Data struggles: The life and times of a database in Historical Climatology

Abstract

Open access to research data has become an issue in many contemporary sciences. One of them is Historical Climatology, a discipline drawing on archival materials to study the climate’s past. Based on fieldwork, the article explores the construction of a shared database by a group of historical climatologists and describes the strategies and hopes built into that infrastructure. I examine how the possession and provision of data relate to issues of recognition and legitimacy, thereby turning database construction into a practice of social import. Further, I argue that taking into account the diversity of research materials from which climate data is constituted – historical documents, tree-rings, ice-cores, etc. – is crucial for apprehending both the status of distinct types of data and the status of distinct research groups in the scientific field under investigation here.