Recent workforce disruptions and grant cancellations have separated hundreds of earth scientists from their research and institutions. While raw data may remain on servers, the vital undocumented context — methodological workarounds, interrupted longitudinal data, negative results — is at immediate risk of permanent loss. This interactive session workshops an Earth Science Knowledge Living Library framework operating on three levels: The Living Library (a dynamic accessible repository for sharing undocumented knowledge); The Knowledge Trust (a steward of intellectual property using Creator-Controlled Licensing); and The Seed Vault (a secure embargoed preservation space). Participants will validate licensing principles, map knowledge-at-risk scenarios, and identify pilot advisory board members.
Audience
Researchers whose work has been disrupted; anyone interested in knowledge preservation; broad relevance across the Earth science informatics community
MORE BACKGROUND
Draft Discussion Prospectus: The Earth Science Knowledge Rescue Initiative
(Note: Concept development, drafts, and prompting by Steve Young. Substantial contributions from Google Gemini AI with further editing by Steve, who is responsible for any deficiencies.)
Executive Summary
The earth science community is currently experiencing unprecedented workforce disruptions. Job losses, grant cancellations, and institutional instability have abruptly separated thousands of scientists from their labs and research.
While the immediate human cost is severe, there is a secondary, silent crisis: a catastrophic loss of scientific knowledge.
When scientists are disconnected from their roles, their formal data may remain on an institutional server or be “rescued”, but an unpublished corpus—the "knowledge at risk of loss"—walks out the door with them. The Earth Science Knowledge Rescue Initiative is an independent, non-extractive "lifeboat" designed to rapidly capture, protect, and house this vulnerable knowledge before it fades, ensuring it remains available to the broader scientific enterprise and anchored to the scientist who created it.
The Crisis: Knowledge at Risk of Loss
The modern scientific enterprise is heavily reliant on knowledge that may not be accessibly documented. This "file drawer" intelligence includes:
Interrupted Longitudinal Data: Years 1-3 of a habitat study where Year 4 was suddenly cancelled.
Methodological Workarounds: Undocumented tweaks to field equipment or protocols that make the science actually work in harsh environments.
“Tips and tricks” for dealing with data anomalies: How to work with peculiarities in datasets based on the researcher’s experience.
Negative Results: Unpublished researched failures that, if shared, would prevent other researchers from wasting effort on redundant dead ends.
Nascent Hypotheses: Raw field observations and early-stage conservation ideas that lost funding but may hold immense future value.
The DIKW Reality: Why "Saving the Data" is Not Enough
When disruptions occur, many institutions and allies prioritize backing up vulnerable data resources. But understanding the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom (DIKW) pyramid reveals why this is insufficient:
Data are the raw material (e.g., a spreadsheet of soil pH levels). They live on servers, hopefully accompanied with high-quality metadata.
Information is data given context and interpretability (e.g., a chart showing pH drops after rainfall).
Knowledge is the synthesis of information with human experience, intuition, and mental models. For example, it provides ability to interpret anomalies (e.g., knowing the pH drop is caused by leaching from a specific type of concrete infrastructure upstream). Although related, knowledge delves into greater depths than metadata reasonably can address.
Wisdom is the magical manifestation that can result from rich knowledge and experience.
If a hard drive of raw data is orphaned, even if they have access, future researchers may not be able to use the data effectively if they lack knowledge of key matters such as how instruments were calibrated or what visual field conditions existed at the time. Data can be backed up or rescued; knowledge also must be rescued.
Core Principles of the Initiative
We recognize that disrupted scientists are currently operating in a state of high stress and vulnerability. Our engagement with them is governed by three absolute principles:
Respectful, Strictly Non-Extractive Stewardship: We are not mining vulnerable researchers for institutional gain. The proposed knowledge platform exists to serve knowledge providers, acting as an independent steward for their intellectual property.
IP Ownership and Control: Through robust licensing arrangements, scientists can retain 100% ownership and control over any of their knowledge and related materials they archive.
Open as Possible, Closed as Necessary: While our philanthropic goal is to make this rescued knowledge available to the global science community, this is entirely subject to the scientists’ wishes. As the IP controller, they dictate whether their content is open, abstracted, or strictly private.
Operational Methodology
To capture this knowledge, we must meet displaced scientists where they are, acknowledging their scarcity or lack of time, resources, and institutional support.
Low-Friction Capture: We bypass the need for formal report writing. We utilize secure, asynchronous oral histories (voice memos, video interviews, blog posts), digitization of raw field notebooks, and guided peer-to-peer debriefs between disrupted colleagues.
ORCID Integration for Continuity: We actively assist scientists in linking their newly archived materials directly to their ORCID ID. This anchors their unpublished works to their persistent professional identity, bypassing the need for a current institutional affiliation.
Honoraria for Expertise: We recognize that their time and mental models are highly valuable. The initiative provides appropriate honoraria for their participation, treating the capture process as a respected consultation between peers.
Value Proposition by Stakeholder
Because this initiative sits at the intersection of individual scientists, philanthropy, and the broader scientific community, its value can be viewed through multiple lenses:
For the Displaced Scientist: Provides immediate IP protection, a financial honorarium, preservation of their professional legacy via ORCID, and a secure platform to signal their expertise to future collaborators or NGOs.
For Philanthropic Funders: Represents a uniquely high-ROI intervention. Instead of funding new research from scratch, funders can "rescue" millions of dollars' worth of previously funded, interrupted research for pennies on the dollar, ensuring past investments in earth science are not wasted.
For NGOs, Conservation Firms, and Academia: Creates a searchable index of available, highly trained experts and surfaces previously hidden insights and negative results that can accelerate current environmental solutions.
Conclusion
The Earth Science Knowledge Rescue Initiative transforms a moment of severe professional crisis into an opportunity for systemic resilience. By valuing and protecting the minds of our displaced scientists, we ensure that the vital "how" and "why" of earth science is not lost to disruption, but preserved for the future of the planet.
