Last Saturday, February 18th was one of best day’s of 2017 so far, at least in my view. For on the national stage just a few weeks earlier, troves of open data — the now well-known term for the standardized releasing of robust sets of public information, was hurriedly being downloaded in mass for fear of deletion by the new administration. While in one state people had to play defense preserving data, but on that Saturday we played offense and tried building things. In an afternoon at a library in downtown Fort Lauderdale, with a few members of a small, passionate community we began to see what progress could look like when people use open data.
I guess those Berkeley “data-saving-nerds” were onto something. At the time of this writing the entire catalog once run by the White House, available at https://open.whitehouse.gov/, sits completely empty. Perhaps they’re reformatting the data? That could be even one answer, or perhaps the approach to record keeping? As pointed out recently in reporting by the WSJ and others like Kate in D.C.
So what’s the big deal? Is data that important? Well, in short, YES. And since HOW CAN YOU EVEN ASK THAT isn’t a great response to that question, I’ll start by saying we ask a lot from our local law enforcement (and gov. agencies in general). We can all agree on that. While we collect tons of information in the form of spreadsheets and reports, not everyone “in-house” has the time or capability to analyze and learn from those collected documents — especially if they are stored deep away from view. Since officers and employees are busy protecting us and serving the community, inviting citizens with skills and time in the community to review and explore the public data is a win-win!
Thanks to The Fort Lauderdale Police Department, anyone with an internet connection can access, download, and review information about Arrests, Incidents, Calls for Services, Citations, Accidents, and Employees in our city. Check the full catalog out here: https://fortlauderdale.data.socrata.com/reports/Data-Catalogs-1
In a few hours our team, which included Yelka, a long time Code for Fort Lauderdale member, myself, and a curious mother and son pair Anjana and Anish dug through the department’s burglary data. We got confused, googled for help, and successfully created a few maps using Carto’s awesome toolset. We are one of the many examples of how regular citizens can use access like this to create interactive web applications including maps, websites, and visualizations to search and filter information in more digestible ways.
That Saturday marked the soft launch of their data portal. A few dozen techies, concerned citizens, and students sitting in the Creation Station makerspace on the first floor of the Broward County Public Library, volunteered for a day with quite unique results. Congrats to the teams who participated in the FLPD Open Data/Open House event. Especially to those who took home gift cards — not only did you walk away with amazon bucks but you’ve participated in the most pure form of civic engagement!
Thanks to Ryan , Yelka, and my mother🌻 for reading drafts of this. If you’re curious about using open data and want to learn more, find your local brigade!
