101 Uses for Dead Data: 101 to 99

Sure, you collect a lot of data, but if you don't use it effectively, it's essentially dead. And I'm talking "a tree falls on you in a forest and nobody's around to help" dead. This occasional blog series aims to give you some inspiration for creatively interpreting and using your data.

101. Track an Illness

What Do All These Stupid Numbers MEAN?

Flickr Photo: EugeniusD80Earlier this week, I wrote about sifting through a mountain of data as we re-think our metrics for 2009. We're creating internal numbers to track faster than we can track them. Then, there's all the data we're producing about our causes, our donors, and our clients. We're creating a forest of numbers to navigate through. I bet you all have similar issues.

But, as the old saying goes, are we seeing that forest, or are we obsessing about trees?

Who Does Your Data Belong To? Why YOU, Of Course!

An enthusiastic "Heck Yeah!" for the recent CNET Blog Post: "Should "open source" include open data?" In the post, author Matt Asay says:

I'm not speaking for the Open Source Initiative here, but to me this makes it critical to add open data provisions to the Open Source Definition. Why? Because open source that locks down one's data is not all that open, in the grand scheme of things.

Amen! But let's take it a step further. There are several big pieces to the vendor lock-in puzzle, and none of them are the exclusive domain of open source solutions.

Data Shines Its Light on the Political Process: An Interview with Dan Newman, MAPLight.org

Briefly, what is MAPLight.org?

MAPLight.org is a groundbreaking web site that brings together all campaign contributions given to legislators with how every legislator votes on a given bill. We illuminate the connections between money and politics, providing unprecedented information to enable advocacy groups and citizens to hold legislators accountable. The “MAP” in MAPLight.org stands for “Money And Politics.” For a 6-minute overview of the site, see our Video Tour.

Where did the idea that became MAPLight.org originate?

As a political volunteer, I was frustrated with the uphill battle that issue-oriented nonprofits and community groups fight against big-money special-interests. I saw the tremendous influence of campaign contributions on government, but when I explained these connections to others who did not yet see them, the examples were not good enough and there was too much hand-waving. I decided to build a website that illuminates the specific connections between campaign money and the specific issues people care about.

The Problem with Data

Data doesn't kill people, people kill people. And yet, more lives are affected by data than guns: data determines how many Congress people represent you (unless you live in DC) and often how much money your state gets; data is one of the primary things (some say the only thing) that determines your mortgage interest rate; and data is often the last refuge of a specious argument.

With data so important these days, you'd better have some or you'll get left out, competed away, or find yourself unable to prove anything to anyone. Miss providing data and you'll miss out on money or opportunities for you, your organization, or your community.

The problem with data, as it currently exists in federal agencies and web sites, is that it's very difficult to use despite being very relevant, down to a neighborhood level. Interviewing people who try to make use of this data is sobering: "We used to spend a thousand hours a year processing HMDA data for our local community." "We have to pay through the nose to get good neighborhood level reports on data that's otherwise 'free'." "Why can't free data be free?"

As part of the Fannie Mae Foundation, we used to get many grant requests for data analysis equipment or services and for thousand dollar neighborhood market reports. Yet, often, what grantees really needed was free use of free data. Enter DataPlace. DataPlace makes understanding community statistics easy with tools such as rankings, charts, histograms, and maps that use the free federal statistics presented through an easy-to-use interface.