Data visualization done right
Using data to build community dialogue
As government-led data initiatives expand, so does the importance of visualizing data in meaningful ways to better serve communities. Visualization is the process of transforming abstract data into useful information, conveying meaningful stories, and inciting emotional responses.
For example, maps can highlight communities at risk of being undercounted in the 2020 Census, which has significant implications for allocation of federal funds that support infrastructure social service programs. If designed with people in mind, visualization tools have the power to advance government transparency, civic engagement, and equitable development.
Over the next 8 weeks beamdata will be sharing a blog series that showcases how data can be used as a tool to build community dialogue and facilitate community-driven innovation. This is the first blog post in the series.
Cities are growing and so are the challenges they face with ensuring equitable policymaking. The complicated processes that take place within city government make it difficult to parse how decisions made by different agencies are intertwined and impact outcomes of daily life for residents.
This includes problems concerning housing access, air quality, and transportation, among other issues. Visualizations can play a key role in generating meaningful dialogue and engaging residents in building the types of cities they want to live in. Thanks to initiatives like PGHLab from the City of Pittsburgh, beamdata is working with the Housing Authority City of Pittsburgh (HACP) to develop tools that enable residents to better understand their communities, empowering them to have a greater role in improving their neighborhoods.
The first month of our PGHLab project focused on a series of conversations with the Government Relations Liaison and Special Projects Coordinator, Knowledge Build Hudson, who described a keen interest in using data visualization to make information about HACP communities accessible.
“The Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh is committed to providing innovative solutions to common challenges faced by our residents. As we know all know, convenient access to reliable, affordable public transit is one of many critical needs for low-income individuals and we are excited to work with Beamdata and PGH Labs to help identify and solve any challenges related to transit,” says Hudson.
Finding affordable housing in Pittsburgh can be difficult, which is why public housing is a key source of stability for many families, especially minority and female heads of households. For many households, transportation is the second largest annual expenditure after housing. Linking affordable housing and transportation can provide key insights about how residents, especially low-income households, are engaging with their communities. Connected neighborhoods enable access to employment, goods and services, schools, healthcare facilities, and other necessary amenities. Limited access can result in decentralized employment or higher gas costs, which diminish the purpose of housing assistance by increasing household expenditures.
Social problems are complicated and multi-dimensional. Identifying equitable solutions requires centering the perspectives of residents and mobilizing policymakers, academics and elected officials to help tackle the problems. Centering the needs of HACP residents, we wondered if it would be possible to view transportation data across the City of Pittsburgh and how access compared with HACP communities. We recognized data visualizations with an engaging and easy-to-use interface could be useful for community residents participating in housing and transportation education advocacy in their neighborhoods. To maximize accessibility and public engagement, we decided the tool would live on the HACP website.
Impactful data visualization tools should equip people with the ability to explore how their communities are part of a wider socio-political framework or society. Visualization tools should also encourage people to think about how individual decisions collectively produce specific outcomes and where their opinions factor into a wider public debate.
For example, in action, data tools could be used as an educational tool at tenant council meetings to inform and gather feedback from residents about neighborhood-level changes in transportation trends. Data tools can also be used as a method for communication between tenant councils to organize around shared concerns.
Taking advantage of the open data movement, we’ve been exploring datasets on ridership and time performance released by the Port Authority of Allegheny County. Our goal is to match the newly available datasets with resident needs as defined by HACP and create a tool that can encourage civic tech that is community responsive and resident-led.
This means building a data tool to provide a wider lens through which residents can view their communities, facilitate decision-making transparency, and encourage feedback loop between residents and HACP.
PGH Lab brings local entrepreneurs to beta test products and services in local government for 3–4 months. beamdata is part of PGH Lab’s fifth cohort. For more information about beamdata, visit its website.
Bhavini Patel
CEO/Co-founder beamdata
For more information:
@beamdata
