable to run Linux
- Hardware knowledge, e.g.
- optimizing power consumption
- A solar/battery setup
- Designing accessible documentation / tutorials (does not necessarily need technical knowledge; more creative and pedagogical skills)
- Outreach & community management
- BYOD
- Old Raspberry Pis
- Old Micro-SD cards (at least 1 GB)
- Old external HDDs
- Old Laptops
- Many Cables: Micro-USB --> Mini-USB
- Power strips
- Tools (Mini-Screwdrivers)
- [1] The fight to protect US data has begun
- [2] The Data Hoarders Resisting Trump’s Purge: Can librarians and guerrilla archivists save the country’s files from DOGE?
- [3] Uni Bremen und AWI retten wertvolle wissenschaftliche US-Datenbanken
- [4] Germany’s Plan for an Open and Independent PubMed Safety Net