Chris Marcum 📖
banner
csmarcum.bsky.social
Chris Marcum 📖
@csmarcum.bsky.social
Open Science Advocate and Policy Wonk

Timely updates sync'd from my mastodon account bridge: @csmarcum.sciences.social.ap.brid.gy

🌉 bridged from sciences.social/@csmarcum on the fediverse by fed.brid.gy

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0899-6143
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
@simon I've got a plan on World Factbook and wanted to see if you're interested in discussing it - devastating. your 2020 ghp is so valued.
February 5, 2026 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
I suppose in a world where facts don't matter, a world factbook is an anathema to policy:

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/spotlighting-the-world-factbook-as-we-bid-a-fond-farewell/
February 4, 2026 at 11:25 PM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
mastodon.social
February 8, 2026 at 6:58 PM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
The Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology / National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) panel on AI-ready government data highlights one big success for public access to federal data. More from Madison Alder :

https://fedscoop.com/federal-goverment-mcp-improve-ai-access-public-data/
Federal officials tap open-source standard to improve GenAI access to public data
Officials are using a standard known as “Model Context Protocol” to ensure that queries to third-party AI chatbots like ChatGPT are informed by public data.
fedscoop.com
February 4, 2026 at 9:10 PM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
There is no valid reason we're doing this. Federal data matter. #defenddata #defendresearch #statsky
I suppose in a world where facts don't matter, a world factbook is an anathema to policy:

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/spotlighting-the-world-factbook-as-we-bid-a-fond-farewell/ . Original post bridged here.
February 6, 2026 at 12:30 AM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
"The end of the World Factbook is a reminder of how fragile public access to federal data can be."

Tonight's recommended reading from @csmarcum.bsky.social @dataindex.us

dataindex.us/newsletter/a...
The World Factbook Was a Valuable Data Resource | America's Data Index
dataindex.us
February 6, 2026 at 3:53 AM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
The CIA just stopped publishing their World Factbook and took every page, including the archived copies of previous versions!

This sucks. It was public domain, so I recovered the 2020 edition (the last one published as a zip file) and shared it to GitHub […]
Original post on fedi.simonwillison.net
fedi.simonwillison.net
February 5, 2026 at 12:26 AM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
I imagine I'm not alone in having valued the World Factbook since childhood. If you also value continued public access to incredible federal data resources like this, consider supporting one of the data preservation, rescue, or amplification initiatives that are doing such great work on those […]
Original post on sciences.social
sciences.social
February 5, 2026 at 9:05 PM
I suppose in a world where facts don't matter, a world factbook is an anathema to policy:

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/spotlighting-the-world-factbook-as-we-bid-a-fond-farewell/ . Original post bridged here.
February 4, 2026 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
Corinna Turbes and I discuss comments submitted to the NIH Office of Science Policy Request for Information on Article Processing Charges from the lens of dispelling myths about public access at The National Institutes of Health in Upstream by FORCE11:

https://doi.org/10.54900/6m4xn-y3m49
The Cost of Confusion: Dispelling Myths about the NIH Public Access Policy and Article Processing Charges
Last July, the NIH issued an RFI on limiting direct spending on article processing charges (APCs). Over 900 public responses offered valuable perspectives but also exposed widespread misconceptions about the NIH Public Access Policy and scholarly publishing.
upstream.force11.org
February 4, 2026 at 12:47 PM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
This is strong win for transparency and keeping the enemies of government openness checked:

https://www.govexec.com/management/2026/01/court-orders-omb-publish-more-info-about-how-federal-funding-distributed/411092/ . Original post bridged here.
February 3, 2026 at 12:59 PM
A new mirror for the Bash reference manual!

https://youtube.com/shorts/ge955rbJ_EM?si=ZhPckjA-kSMw1Sjp . Original post bridged here.
February 3, 2026 at 4:29 PM
This is strong win for transparency and keeping the enemies of government openness checked:

https://www.govexec.com/management/2026/01/court-orders-omb-publish-more-info-about-how-federal-funding-distributed/411092/ . Original post bridged here.
February 3, 2026 at 12:59 PM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
This is a devastatingly bleak outlook for the Federal Statistical System and the economically critical data it produces by Andy Kiersz in Business Insider today:

https://www.businessinsider.com/disappearing-economic-data-bad-economy-recession-unemployment-bls-jobs-report-2026-2
February 2, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
washingtonian.com
February 3, 2026 at 3:22 AM
Every day reveals a new way to break my heart.

https://washingtonian.com/2026/02/02/could-trump-tear-down-the-kennedy-center-like-he-did-the-east-wing/ . Original post bridged here.
February 3, 2026 at 3:29 AM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
Full moon reflecting on the snow last night in Maryland. 2/1/2026
February 2, 2026 at 12:40 PM
Full moon reflecting on the snow last night in Maryland. 2/1/2026 . Original post bridged here.
February 2, 2026 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
Excellent deep dive into the NIH Institute Director search morass from Undark.

undark.org/2026/01/29/n...
At NIH, a Power Struggle Over Institute Directorships Deepens
The biomedical research giant is largely run by 27 institute and center directors. Will those roles become politicized?
undark.org
January 29, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Chris Marcum 📖
"The relentless pursuit of academic success through publications in prestigious journals nearly broke me. Looking back, I’m not sure it was worth the sacrifice. " From, Zvonimir Marelja, PhD in Science Magazine (a prestigious journal) […]
Original post on sciences.social
sciences.social
January 30, 2026 at 12:00 PM
Data hero, MD State Senate candidate, and whistleblower Chuck Borges's interview about DOGE's data breach at the Social Security Administration on PBS News Hour is at 33:24 here:

https://www.pbs.org/video/january-27-2026-pbs-news-hour-full-episode-1769490003/ . Original post bridged here.
January 28, 2026 at 3:59 PM
RE: https://sciences.social/@csmarcum/115951562148810717

I wrote in detail about this here:
https://doi.org/10.59350/6461m-xxe70

[contains quote post or other embedded content] . Original post bridged here.
January 28, 2026 at 3:29 PM
More on the Chief Stat news from Madison Alder :

https://fedscoop.com/white-house-taps-new-chief-statistician/ . Original post bridged here.
January 28, 2026 at 2:59 PM
There's been a large number of datasets added to Data.gov this month:

http://chrismarcum.com/marcum-blog/2026/01/13/its-already-been-a-month.html . Original post bridged here.
January 28, 2026 at 12:29 PM