Already Beyond the Data Portal

Posted on by spjika

I was inspired by a recent piece by the wonderful @jedsundwall on his gov3.0 blog about the need to be going beyond data portals (much like a recent book I contributed too focuses on BeyondTransparency, shameless plug yes).

Jed totally hits it with this assessment of a growing attitude in local government towards just getting the data out:

It’s time to acknowledge that data is not made useful simply by making it available online. As we work to make data open and available, we also need to train people who can help make it accessible and useful.

In cities locally and globally the concept of open data is being pitched by vendors as a simple, turnkey thing they purchase and simply check it off their list of good government tasks.  Not enough cities have realized that this huge data resource is an amazingly underutilized and under-leveraged resource for them. In Oakland, so much of the data being published leaves much to be desired and leads to dozens of new questions about the source, quality, meaning and completeness of these data, but the city isn’t really embracing this as a way to engage the community and to see these data reach more of their potential.

Jed goes on to suggest an alternative reality where data support exists side by side with the data portals:

You’re doing your research, but you’ve heard of the San Diego Regional Data Library. You go to its website and see that you can email, call, or chat online with a data librarian who can help you find the information you need. You call the library and speak with a librarian who tells you that the data you need is provided by the county rather than the city. You also learn about datasets available from California’s Department of Transportation, a non-profit called BikeSD, Data.gov and some other data from the city that hasn’t been opened up yet.

This is where my two worlds collide. The #opendata & #opengov world is leading and pushing from a certain position, mostly not connected to the existing community research, indicator and data world and the community indicators world has been slow in embracing this brave new world of easy access to data.  We need to get along, to understand each others positions and intentions and we can really make this #datadriven world matter for our communities.

The concept of a data library is very similar to what groups like Urban Strategies Council have been doing for 15 years with our InfoAlamedaCounty.org project.  For a long time we’ve seen the need to provide communities with reliable research and data to drive action and we’ve struggled to get access to data for this entire time. 

We formed the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership in 1992 with the Urban Institute to help build the field nationally to help empower more communities in just this way- we have a mandate to publish data and make usable, actionable information to communities equally. Our partner organizations in 37 cities have local knowledge and regional knowledge, expertise in community development, reentry, public safety, economic development, education and health, so we’re able to not just provide raw and improved data, we’re able to be an active, responsive voice in or communities to make more data actionable.

Many NNIP partners are starting to embrace the open data world and this is a powerful recipe for a data driven future that is focused on equity in our cities- most NNIP partners have a social mission as opposed to just doing data in a cold, calculated way.  But the unfortunate truth is that as our cities are becoming more data rich, many NNIP partners are facing declining funding to help support community uses of data.  It would be a mistake for funders to largely lose interest in community data intermediaries (not a sexy concept) in the excitement over open data, because none of these data become actionable and meaningful without serious support, engagement and use.

The data library is a great concept, and our experience in Oakland and many other cities says there’s huge need and value for such an entity.  Our cities can themselves play some part by being more engaged through their open data resources, but that’s never going to be enough, just like Chicago has fantastic staff who engage, there’s still a role for the Smart Chicago Collaborative effort to bring that power out to communities across the city.

More data, more engagement, more power to the people?

Oakland’s Citizen Redistricting Comission

Posted on by spjika

In late 2013 as the city’s redistricting process began to wind down, several organizations involved in the Oakland Votes Coalition and city officials began talking about the possibility of creating a Citizens Redistricting Commission to avoid the usual politicized process in Oakland every 10 years.  The commission concept has been discussed as being somewhat aligned to the structures of those used in the California State Redistricting and the model that Austin implemented (based on California’s).

The main components for consideration in creating such a commission are:

  • Independently appointed citizen commissioners;
  • Diversity amongst commissioners;
  • Size of commission;
  • Budget & staffing support;
  • Authority & Process;
  • Cycle- Oakland is on a strange cycle, a year or two behind other cities/states, we can correct that;
  • Disqualifying factors for commissioners;
  • Who gets to appoint or nominate; and
  • Timeframe for existence- an ad-hoc committee can form the year of a redistricting process and be terminated after the process and any court cases are complete.

The groups present in the discussions so far include: Council Members Schaaf and Kalb, The League of Women Voters, Urban Strategies Council. ACCE, Oakland Rising and the Greenlining Institute.  This is not a formal body of any kind and the group  is not limited to these organizations.

To get broader feedback on this concept the city and the coalition are seeking your ideas, you can respond in the survey here.

The current intention is that this could be passed by City Council for inclusion in the November election as a ballot measure.  This will require Council to hear and approve this starting in May 2014.  it will result in a Charter Amendment to create such a commission if the ballot were to pass.

Those who would like to be involved organizationally can contact the Oakland Votes Coalition or Council Member Kalb or Schaaf’s offices.

In 2013 we created a number of resources to inform our community about redistricting and voting patterns in Oakland, check out our dynamic voting outcomes map tool and our summary of the redistricting outcomes here.

The Last Month of My Life

Posted on by spjika

I realized today that I haven’t written much in the last month, even though it’s been quite a month.  That may be because much of this month has involved the following: (warning, NTSF)

Aand also don’t let your girlfriends see this or they may leave you for me..

it’s pretty hot…

Yup, we’ve once again landed into the wonderful world of sleep deprivation and projectile pooping and well, utter, inexplicable joy.  Lucy Jane was born on 12/13/13, she arrived ridiculously easily to be honest, a long labor but cray fast delivery, it was an absolute blessing for us both.

So we got another of those best Christmas present ever things and now we’re a full car family. Someone recently said Merry Christmas to All the Spikers, and it kinda struck me- there are “all of us” now, we’re a full car load, a family of four, it’s a really strange feeling.  Doesn’t make you feel old or mature still, just strangely unqualified to be a parent once again with all this responsibility. Awesome and nerve racking at the same time.

I honestly expected to be a little less emotional with our second daughter’s arrival- perhaps a dumb idea that the second time is less significant? In the end it was so much the opposite- I was overwrought with joy and love when she arrived, I think perhaps the first child is an unknown thing, you know you want kids but not what it really means.  The second comes with you having a much deeper, realer understanding of the indescribable joy and love that parenthood can bring.  Knowing how much a child means seemed to deepen my reaction to a new addition.

To be honest I was dreading the first few months of having another newborn- Grace’s first few months were hard, really hard. On me anyway… And being a selfish bastard that’s what counts right? Ok maybe not. I had a mixed set of feelings about our second- excitement and anxiety.  But so far this month has been a huge joy, partly because Lucy Jane actually sleeps ten times better than her big sister did, but partly because it’s been almost a whole month of just being with my family.

Which brings me back to the point of this post- the last month. I’ve worked as a social impact org for almost 8 years, like most such orgs the pay is modest but fair and we don’t provide full family health insurance, but we do have an awesomely family friendly workplace and policies.  Making the choice to take a whole month from work once you hit the exec level is really tough- you live with the idea that people really need you, but you have to choose to put time into your family or you risk losing one or the other… So I’m extremely grateful to my CEO Junious Williams for allowing me this time with my new family- many companies wouldn’t give the nod to a time away this long, but it has really been a super valuable time to just be with my girls, all three of them.  When I think about the default in the USA it makes me really fricking angry- we claim to be a Christian country all the time yet we have the most un-Christian, anti-family federal policies and business practices in a developed western country- we don’t encourage strong, healthy families, we encourage profit. 

I’m feeling pressure to get back into the mix, but I don’t want to end this time of just being a dad every day, all day. And all night, like at 4am holding a crying baby while watching Game of Thrones with wireless headphones on.

Oh and sure, sometimes I miss the freedom of not having kids and being able to go to every single hackathon or event in the bay area, but really, you can’t get much happier than sitting on the sofa with a daughter lying on each arm.  This is the shit people.

Google Bussing

Posted on by spjika

Stamen Design’s talented Eric Rodenbeck wrote a very illuminating piece for Wired on the work they did surveying the tech bus route and usage patterns recently- it’s a fantastic example of mapping and data work to provide clarity on a complex issue that affects equity, justice and urban change. Read it here and check out their map below- nothing like hard(ish) data to inform a public discourse!