Engaging the Community with the PSU Data

CommonsDavid Percy

Geospatial Data ManagerPSU Institute for Metropolitan Studies

NNIP 2012 Portland

I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time. - Blaise Pascal

Greater Portland Pulse Regional Equity

Atlas

Ecodistricts Assessment

Tools

Other, including Teaching and

Research, Community Engagement

PSU Data Commons

The Pulse

Introduction to data organization

Geography ID Percent Children in Poverty Margin of Error41067033600 12.3 13.653011040101 1.2 1.3

Community workshops

• Going beyond what we deliver on PortlandPulse.org– Single indicators with simple vizzies

• Ability to tell their own stories with our data• We get traction in the community

Weave makes this possible

• Other approaches that I am aware of require programming in Javascript, Prototype, Raphael, etc.

• Some other options may exist, but they get branded by the company that provides it.

• Weave provides a simple, menu driven interface that lets us open our data to the public!

Analyst interface – barren and intimidating

Emphasis on sharing data on the web!

• Other data analysis tools, like Excel, SPSS, R, etc give the user more flexibility.

• For this purpose, all of our data are downloadable– Conversely, several people mentioned during the

Boston Data Days that are now used to the advanced capabilities in Weave, and miss them when using other tools

• Comfort with tool is key predictor of vizzie success

Start simply• First we show them how

to make a bar chart• I walk through it, without

them following along.• This is hard for them • Then they get 15

minutes to do it themselves…

Then keep going!

• Line chart• Four – dimensional scatterplot• Explore data tables• Look at data by time and geography

Interactive maps!

I offered an intermediate workshop few weeks agoI offered an intermediate workshop few weeks ago

Intermediate workshop

• I offered an intermediate workshop a few weeks ago

• Focused on users adding their own data and mashing up with the PSU Data Commons

• Also, publishing their own versions of vizzies without uploading anything to our site!

Empowering activism with our data

• Main point:– Getting our data into others’ hands and letting

them publish with it leverages the utility of our data efforts!

Thanks!