Environmental causes typically work to preserve portions of the planet in their pre-human state. But conservation groups are increasingly finding ways of using modern technology to support their mission, allowing them to gather more information about the areas they protect and better argue to decision-makers and local residents why they are worth protecting. The Tropical [...]
What's So Smart About a Smart Meter? Smart meters are an integral unit of smart grids, technology hailed as the future of energy management. Replacing standard meters that are read in person once a month, smart meters transmit information directly to utility companies and collect higher quality data at short intervals of time. For utility [...]
Last week, DSSG fellow Peter Landwehr went to one of Enroll America's tabling events at Richton Park, IL, and watched how it went. The event was a standard Enroll America information session, with a volunteer sitting behind a table at a library, handing out information to passersby, and getting their contact information in turn. Here [...]
Every year, the World Bank Group lends billions of dollars to fund infrastructure and other development projects around the globe. Projects vary widely in scale and scope, ranging from developing hydropower systems to rehabilitating coral reefs to improving roads, health, education and agriculture systems. Contractors on these projects are typically hired through a competitive bidding [...]
To most people, Memphis, Tennessee evokes images of Elvis, Beale Street, and BBQ. But like many American cities, Memphis also faces a legacy of urban planning dominated by suburban growth and automobile transportation. Since 1970, the City of Memphis’s population has grown by 4 percent while the geographic area has increased by 55 percent, leaving [...]
Earmarks have been called “the best known, most notorious, and most misunderstood aspect of the congressional budgetary process.” These government budget items allocated to specific people, places, or projects are alternately described as a subversion of democracy or an important negotiation tool to smooth the passage of controversial legislation. But despite the attention earmarks attract, [...]
It's hard to believe we're already a third of the way through the summer. During a foggy week where Chicago did its best impression of San Francisco, the DSSG fellows started to transition from exploring and cleaning their data to conducting deeper analyses and constructing new tools to attack their partners' problems. Visits from Abhi [...]
The time for introductions is over at Data Science for Social Good. Joined at the start of the week by a smattering of late-arriving fellows, the project teams are now at full strength, and they spent the week narrowing down the specific goals for their work this summer. By the end of the week, project [...]
It was a busy week of working with and learning from our project partners, in person at the DSSG space on State Street, on video chats, and in conference calls. Fellows heard how a diverse range of organizations -- point-of-sale data analysts, non-profits working on homelessness and health insurance, government agencies covering education and public [...]
In the second week of the fellowship, fellows and mentors have heard from a wide range of our project partners for the summer, learning from the experts about the problems they will soon tackle. Between talks,they've started working with the data and brainstorming ideas about what they hope to reveal and build to meet the [...]
