Data; big data; public data; data science; data driven decision making – terms that are bandied about in public discourse, but what is really meant?
The Connecticut Data Collaborative is a public-private partnership that advocates for the public availability of open and accessible data. That effort serves the interests of all of us – nonprofits, advocates, policymakers, businesses, community groups, and funders – by providing opportunities to use data to drive policy and improve programs and services, budgeting and decision making at the state, regional and local levels.
Data is the foundation for decision-making, and the expanding CTData website is driven by a desire to take the data that is accumulated by government and transform it into formats that can be used easily and provide a better understanding of what is happening across our state. In doing so, the data can help policymakers identify opportunities and challenges, and provide the foundation for tangible, sustained progress.
The number of data sets currently available on the CT Data website is already well beyond 120, on topics ranging from business formation to town aid, early childhood to civic participation, housing to health care – and population demographics, including town-by-town contrasts, across many characteristics. Formerly static information is displayed via an interactive dashboard that enables users to make meaningful comparisons – and there’s much more in the pipeline.
It’s not common to have a conference centered on the topic of data, but on Monday, June 28 the Connecticut Data Collaborative is hosting a statewide conference that will prove to be, “A Data Intensive and Technical Approach to Fun!”
The conference will provide attendees – regardless of their affiliation or interest – with the chance to learn, contribute, network, and frame the discussion around public data. Businesses that look to such data to support their own decision-making, or are interested in adding to their understanding of the data that is available and how it can be utilized in productive ways, are among the audiences that stand to benefit from the array of expertise on-hand at the conference.
The conference will include the launch of a new pilot program, CTData Academy, being developed to increase data literacy, build data capacity and enable nonprofits, state and local government, community groups and organizations across the state to more effectively curate their own data and use open data sources in order to better understand, measure, advocate and impact their clients, residents and customers.
The CTData Academy is a first-time concept for Connecticut, and there has already been a solid response from individuals and organizations across the state who are interested in advancing the use of data to make an impact for the greater good. The impact from more informed, data-reliant decision-making can have reverberations not only for specific government entities or organizations, but across our entire economy.
More than a dozen experts from Connecticut and beyond will be leading sessions and participating on panels, exploring the data that is available on the CTData website, how the data can be used in a range of decision-making, and the potential for additional data to influence and impact policy making inside government and potentially in the private sector as well.
One panel discussion will focus on community impact projects being conducted across the state that are using population indicators to drive strategies and performance measures for program improvement. Another panel will focus on municipal data – what exists, what’s coming, what’s missing, and opportunities to put the data to work.
As Connecticut looks ahead to critical policy decisions, understanding the data we have, and how it can inform those decisions, may tip the balance at critical junctures. As someone once said, we don’t know what we don’t know. The CTData Conference is the next step in finding out.
Michelle Riordan-Nold is executive director of the Connecticut Data Collaborative. The June 28 Connecticut Data Collaborative Conference is being held at the Institute of Technology and Business Development (ITBD) at Central Connecticut State University’s downtown New Britain campus at 185 Main St. Admission is free; pre-registration is required at www.ctdata.org/conference
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