Episodes

The concepts of sunshine laws and open government have grown in prominence around the US in recent years. However, governments often have difficulty keeping up with changes and determining what works in terms of transparency and accountability. One of the oldest nonprofits focused on helping communities make sense of these shifts is the Sunlight Foundation. If you’re not familiar with Sunlight, it is a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for open government globally and uses technology to make ...

A lot of US cities are just getting started with open data, but Philadelphia has been in the data game for awhile. Philly's open data program has released over 200 datasets, including those focusing on city contracts and the city budget. In this episode, Sharon and Eric chat with Chief Data Officer Tim Wisniewski of the City of Philadelphia to discuss how cities can improve their data practice and learn from the experience (both good and bad) of Philadelphia. Tim has served in the Philadelphia c...

A lot of people these days are using the buzz word "analytics," but few people actually know what it is or how it works in government. Getting started with analytics can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be. In this episode, Sharon and Eric chat with What Works Cities fellow and former New York City Chief Analytics Officer Mike Flowers to discuss how analytics works and how cities can get started with their own analytics programs. Mike has a wealth of experience using data to drive improved de...

Nearly 30,000 acres of land. 600,000 trees on city streets. How does the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation manage so much of the city? “Everything starts with a map,” says Jacqueline Lu, NYC Parks Director of Data Analytics. Visualizing and analyzing data to understand how all the assets it oversees is the Department’s fundamental approach. In this episode, Andrew chats with Jackie not just about what data usage on such a scale looks like, but also about the Parks’ street trees cens...

"Open source kindness." That's how OpenReferral talks about how it helps people connect to food pantries, medical clinics, mental healthcare, youth services, computer refurbishment programs, et cetera. OpenReferral, a "non-organization" community of practice, is the latest advancement in a century-old field helping people access human services. GovEx's Director of Open Data, Andrew Nicklin, sits down with OpenReferral's Chief Organizing Officer, Greg Bloom to talk about how are they leveraging o...

What is a "nudge?" How can human behavior, and errors, affect the everyday work of government? How can data help government start to correct those errors? We discuss these questions and more with Elspeth Kirkman of the Behavioral Insights Team (or BIT) in this week's episode of Data Points. Elspeth is the Head of BIT North America, which launched last year as a part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Initiative (which also launched GovEx). BIT grew out of 10 Downing St, where it w...

“The problems and the data are alike in city work and astronomy,” according to this episode’s guest, Tamas Budavari, Assistant Professor of Applied Math and Statistics at Johns Hopkins University. Tamas is working to apply the same solutions he built to answer how the universe was formed to understand how housing becomes vacant and blighted in Baltimore* City. Connecting Baltimore to his previous research was a bit of serendipity, according to Tamas. His support for the Johns Hopkins 21st Centur...

Data visualization is a hot topic. Everyone wants visualizations that are simple, fun, and easy to understand. But where should you start when visualizing your data? This week we talk to Jon Schwabish, a Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute and data visualization guru, to discuss his thoughts on how to get in the data visualization game and how to do it right. Jon is working on a variety of projects related to data visualization, including his new book Better Presentations: A Guide f...

What is a Broadband Coordinator? Does a city need one? Why would a broadband coordinator need a broadband report card? We talk to Jason Hardebeck, Broadband Coordinator for the City of Baltimore about his post and his intentions to make it obsolete. Hardebeck is working with GovEx (via MetroLab) to develop a broadband report card, which will help determine how available broadband access is and should be in Baltimore. We dive into that effort and find out how it can scale to other cities. We also...

The City of San Francisco is often thought of as a leader in technology and data-driven government. The city’s Chief Data Officer Joy Bonaguro joins us to discuss how that reputation became a reality and how data is making San Francisco a better city for all its residents. As the city’s (and county’s) first chief data officer, Joy has a unique perspective on integrating data in the daily life of government. Prior to joining the City, Joy worked from the birth of the open data and open government...

Shireen Santosham, Chief Innovation Officer for the City of San Jose, California, joins us to discuss all things data and innovation in San Jose. San Jose is a city of just over 1 million people in the Bay Area. You might know it because of its tech reputation and its location right in the heart of Silicon Valley, but our focus through our conversation with Shireen is on what the city itself is doing to work better for residents using data. As Chief Innovation Officer, Shireen leads leads effort...

Two Johns Hopkins University (JHU) researchers join us to take a deep dive into a discussion of policing and data in Baltimore. Since GovEx is a research center based in Baltimore and at JHU, we have a unique interest in partnering with our colleagues and exploring how data can be used in our home city. In this episode, I talk with Professor Stephen L. Morgan and researcher Joel Pally of the sociology department at JHU, who recently published their research report titled “The Ferguson Effect.” S...

GovEx Director of Performance and Analytics Carter Hewgley joins us to discuss the important issue of lead poisoning across the country. His experience at FEMA and at the District of Columbia government gives him a great perspective on what can be done at both the national and local level to combat this issue. Check out his blog post on lead to get more information on strategies that governments can use in the short and long term to address lead poisoning. Overall, the key issue is that lead poi...

Welcome to GovEx Data Points, a podcast focusing on all things data and government! This is our first ever episode, so thanks for listening. In this episode, we’ll walk through some background information on GovEx and provide an introduction to what we plan to cover in future episodes. The podcast is brought to you by the team at the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, or GovEx for short. We’re a team of data fanatics focusing on helping government use data more effecti...