Tag: Civic Engagement

DataKind started 2024 with an ambitious goal: to create an open-access tool populated with data at a hyperlocal level that would foster a deeper understanding of community needs and the complex factors influencing them. Working with collaborators representing many facets of health and wellbeing, DataKind launched the community health indicators software, a tool which enables social service providers, practitioners, policymakers and community stakeholders to access standardized data on their communities of impact and take meaningful action. This resource harmonizes and makes accessible 11 different public data sources of community data at three geographic levels (tract, zip, and county), with 49 unique data indicators drawing from a database of six million rows of data. Users have the option to create a free, secure individual or team account and upload and analyze additional datasets alongside the data included. Users can export analysis, including maps, from the system. This free and open software makes data insights accessible to any end-user regardless of data maturity.

This session will discuss the community-centered software design process, demonstrate the software with several use cases, and offer a rich, facilitated conversation with end-users of the software from social impact and governmental institutions. We will provide an introduction to question formulation, asset mapping, and data interpretation.

Attendees can submit their data questions here for use in the session or for future follow-up: https://forms.gle/TsWfe4Dses3jzVHm8

OpenStreetMap is the world’s largest volunteer-driven spatial dataset, relied on by millions of people around the world. But it’s more than one big map! Need to keep track of every playground, defibrillator, storm drain, or LGBT-friendly bar in your neighborhood? OpenStreetMap lets you leverage the power of crowdsourcing to fill data gaps left by commercial and government datasets. You can manage your data all in one place for the benefit of the entire OSM community.

Join OSM expert Quincy Morgan and civic innovation specialist Jazzy Smith to learn how organizations can use OSM as a free, collaborative GIS platform to meet their geodata needs. We’ll cover OSM basics, introduce available resources and workflows, review case studies of groups leaning into OSM, and look at how the Mapping for Equity project is connecting New Yorkers to their data.

This talk is for those of all skill levels interested in open map data. Come with questions! We’ll leave plenty of time for discussion.

By the end of this 60-to-90-minute data-driven, historically rich, Trash Can Lower East Side walking tour and networking event, participants will witness, hear and see how freely available, seemingly disparate data points can be leveraged by social organizations, businesses, community development agencies, entrepreneurs and students to generate new ideas and out-of-the-box thinking

Like deciphering secret messages, event participants will hear how data wranglers and on the ground researchers from Baruch College and New York University School of Professional Studies combined present and past data to create this data rich walk.

Inspired by litter can placement data from the Department of Sanitation, the walk will show how people can overlay unusual data sources, like the placement of trash cans, the health status of trees, the placement of monuments, museums and galleries, volunteer, civic engagement information, etc. to find places of interest, create new community gathering places, identify community needs, or even new places for food carts and businesses based on foot traffic.

The walk begins at 12pm at Kossar’s Bagels and Bialys at 375 Grand Street – near the corner of Grand and Essex Streets – winding through the Lower East side to Allen Street on the West and Ludlow Street on the East, ending at Loisaida located at 710 East 9th Street around 2pm. Networking and presentations will take place at Loisaida from 2pm to 3pm.

The walking tour research, data and route planning, and organization was done by the following people: Julia Ciesla (Baruch College), Sumedha Moturu (Baruch College) , Putri Prabowo (Baruch College), Daniel Magarino (Baruch College), Saral Tewari (Baruch College), Andrew Glasser (NYU School of Professional Studies), Moksha Shah (Baruch College), Dhruvi Desai (NYU SPS); Rafael Taiar (data scientist), and Joshua Moritz (Baruch College Lecturer, NYU SPS adjunct)

Too often, the data that define our arts and culture sector fail to reflect its full diversity, leaving smaller and BIPOC-led organizations struggling to fit into rigid frameworks that overlook the depth and nuance of their impact. Open data—the practice of making datasets publicly accessible to increase transparency, accessibility, and innovation—has the potential to create a more equitable and informed arts ecosystem. However, without critical oversight, it can just as easily reinforce existing inequities rather than dismantle them.
If you’re an artist, cultural worker, organizer, advocate, funder, or policymaker concerned about how data shapes (or distorts) the narrative of our sector, join us for a candid panel discussion on the state of open data in NYC’s arts and culture landscape. We’ll unpack the realities of data collection and lay the groundwork for a collaborative effort to develop an Open Data Ecosystem that truly reflects the power and diversity of our cultural communities.
This event will feature a presentation of a recent study by the Culture & Arts Policy Institute, exploring the challenges and opportunities of leveraging open data to strengthen the cultural sector, enhance data literacy, and promote best practices across the city.

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/data-power-and-justice-the-state-of-open-data-for-culture-arts-in-nyc-tickets-1277978611429

Open Data Week 2025 at Cornell Tech, featuring sessions on NYC Open Data and academic research from 5:00-7:30 PM on Wednesday, March 26

Did you know there is free data about nearly every aspect of our city? Come learn how to use it with the NYC Open Data Ambassadors! Join us for an in-person workshop hosted at Cornell Tech where you’ll learn the fundamentals of using NYC Open Data. This event is part of an Open Data Week series hosted by Cornell Tech— learn more below.

You will gain an understanding of:
– What NYC Open Data is!
– How to find specific datasets
– How to filter a dataset
– How to visualize data in charts and graphs
– Tools and Applications of Open Data
– How to stay involved

Who should attend? 
– Anyone! No experience is necessary.
– Roosevelt Island Community Members
– Educators & Students
– Librarians & Non-Profit Professionals
– Local Organizers & Decision-Makers
– City Planners and Mappers

What to bring?
– Bring a laptop if you want to follow along!

The session will be taught by Hebah Emara, a member of NYC’s Open Data Ambassadors, a program that trains volunteers to share Open Data with their fellow New Yorkers. Joining us as a special guest and co-presenter will be NYC’s Chief Analytics Officer, Martha Norrick. The Ambassadors program is a collaboration between NYC Open Data and BetaNYC. To learn more, visit nyc.gov/discoveropendata.

– – 
This event is part of an Open Data Week series hosted by Cornell Tech on Wednesday, March 26 from 5-8pm. We’d love for you to join us for both sessions— though it is not required! We’ll kick off at 5:00 pm with a hands-on Discovering NYC Open Data class from the Open Data Ambassadors, where you’ll learn the fundamentals of NYC Open Data. Following that, at 6:30 pm, Cornell Tech researchers and experts will discuss their real-world applications of open data, during Open Data in Action: Driving Academic Research and Government Collaboration at Cornell Tech. Join us for a post-event happy hour next door at Anything at All!

There are many easy ways to get to Cornell Tech, located on Roosevelt Island. For maps and directions see here.

Open Data Week 2025 at Cornell Tech, featuring sessions on NYC Open Data and academic research from 5:00-7:30 PM on Wednesday, March 26

Join us for an exciting set of back-to-back presentations featuring Cornell Tech researchers and practitioners as they share their real-world applications of NYC Open Data. This session offers a unique opportunity to explore how open data is being leveraged to address urban challenges, improve decision-making, and drive innovation across a variety of fields. Participants will gain valuable insights from experts who are actively shaping the future of NYC through data-driven solutions.

This event is part of an Open Data Week series hosted by Cornell Tech— learn more below!

Presentations:
– The ABCs of a PiTech Fellow: Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Natural Language Processing (NLP), Block Party & Community Boards
Breanna Green, PhD Candidate, Information Science, Cornell Tech

– Data-driven analyses and optimization of 311 systems: Applications to NYC Parks
Zhi Liu, PhD Candidate, Operations Research and Information Engineering, Cornell Tech

– Data analysis and modeling of public building construction in New York City
Sara Venkatraman, Senior Research Associate in Statistics, Weill Cornell Medical College

– Democratizing Policy Counterfactuals with AI: A deep dive into Local Law 97, NYC’s groundbreaking law to cut carbon emissions in its largest buildings
Vianney Brandicourt, Urban Tech Fellow, Cornell Tech

– Analyzing the effects of congestion pricing using Open Data
Nikhil Garg, Assistant Professor, Cornell Tech

– Predictive Maintenance for NYC Subway Lines
Atmika Pai, MS Candidate, Information Systems, Jacobs Technion-Cornell
Bhoomika Mehta, MS Candidate, Information Systems, Jacobs Technion-Cornell

– SenTree: Leveraging NYC Open Data to predict urban tree health
Rishabh Surendran, MBA Candidate, Johnson Cornell Tech
Shubham Arya, MBA Candidate, Johnson Cornell Tech

– – 
This event is part of an Open Data Week series hosted by Cornell Tech on Wednesday, March 26 from 5-8pm. We’d love for you to join us for both sessions— though it is not required! We’ll kick off at 5:00 pm with a hands-on Discovering NYC Open Data class from the Open Data Ambassadors, where you’ll learn the fundamentals of NYC Open Data. Following that, at 6:30 pm, Cornell Tech researchers and experts will discuss their real-world applications of open data, during Open Data in Action: Driving Academic Research and Government Collaboration at Cornell Tech. Join us for a post-event happy hour next door at Anything at All!

There are many easy ways to get to Cornell Tech, located on Roosevelt Island. For maps and directions see here.

Graphic with bright orange background and white text that reads School of Data.

NYC School of Data is a community conference that demystifies the policies and practices around open data, technology, and service design. This year’s conference helps conclude NYC Open Data Week and features 30+ sessions organized by NYC’s civic technology, data, and design community! Our conversations and workshops will feed your mind and inspire you to improve your neighborhood.

To attend, you need to purchase tickets. The venue is accessible, and the content is all-ages friendly! If you have accessibility questions or needs, please email us at schoolofdata@beta.nyc.

Thank you to Reinvent Albany and Esri for helping to cover conference costs and making it possible to meet in 2025.

And If you can’t join us in person, tune into the main stage live stream provided by the Internet Society New York Chapter. Follow the conversation #nycsodata on Bluesky.

Purchase your tickets here.

The WeGovNYC Databook (https://databook.wegov.nyc/) is a data pipeline that indexes, normalizes, and republishes over 50 NYC Open Data datasets into a single interface that offers in-depth profiles of City agencies, public schools, civil service titles and more.

During this session, Devin Balkind of WeGovNYC will review how the Databook’s data pipeline works, give a tour of the interface, talk about some recent FOILing, share plans for integrating MTA data, and discuss their next-generation open data stack that will make it much easier for people to build data products using transformed data.

Join us for an interactive virtual session where we’ll introduce you to BetaNYC’s Mapping for Equity (M4E) Toolkit—a resource for learning and teaching OpenStreetMap (OSM) and organizing Mapping for Equity events. M4E is a civics and data literacy program that empowers participants to see, collect, and analyze data on New York City’s under-mapped and underrepresented public spaces, making communities more visible and equitable.

Who Should Attend?
This session is designed for community leaders, educators, advocates, and organizers who want to bring civic tech and data literacy to their neighborhoods, classrooms, and organizations. Whether you’re new to mapping or an experienced data practitioner, you’ll gain the skills to integrate mapping into your work and mobilize your community for action.

What You’ll Gain
– Comprehensive toolkit access – Receive the full set of materials needed to host and facilitate Mapping for Equity events in your community.
– A network of fellow mappers and advocates – Connect with community leaders committed to using mapping for equity.
– Ongoing collaboration and accountability – Participation in this session is just the first step. Attendees are expected to stay engaged through office hours, follow-up discussions, and applying the toolkit in their communities.

Beyond the Session: Ongoing Support & Certification
Our collaboration doesn’t end when the session does! Here’s how we’ll continue to support you:
✅ Scheduled Office Hours – Participants must book time with our team to troubleshoot challenges and receive support as they implement the toolkit.
✅ Ongoing Engagement – Regular check-ins and communication are required to ensure accountability, provide guidance, and foster a collaborative learning community.
✅ Evaluation & Improvement – Participants will be asked to provide structured feedback to help refine and enhance the toolkit.
✅ Certification – Earn a Public Interest Mapping Advocate Certification from BetaNYC upon completing the required steps of the program.

This is more than a workshop—it’s the beginning of a community movement to create maps that empower, educate, and drive change. Join us and start mapping for equity today!

Discovering NYC Open Data: An Introduction

Did you know there is free data about nearly every aspect of our city? Come learn how to use it with the NYC Open Data Ambassadors! Join us for an online workshop where you’ll learn the fundamentals of using NYC Open Data.

This training is FREE and OPEN to the public.

You will gain an understanding of:
* What will I learn?
* What is NYC Open Data
* History of the NYC Open Data program
* How to frame questions for working with NYC Open Data
* Using the NYC Open Data website, filtering, and visualizing datasets
* Useful tools powered by NYC Open Data

Who should attend?
* Anyone! No experience necessary.
* Educators & Students
* Librarians & Non-Profit Professionals
* Local Organizers & Decision-Makers
* City Planners and Mappers

The Open Data Ambassadors program is a collaboration between NYC Office of Technology and Innovation’s Open Data Team and BetaNYC.

RSVP here or visit nyc.gov/discoveropendata to learn more!