IS 353-02
The federal government has always
made public records of demographics, public health, traffic patterns, energy
consumption, family incomes and other topics on the web. This is an abundance
of data that can be helpful for insights and discoveries but that can take a
long time to find and sort through. The M.I.T. Media Lab is coming out with a
project that seeks to ease the challenge of sorting through the data and making
the value of government data available to a wider audience[1].
This project is called Data USA,
which is free and the software code is open source, meaning developers can
build custom applications by adding other data. The article discusses many
points including the funding and goal of the project. Deloitte, the consulting
and auditing firm, provided funding and expertise on how people use government
data sets in business. Deloitte was proud to fund this operation because it can
be used to help executives, policymakers, and citizens better understand issues
in areas like jobs, skills, education and health[2].
Patricia Buckley, the director of economic policy and analysis at Deloitte and
a former senior economist at the Department of Commerce explained the goal of
the project; organizing and visualizing data in a way that a lot of people
think about it1. The website uses
colorful graphics and short sentences to display data.
This article was mostly about the
goal and background of the website, Data USA. I would have liked to see
more examples of what the data on the website could accomplish and maybe how visualization could help researchers. The whole idea of visualization is amazing because it can communicate the data in graphs and other ways to better understand the information. In another article, there were more examples of
how this data could be used. For example, “business owners can view regional
data to determine which locations would be effective for opening a new office
by pinpointing areas with the most skilled workforce along with affordable real
estate.”2This would help researchers in major
companies and minimize time wasted on other researching methods that lead
nowhere. Income statistics are also available on the website, so students
currently studying in College’s can determine their career choices by
researching the highest earning positions or looking for cities with more job
opportunities. I would have also liked the NY Times to provide some background
information on Deloitte, the MIT Media Lab, and DataWheel. The Media Lab applies unorthodox
research approaches for using technology that would impact everyday life. They
range from projects about neuroscience to innovation modes of transportation.
Deloitte inspires their clients to make challenging business decisions with
confidence and that could lead to a stronger economy and healthier society. DataWheel is a small crew of programmers that build visualization platforms2.
The article also does not touch on
the criticism or issues Data USA may face. This is a very limited market
and I wonder how successful this website will be. I also have not seen any
marketing for this website, it would be nice to see more advertising for it. The
website itself looks very organized and simple to use. I liked how the main
page has features of present day issues and articles like “Racial Breakdown of
Poverty in Flint, Michigan.”[3] Visualization is a popular method to view data, and it is great to see government data being displayed like this. Not only is this website an organized and creative way to research data it also
features related articles and trends.
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