The weekend of March 4th 2017 was Open Data Weekend where people all over the world gathered to discuss the latest news and innovations of the Open Data movement.
Locally, I attended the New York City School of Data event hosted by BetaNYC where data enthusiasts, data scientists, students, activists, and more came together to exchange news on projects and current events. This event was organized by Noel Hidalgo who is the founder and executive director of BetaNYC. BetaNYC hosted this event and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using technology and data to improve the lives of New Yorkers.
Alisha Austin, a speaker at the New York City School of data event who works at the Mayor’s Office of Operations, described the importance of data science in politics, “when I think of data science, I think of looking at patterns”. She sees data science as “really important to bring improvement to systems”. Although she admits there’s a lot about data that she’s still learning, she believes, “when people have ownership of their data they can improve their situation.”.
To better understand the importance of Open Data Weekend, it helps to understand a little history of the relationship between government and data.
A Brief History of Open Data
In 2014, a photo of a dumpster in Canada full of historic books and documents circulated around the internet. People called this act “libricide”. Vice ran an article about how the Harper Canadian government has been slashing funding, making it hard for researchers to do their work, and treating public records carelessly. In this article titled Silence of the Labs, the executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers told CBC, “What’s important is the scale of the assault on knowledge, and our ability to know about ourselves and to advance our understanding of our world”.
In 2016 it took massive persuasion for the government to act on the Flint Water Crisis and stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Both situations rely heavily on responsibly conducted research data. January 23rd 2017, the Trump administration leaked an email stating that funding will be frozen for the Environmental Protection Agency.
One day later, George Orwell’s 1984, hit the best seller list. At a time when our facts are under threat and seldom taken seriously, we cannot rely on the government to sanction our precious records. In fact, history has shown we never have. Here is the history of forced sterilization of black and Latino women and here is how Alexandra Minna Stern happened upon them on accident practically forgotten. In 2013, records revealed that 150 women in California’s state prisons were sterilized without consent.
To combat the elimination of public records and promote transparency, in December of 2007, 30 open-data pioneers established eight principles for open government data. Ever since, there has been a growing movement of people dedicated to making public records more accessible to the layperson.
Below I’ve highlighted some of the ways people are bringing data to you so you can participate in the movement for more transparency. These are the 2 developments pertinent to lives of people in New York City and of the planet.
Tools for Democracy
Increasing democratic participation in New York City and all over the country was a topic of debate this past election cycle. Unfortunately, participation in local elections are below 15% and community boards are not very responsive. David Moore, the founder of participatorypolitics.org explains that it is, “important for people to feel connected to solutions” and that so far that movement has been “a back and forth slow progress to city participation.”
Moore gave a brief overview of the tool he has developed online called nyc.councilmatic.org to help people become more informed so they could be better engaged in local political events. The website allows you to go to enter keywords related to issues you care about and then subscribe them to your email so that you can receive any alerts when any type of legislation is brought up about it. I recommend checking them out and setting up some alerts for issues you care about.
Hacking the Council
After Moore’s talk came members of the New York City strategy council team. For those who don’t know, until 2015, there was no tech team for New York City councilmen. Melissa Mark-Viverito, councilwoman for New York City’s 8th district created the initiative, Council 2.0, to revamp the City Council website and make local politics available online.
Joyce Chioli, a member of the tech team, described her job as being “really focused on the people rather than innovation for its own sake”. She described the importance of city council as the “backbone from which participation is most effective”. With voter turnout so low for local elections, Chioli says that it is “an uphill battle to get people to understand, internally, that making information available is good.”
Chioli and her colleagues represent the rising movement to bring technology to democracy, which brings new and important challenges to voter participation. Allowing people to vote online has shown that participation is highest in white affluent areas. Choili warns us that “detailed information doesn’t need to be complex” and “tech for tech’s sake can adversely affect marginalized communities” for her, “vision and innovation must be as top down as bottom up.”
Further information:
To view the live stream about preserving data, click on this link (I appear at 31:55!).
To view the live stream of the mainstage, click here.
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