how to become a data storyteller...how to become a data storyteller justin bruce, senior project...

How to Become a Data StorytellerJustin Bruce, Senior Project Manager, Tyler TechnologiesKirk McLean, Director of Open Data, City of Buffalo, NY

Public sector software isn't just what we do.

It's all we do.

Who we serve

Federal Agencies States Counties Municipalities K-12 Education Special Districts

Loving County, TexasPopulation 82*

Solutions for rural counties to the largest U.S. metros

Los Angeles County, CaliforniaPopulation 10.1 million*


Data & Insights

Public Administration

Appraisal & Tax

Land & Official Records

Civic Services

ERP Financial

Courts & Public Safety

Public Safety

Courts & Justice

School Solutions

K-12 Education

Data & Insights

Solutions working together to simplify complex operations


Defining Data Storytelling


The process of translating data and/or analyses into layman's terms in order to influence a

business decision or action.



The Four Big “To-Do’s”

1. Define purpose

2. Identify audience

3. Define approach and content

4. Communicate openly and frequently



Valuing Data Storytelling


Why is Data Storytelling Valuable?

• Humanizes your story

• Gives perspective to your data

• Provides visually compelling components

• Identifies and supports a Call to Action

Valuing Data Storytelling


Humanize Your Story


- Definition

- What does it mean?

- How can you do it?

Example: Metro Nashville, Tennessee

Humanize Your Story


Give Perspective to Your Data


- Definition



Example: Pierce County, Washington

Give Perspective to Your Data


Provide Visually Compelling Components


- Definition



Example: City of St. Petersburg, Florida

Provide Visually Compelling Components


Support a Call to Action


- Definition



Example: State of Pennsylvania

Support a Call to Action


Kirk McLeanDirector of Open DataDepartment of Management Information Systems (MIS)City of Buffalo, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


What is Open Data?


Open data is data that can be freely used, reused and redistributed by anyone.

Buffalo’s Open Data policy defines open data as "publishable City data and datasets that are available online, in a freely accessible format."

Open data is a common good owned by everyone, easily accessible in machine-readable format.

What is Open Data?


An Abridged History of the Open Data Movement


2003

Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences winner Elinor Ostron highlighted how common information is similar to public goods, because the use of common information by one person does not impede the use by others.

However, she noted common information is a public good of a new kind: the use of common information doesn’t deplete the common stock, but enriches it.

History of the Open Data Movement


2007

A group of Internet activists/advocates held a meeting in Sebastopol, north of San Francisco. Their aim was to define the concept of open public data and have it adopted by the US presidential candidates.



“…We must apply the principles of open source and its working methods to public affairs.”



2009

A little over a year later, President Barack Obama took office in the White House and signed presidential memoranda concerning open government, of which open data is one of the pillars.

These presidential memos explicitly set the culture of open source at the heart of public action by claiming its founding principles: transparency, participation and collaboration.



Data.gov went live in late May 2009.

"The purpose of data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government."

It was the first platform to deliver data to everyone: citizens, civic hackers, academics – anyone seeking value from government information.



In 2013, Governor Andrew Cuomo

launched the Open Budget transparency portal, and in March he signed the executive order “Using Technology to Promote Transparency, Improve Government Performance and Enhance Citizen Engagement” and launched Open.NY.gov, New York State’s open data portal.



Buffalo’s Open Data Journey


May 2013

The City of Buffalo welcomed a senior global team of IBM executives as part of an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant to identify new ways to use technology to create a smarter, stronger Buffalo.

One of their key long-term recommendations was to develop a governance model to implement open data and data sharing to fuel proactive, data-driven decisions and policy.



April 2015

Bloomberg Philanthropies launches the What Works Cities Initiative, a program designed to help 100 mid-sized American cities improve their use of data and evidence.

June 2015

The City of Buffalo submits an application packet to become a member city of the What Works Cities Initiative.



March 2016

A What Works Cities team conducts an onsite visit with Buffalo to identify strategic priorities and goals and create an action plan for the City of Buffalo.

May 2016

A memorandum of understanding is signed between the City of Buffalo and Bloomberg Philanthropies to design a project to build capacity to open up the City’s data.



September 2016Department heads appoint data liaisons and the City of Buffalo Open Data Governance Committee convenes its first meeting.

January 2017The City’s draft Open Data policy is published online for interactive public commenting. The policy garners 95 votes of support versus one vote of opposition, and over 100 comments from citizens on how our policy could be stronger.

February 2017The City releases a request for proposals for an open data portal and content management system.

MILESTONES


July 2017Contract for open data portal and content management system awarded by the Buffalo Common Council to Socrata, Inc.

MILESTONES

August 2017Open Data policy signed by Mayor Byron W. Brown; the City starts Open Data portal implementation project.

February 22nd, 2018Open Data Buffalo portal (https://data.buffalony.gov) launches

https://data.buffalony.gov


Since the Open Data Buffalo portal went live, the City of Buffalo has:

• Released 30 open datasets

• Released 32 geospatial assets

• Federated with the State's open data portal

• Participated in New York's 1st Upstate Data Summit

• Received a Trailblazer Award from NYS Department of State, Division of Local Government Services

• Held two Civic Innovation Challenge and partnered with AT&T and other sponsors to award $20,000 in prize money to local civic innovators

• Climbed to 4th place on the U.S. City Open Data Census, a crowdsourced measure of public access to public datasets in municipalities across the United States run by the Sunlight Foundation and Open Knowledge International



How Do You Decide Which Datasets to Publish to Your Online Open Data Portal?


• Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) Requests

• Recommendations from Data Liaisons

• 311 Information Requests

• Departmental Dataset Brainstorming

• Community Discussions

Data Prioritization


How is the Community Engagingwith Open Data Portal?


From Dr. Aaron Krolikowski, independent research consultant (akroadvice.com):

“The Buffalo & Erie County Lead Safe Task Force has been using the City of Buffalo's Open Data system to assess lead risk at the property-level and to focus efforts (and resources) on household lead hazards like chipping and peeling paint. The 2019-2020 Assessment Roll and the City's Rental Registry have both been made available online, and the partners on the project (Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, City of Buffalo, Erie County Department of Health, The Martin Group) are using these datasets to create personalized messaging for each property owner regarding the year the house was built (pre-1978), whether or not it is a rental property (80% of Buffalo's lead poisoning cases live in rental units), and if the property is in compliance with local lead regulations.”


“Based on the information shared by the City of Buffalo, we are developing a large-scale communications campaign that will share highly-targeted property-by-property information and action points the owner must take to bring the property into lead-safe compliance. Combined with an ongoing infusion of philanthropic and public support, the Task Force has a goal of reducing childhood lead poisoning rates by 25% in the highest-risk neighborhoods over the next two years. The project is also using the city's database of licensed contractors, the stream of 311 calls, and recent code violations regarding chipping and peeling paint. Each of these datasets would have required a costly (time and money) FOIL process. There is no doubt that the availability of data in the City of Buffalo's Open Data system is accelerating and increasing the effectiveness of our local lead poisoning prevention efforts.”


Not Everyone is a Data Scientist.So…


How open is open data if the people we are opening it up to do not have the knowledge or skills to effectively leverage this common

good?


Not Everyone is a Data Scientist.…Yet


Data 101 Vision

To cultivate and support a data-savvy public equipped with analytic and technical data skills that can bolster their efforts to create a higher quality of life for their communities, from helping to strengthen neighborhood improvement grant applications to having a better understanding of what’s happening in our City.

Data 101 is designed to guide you from what data is to how to make your data tell a story.


Week 1 What is Data? What is Open Data?

Learning Outcomes

• Define and discuss the concept of data

• Describe the term “open data” and differentiate open data from other related terms

• Examine the open data movement in a politico-historical context

• Relate the emergence and progress of Open Data Buffalo to the larger socio-historical movement


Week 2Open Data Buffalo – Deep Dive

Learning Outcomes

• Operate and navigate the Open Data Buffalo portal• Locate and review Open Data Buffalo features and assets• Use the Data Catalog to effectively search for data• Recognize when and how to submit a request for data


Week 3Exploring Data –

Spreadsheets & Visualizations

Learning Outcomes

• Identify when to roll-up, sort, and filter a dataset • Use the Open Data Buffalo platform to roll-up, sort, and filter data • Match analytic or exploratory goal with appropriate graphic presentation• Employ the basic workflow for creating a data visualization on Open Data

Buffalo


Week 4Data Science

Learning Outcomes

• Define a research statement• Formulate a problem statement• Apply acquired skills to investigate sample research question• Combine the data with your own stories• The power of visual storytelling: a closer look at your neighborhood


Your community can tell endless stories once your city opens its data and once they’re equipped with

the knowledge and skills to make sense of spreadsheets.


Kirk McLeanDirector of Open DataDepartment of Management Information Systems (MIS)City of Buffalo, [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


Questions?

how to become a data storyteller...how to become a data storyteller justin bruce, senior project...

Documents