The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind--Albert Einstein
Let me explain. Virtual conferences aren’t all bad. You don’t need to disrupt your life as dramatically, many are free or low cost, and I don’t care what anyone says you can network if you are thoughtful about how. Following the Esri User Conference earlier this week I received dozens of messages.
Many fellow attendees in the chat box alongside presentations would respond to something and want to have a follow-up discussion. As a self-proclaimed autodidact geospatial analyst my career was usually the talking point.
Although I have many years of being employed, I have had many more of being self-employed. You may have heard me state quite emphatically that I am indeed unemployable. This is true.
This wasn’t always the case. There was a time when I was more often than not hired right during the interview. Colleagues would find out where I was working and say, “Wow, I wondered who they hired” after they too had been interviewed. I had more work than I could handle but I managed. Until I started asking questions. I became unable to do status quo and deliver “good enough” or “this is what the client paid for” work. I also grew tired of all of the travel and endless meetings that in all honesty--could have been an email. Even my independent work was problematic. I thought you simply worked with every client that reached out. Some of them were assholes and I just thought that was part and parcel. I silently suffered, worked on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and missed a Steve Tyler concert. The irony with the Steve Tyler performance (part of a Qualtrics Conference) was that after hitting send on an ironclad deadline I was informed by automatic reply that the recipients would be out of the office for the next several days. I had a client once (if you are reading this I still adore you but let’s be honest, you always listened to the guys on the team over me) that paid me to leave a conference in Washington, DC to travel to NYC at 3:30 a.m. in the morning for an in-person meeting with his client. When I tried to interject an alternate perspective in another meeting I was jovially but firmly accused of “heckling” and there ended my contributions to the team culture. This one stung because I absolutely enjoyed the team--their culture, mission, and sense of humor. So I stopped spending the bulk of my days traveling, writing, analyzing, and speaking at private client collaborative meetings. Seth Godin puts it quite succinctly below. Its only 3 minutes so hit play and I will wait.
This is the bit of potential value to the inquisitive types wanting a career not only in geospatial intelligence but data analytics, or writing.
I already went for a run, had a healthy smoothie, wrote a blog (ahem), removed abandoned envs from my terminal (Conda-Forge friends), and created a timeline for what I need to deliver to my editor for our next meeting. I am writing a book, Python for Geospatial Data Analysis : Theory, Tools, and Practice for Location Intelligence The free sharing and teaching of open source is incompatible with the notion of the solitary genius 
Are you on Clubhouse? I joke that someone left a door open in the hallway and I wandered in. I like the breaks from the computer screen where you can simply engage through your phone. Think of it like a podcast style conversation. Data + AI hosts a room, Data Geek Weekly. This past room was right up my alley.
The panel discussed social (structural) determinants of health with Michael Petersen, MD. I am not sure if it was Michael or Jeff that differentiated me from Bonnie Holub by calling me geospatial Bonny but it made me laugh all day. In the course of an open discussion I mentioned a few data resources that I wanted to share with folks in the room.
Here are the resources I mentioned. They might seem random but I think they were some of the tabs I had open at the moment so here you are...
Google Earth Engine
There is a location for everything so I have to start with Google Earth Engine (GEE) in case there are other interested in location intelligence. Click the button below and watch the glacier retreat. We were talking about climate change and urban heat islands (below) but it can be powerful to start with an upstream view.
IPUMS (CENSUS data and more)
I mentioned a heavy reliance on CENSUS data. I use American Community Survey for yearly comparisons as well as the PULSE Covid surveys. IPUMS is a great resource for a lot of the work I do because of the harmonization and detailed documentation.
Mapping Inequality
The better your data question the more exploration you will need to curate insights and better yet to curate empathy. We need to be open to aligning edges outside of what we view as our penumbra of expertise.
,I tend to use open source or freely available platforms and tools for analyses. I imagine how frustrating it would be to take a weekend workshop only to find out about a hefty price tag for you to continue your data exploration. I use QGIS (open source) but also rely on ArcGIS for quick maps. An ArcGIS personal 1-year subscription is $100 and well worth the investment.
This is an example of an urban heat island. I chose Charleston, West Virginia to highlight patterns not often visualized outside the typical locations such as Chicago or NYC. 
I layered the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) neighborhood guides for you to explore. I briefly mentioned how land-use systems were locked in decades ago and continue to impact the temperature differentials in urban environments--and therefore health outcomes.
There is an abundance of federal, state, and community level crime data. One take-home message I will share is that data is collected differently and may not be able to be aggregated. For example, recent work in gun violence demonstrated that many districts were not reporting the data until the crimes were solved. I also realized that unless I requested data on the perpetrator most of the data was only about the victim. I was interested in the demographics of both.
The Crimemapping data below is from my city. The data is only available if your city subscribes to the service but as you can see, the types of crimes in your area are displayed. Crime data
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| The practice of leaving bread on the hook is a beautiful Turkish tradition called, askida ekmek. You buy a loaf for you and an extra loaf that is hung on a hook. When someone in need enters the shop, they are gifted the donated loaf. This reminds me of my work as a data analyst. We serve our clients while simultaneously giving back to our data community through either mentorship, collaboration, or teaching insights learned along the way. |  |
“It is better to follow your own path, however imperfectly, than to follow someone else's perfectly.”--Bhagavad-Gita
Hosting rooms on Clubhouse and being invited to speak on podcasts I am noticing a theme to many questions. Curiosity tends to vacillate between “how to get a job,” and “where to find the data”. The idea came to me today that perhaps folks are just worried about messing up. This doesn’t make sense. There is not a single correct way of following your path.
Two things I can share that might help. Build a platform. It can be on LinkedIn or any social media avenue of your choice. Create visualizations, stories, and conversations to be discovered. This is where you declare “this is me.”. It doesn’t mean you will become everybody’s cup of tea or be competitive for every job but it does provide you with the dimensionality of a person instead of a hiring algorithm or a flat paper CV.
Two things I can share that might help. Build a platform. It can be on LinkedIn or any social media avenue of your choice. Create visualizations, stories, and conversations to be discovered. This is where you declare “this is me.”. It doesn’t mean you will become everybody’s cup of tea or be competitive for every job but it does provide you with the dimensionality of a person instead of a hiring algorithm or a flat paper CV.
The data hunt is a little more straightforward. Head over to twitter and follow those of us that work in the geospatial space. A large chunk of the datasets I use regularly were discovered from colleagues by reading their research or following discussions.
What have I been up to?
What have I been up to?
Here is a recording of our podcast interview on LinkedIn Live.
A recent story I wrote on Substack provides a little context for my heart operation earlier this month. This is not jazz: last thoughts before sedation
| I won’t bore you with the longitudinal path of my pre-existing condition—mitral valve prolapse—but it landed at myxomatous degeneration requiring surgical intervention sooner rather than later. So 1 week ago today, I had open heart surgery. The team was somewhat gobsmacked how I ran 267 miles just this last January, completed an ultra race in 2019, and hit the trails and roads on most days albeit a bit slower over the years but heck, I am also not as young as I used to be. If I was to be honest with myself, I think I knew it was coming. Echocardiograms were becoming dramatic and straightforward to read even from my perspective. |  |
“It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“I am an introverted extrovert”. I hear this claim quite often in this era of solitude, Zoom, and whispered declarations. Maybe it's one of those things you comprehend if you also share this archetype. The way I see it--I want to be alone--unless there is something worth venturing out for (personal). Or, give me a podium or a mic--its go time (professional).
As an independent data analytics professional I can attest to the fact that professional collaborations aren’t the most engaging or public "work environments". I am typically the defacto expert in the room and with the exception of a few IT folks--I am working this thing solo. The collaboration is in the form of selling the transition from spreadsheets to automated analysis, data visualization to data actualization, or building a more powerful analytics engine by including location intelligence in the actual workflow. I am basically stumping for my supper.
As an independent data analytics professional I can attest to the fact that professional collaborations aren’t the most engaging or public "work environments". I am typically the defacto expert in the room and with the exception of a few IT folks--I am working this thing solo. The collaboration is in the form of selling the transition from spreadsheets to automated analysis, data visualization to data actualization, or building a more powerful analytics engine by including location intelligence in the actual workflow. I am basically stumping for my supper.
Building and maintaining a busy spatial analytics practice reminds me of gardening. What can I say? The weather here in North Carolina has been spectacular lately. A friend recently notified me that she had been working in her garden and had some plants to share. She methodically roamed the space with a shovel either pointing to things we could dig up or digging them up herself sharing the stories and best plans for the plantings. Her generosity speaks for itself but she said something that I kept turning over in my head. In response to my numerous questions about how she established the garden, trying to find little insights to increase my chances of success--she merrily shared, “sleep, creep, leap”. Year 1 the plantings will sleep. Year 2 they will creep. And if luck has anything to do with it, Year 3 they leap.
SLEEP
The first thing to realize when attempting to establish a garden especially when transplanting--the first year, the plant rests.
This reminded me of my work in spatial analytics. My vision for my data professional life was verdant but needed more of a focus on location intelligence. Taking the time you need to study and learn skills is energy worth developing. Think of it as the dormant but important step of developing roots and foundational elements.
I return to workshops and scan the options for skills I may not have learned or used in a long time. If something thrills me and I find it useful I tuck it away for a webinar idea. Think about it this way--if you are amazed or surprised it is quite likely there are others.
This week it was a return to Google Earth Engine.
The first thing to realize when attempting to establish a garden especially when transplanting--the first year, the plant rests.
This reminded me of my work in spatial analytics. My vision for my data professional life was verdant but needed more of a focus on location intelligence. Taking the time you need to study and learn skills is energy worth developing. Think of it as the dormant but important step of developing roots and foundational elements.
I return to workshops and scan the options for skills I may not have learned or used in a long time. If something thrills me and I find it useful I tuck it away for a webinar idea. Think about it this way--if you are amazed or surprised it is quite likely there are others.
This week it was a return to Google Earth Engine.
CREEP
We finally have growth! The small little seedlings of last year arrive a bit more confidently this year. The flower bed seems a bit less embarrassed let's say. I am waiting for my peonies to take off but I think patience is called for.
Coincidentally, after a year of classes and workshops my geospatial skills are finding their way into new projects. Big data should be filtered through trends in location preferably over time. Nothing will be more important when we sift through Census data to see where populations may have been undercounted and how these profound insights will influence more than representation in congress. The electoral college will be redistributed (the number of votes is the number of house seats plus the 2 senate seats), Medicare/Medicaid spending, and about 300+ Census-guided federal spending programs.
We finally have growth! The small little seedlings of last year arrive a bit more confidently this year. The flower bed seems a bit less embarrassed let's say. I am waiting for my peonies to take off but I think patience is called for.
Coincidentally, after a year of classes and workshops my geospatial skills are finding their way into new projects. Big data should be filtered through trends in location preferably over time. Nothing will be more important when we sift through Census data to see where populations may have been undercounted and how these profound insights will influence more than representation in congress. The electoral college will be redistributed (the number of votes is the number of house seats plus the 2 senate seats), Medicare/Medicaid spending, and about 300+ Census-guided federal spending programs.
LEAP
In a garden and in other life endeavors there comes a time when the familiar becomes easy. Glancing out of the kitchen window in the spring I can see the clover thickening, the rose buds swelling, and a few flowering vines that I have long since forgotten the name of beginning to mark their renewal. As if on auto-pilot the garden begins to bloom-ish. There are areas that in some years get more attention than others but there is always a minimal viable level of activity that happens whether I go out there or not.
But if you want year 3 of plantings to be spectacular you need to cultivate them right to the end of their adolescence. If you have been nurturing and thoughtful, this is the year of abundance.
This is the time to take chances--leap if you will--in your career and life. I am easing into a comfortable routine of presenting remotely and leading workshops from my office chair. A few blossoms of opportunity are seeding in-person invitations but I am going to enjoy the final days of the old normal.
Check out Clubhouse. It is still in beta and open to iPhones only for now. If you need an invite hit me up. Its been a big leap but we have been hosting some interesting conversations.
In a garden and in other life endeavors there comes a time when the familiar becomes easy. Glancing out of the kitchen window in the spring I can see the clover thickening, the rose buds swelling, and a few flowering vines that I have long since forgotten the name of beginning to mark their renewal. As if on auto-pilot the garden begins to bloom-ish. There are areas that in some years get more attention than others but there is always a minimal viable level of activity that happens whether I go out there or not.
But if you want year 3 of plantings to be spectacular you need to cultivate them right to the end of their adolescence. If you have been nurturing and thoughtful, this is the year of abundance.
This is the time to take chances--leap if you will--in your career and life. I am easing into a comfortable routine of presenting remotely and leading workshops from my office chair. A few blossoms of opportunity are seeding in-person invitations but I am going to enjoy the final days of the old normal.
Check out Clubhouse. It is still in beta and open to iPhones only for now. If you need an invite hit me up. Its been a big leap but we have been hosting some interesting conversations.
It should come as no surprise that what you see is not determined solely by the patterns of light that fall upon your retinae. Indeed, that visual perception is more than meets the eye has been understood for centuries, and there are several extraretinal factors known to interact with the incoming sensory data to yield perceptual experience. Perhaps foremost among these factors is information learned from our prior encounters with the visual world—our memories—which enables us to infer the cause, category, meaning, utility, and value of retinal images. By this process, the inherent ambiguity and incompleteness of information in the image—what is out there? Have I seen it before? What does it mean? How is it used?—is overcome, nearly instantaneously and generally without awareness, to yield unequivocal and behaviorally informative percepts.--Thomas D. Albright, On the Perception of Probable Things: Neural Substrates of Associative Memory, Imagery, and Perception
Simplifying concepts outlined beautifully in Reductionism in Art and Brain Science* by Eric Kandel, when presented with an object or graphic, prior knowledge or learned visual associations --described as top-down neuronal processing occur. These processes occur after the brain extracts “key elements” of what is known in the physical world and are necessary to help resolve whatever ambiguities remain. As an example, when you first view the image above it may appear ambiguous and undecipherable. With only bottom up processing and nothing to aid in recall we aren’t quite sure of the representation.
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Think of the influences our neuronal associative learning has over our interpretation of graphical information. A few decades ago I was participating in a journal club for fellows in internal medicine. They were instructed to basically skip the abstract (can be quite subjective) and head over to the results section. The focus was examining the figures to gleen insights there. What evolved years later was a realization that this approach is also problematic.
In the same way that pre-attentive attributes can help direct the eye to important features--they can also mask other insights by drawing the eye disproportionately to where you want the focus. The "look over here and not over" there methodology often distracts from relevant outliers.
In the same way that pre-attentive attributes can help direct the eye to important features--they can also mask other insights by drawing the eye disproportionately to where you want the focus. The "look over here and not over" there methodology often distracts from relevant outliers.
Salman Rushdie in his brilliant MasterClass describes the action happening in the center of works of art. That is where we are intended to look. But then he adds the importance of scanning the periphery as well. Often you will see added context provided by servants or others not deemed the singular objective of the image. When examining graphics for insights, context is everything.
Las Meninas by Velaquez is a painting I like to include in my data storytelling workshops. Thanks to Amy Herman and her Art of Perception, a friend and powerful resource for enhancing observation and perception skills for clients like Intelligence, Law Enforcement and Military (Interpol, FBI, Department of Defense) as well as Medicine and Law to name a few--I look at data differently.
Art can be a safe place to teach skills needed to clinically review the literature, scan a patient chart, or curate data for relevance and insight.
Las Meninas by Velaquez is a painting I like to include in my data storytelling workshops. Thanks to Amy Herman and her Art of Perception, a friend and powerful resource for enhancing observation and perception skills for clients like Intelligence, Law Enforcement and Military (Interpol, FBI, Department of Defense) as well as Medicine and Law to name a few--I look at data differently.
Art can be a safe place to teach skills needed to clinically review the literature, scan a patient chart, or curate data for relevance and insight.
How would you describe the painting? Can you say anything about the perspective of the image? Did you notice the mirror? What does it say about art and reality? Where is the subject?
Consider the image below. Now look up at the original black and white patterns above. Now that the top-down processing has a “memory” or association--you can now distinguish the image.
Consider the image below. Now look up at the original black and white patterns above. Now that the top-down processing has a “memory” or association--you can now distinguish the image.
The biggest challenge is often releasing our pre-conceived ideas and leaning into the realm of not knowing, what we don’t know. The opportunity is there.
Right outside of the frame.
Right outside of the frame.
I am now writing on Substack. Head on over and subscribe to mumble|delegate|ponder
I have been spending unsupervised time with my thoughts. It sounds noble but I assure you, it is completely involuntary. As far as sleep goes if you know me you know that around 9 p.m. I am already heading upstairs to begin my post-menopausal moon salutations.
I do an abysmally short--some may say neglectful--skin care routine of washing my face. I can’t moisturize at night because apparently my face dreams it is a teenager and invites acne to the party. Next, there is a truncated routine of stretches and a 1-minute plank. A nice way to close out an active day of running and butt sitting at the computer.
Against all recommendation for a good night’s sleep, I turn on the news for a quick summary of the day’s events that lately have bordered on dystopian horror. All is well as I doze off while planning the next day--until anywhere between 2:30 and 3:30. Too early to venture downstairs to my office, even if the work is piled high.
I do an abysmally short--some may say neglectful--skin care routine of washing my face. I can’t moisturize at night because apparently my face dreams it is a teenager and invites acne to the party. Next, there is a truncated routine of stretches and a 1-minute plank. A nice way to close out an active day of running and butt sitting at the computer.
Against all recommendation for a good night’s sleep, I turn on the news for a quick summary of the day’s events that lately have bordered on dystopian horror. All is well as I doze off while planning the next day--until anywhere between 2:30 and 3:30. Too early to venture downstairs to my office, even if the work is piled high.
Birdie, our 8 month old Plott hound, is being trained to sleep through the night and is way to enthusiastic for my company. My husband would not be happy if she began whistling for us each morning around 3 a.m. So I decide to meditate. In the absence of my irregularly regular pool swim I have lapsed and rarely do anything calming. I begin in earnest.
Focusing on breath I have always broken the cycle into 25 breath cycles hoping that by the 24th I am drifting back to sleep. Dear reader this has never been the case but hope springs eternal. The surprising discovery is my epic failure. Not only do I rarely reach 25 slow deliberate breaths but I often forget what I was even doing. I know your thoughts are naturally going to drift. Mindfulness is the whole point but my friend assures me the natural ebb and flow of your thoughts brings awareness and calmness. Think of it like waiting for a bus. You sit and watch the traffic stream past. Unfortunately in my mediation practice not only am I hopping on random buses, I rarely have a return ticket.
This is interesting to me. If you know there is a pattern or a glitch in the universe you are able to take measures for improvement. My friend Kathyann recommended a book that I have on my nightstand. If you click the image to purchase I get a few nickels but that isn’t the point. My inability to focus on inhaling and exhaling could be the ticket to a calmer mind, a better recovery, and more presence.
Focusing on breath I have always broken the cycle into 25 breath cycles hoping that by the 24th I am drifting back to sleep. Dear reader this has never been the case but hope springs eternal. The surprising discovery is my epic failure. Not only do I rarely reach 25 slow deliberate breaths but I often forget what I was even doing. I know your thoughts are naturally going to drift. Mindfulness is the whole point but my friend assures me the natural ebb and flow of your thoughts brings awareness and calmness. Think of it like waiting for a bus. You sit and watch the traffic stream past. Unfortunately in my mediation practice not only am I hopping on random buses, I rarely have a return ticket.
This is interesting to me. If you know there is a pattern or a glitch in the universe you are able to take measures for improvement. My friend Kathyann recommended a book that I have on my nightstand. If you click the image to purchase I get a few nickels but that isn’t the point. My inability to focus on inhaling and exhaling could be the ticket to a calmer mind, a better recovery, and more presence.
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Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is. |
I wanted to share this story because many of us are dealing with stressful life events. We are fortunate to be helping plan our son’s wedding, I have a book deal, my youngest is beginning his second college semester safely down the hall, knock on wood we are healthy, employed, happy, and hopeful.
But that is the thing about stress. If you don’t own your own breath, you will not be able to own your own peace.
But that is the thing about stress. If you don’t own your own breath, you will not be able to own your own peace.
| Reductionism might seem a little hoity toity at first glance but you might be surprised how elegantly it applies to not only the brain and art but to data visualization in general. The Matisse on the right, “The Snail”, uses swirling color blocks to mimic the swirl or pattern of a snail shell. This only works if we have seen a snail shell, and our brain knows to compare this image to images stored in our memory.  |  Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of other simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical position that interprets a complex system as the sum of its parts.--Wikipedia |
The first example that comes to mind when thinking about reductionism in brain science would be the Punnett square. Those of us with experience studying genetics understand that this isn’t how heredity works from a biologic perspective but this simplistic rendering is helpful in understanding Mendel’s theories of inheritance.
| You may be surprised to learn that Neuroscience was not considered a distinct discipline until the early to mid-1960s. Questions began to surface like these discussed by Eric R. Kandel, “What sort of changes does learning produce in the neural networks of the brain? How is memory stored? Once stored, how is memory maintained?" |  |
This matters upstream from data visualization. We are taught the importance of pre-attentive attributes but not the cautionary tale of how they can unduly influence our perception. These altered perceptions may be conscious or unconscious but as our brains attempt to simplify what we are viewing it is also often adding information that is not actually present--it can distort messages.
This can happen for many reasons but if we recall that visual information is processed on two different pathways, it makes a little more sense. The primary visual cortex processes information that answers the “what” we are looking at toward the bottom of the brain (inferior pathway) while information that responds to “where” is diverted to the top of the brain (superior pathway). Inferior pathway detects faces, shapes, colors, identity, motion--superior pathway is concerned with depth and spatial information. This describes the interplay between pre-attentive and attentive attributes.
This can happen for many reasons but if we recall that visual information is processed on two different pathways, it makes a little more sense. The primary visual cortex processes information that answers the “what” we are looking at toward the bottom of the brain (inferior pathway) while information that responds to “where” is diverted to the top of the brain (superior pathway). Inferior pathway detects faces, shapes, colors, identity, motion--superior pathway is concerned with depth and spatial information. This describes the interplay between pre-attentive and attentive attributes.
Low-level processing occurs in the retina and detects images, intermediate-level processing distinguishes which surfaces and boundaries belong to specific objects, and high level processing integrates information--Reductionism in art and brain science, Eric R. Kandel
When we are observing works of art our brain associates memories of other artistic works in addition to past life experiences. I argue this happens with charts and graphics as well.
Why Visual Analytics? Pre-attentive attributes
...to be continued
I simply don’t enjoy the remote bits as much as I thought I would. Following a series of Zoomy webinar formats (for scheduled speaking events) I felt hollow. Although I request attendees be allowed to raise hands and leave their video and mics live--not one host has acquiesced. Interactivity is paramount to engaging with your data or your data questions no?
Maybe you don’t realize how weird it is but basically you are talking to your own face for 45 minutes to an hour. Narrative stories need an audience--not a theoretical invisible one--a curious and engaged group lobbing questions over the fence. Especially when topics hover around racial bias or underserved populations.
It seems only yesterday I was toying with ideas in search of meaningful dialogue. Finding true merit in a deep river was one such post but there are many. Before COVID I was teaching the data curious how to use CENSUS data to ask meaningful questions around poverty--not the almost 60 year old definition, but actual poverty. I am currently using the blog and newsletter as a data diary. It allows me to get a few ideas out in the world to re-examine once I need to create several talks a month. Maybe I should think of it was an idea library...
Maybe you don’t realize how weird it is but basically you are talking to your own face for 45 minutes to an hour. Narrative stories need an audience--not a theoretical invisible one--a curious and engaged group lobbing questions over the fence. Especially when topics hover around racial bias or underserved populations.
It seems only yesterday I was toying with ideas in search of meaningful dialogue. Finding true merit in a deep river was one such post but there are many. Before COVID I was teaching the data curious how to use CENSUS data to ask meaningful questions around poverty--not the almost 60 year old definition, but actual poverty. I am currently using the blog and newsletter as a data diary. It allows me to get a few ideas out in the world to re-examine once I need to create several talks a month. Maybe I should think of it was an idea library...
| I have been thinking about Pulse Surveys examining household data (during COVID 19). The food security issue was part of a client project. As the only non-monetary variable included in the original definition of poverty back in the 60s we should be familiar with food policy. Surprisingly the agriculture department has plenty of publicly available data. |  |
I rely on IPUMS Current Population Survey data for granularity around food insecurity. These variables are the “grammar” you need to create a powerful story.
I am often asked to talk about diversity, under-served populations, and bias in healthcare algorithms. Digital racism although well meaning, ignores the system level problem. While we are frantically shining flashlights in the darkness of our ignorance--there is a menacing commonality to all of the chest pounding and activism.
We were founded by racism. Plain and simple. The sooner we all get onboard the sooner we can create policy to address these social constructs that marginalize and limit opportunities for all of our citizens. Did COVID really create a racial divide in education, healthcare, and economies? Or did it reveal what has always been there? Providing meals, safety, upward mobility, socialization, an education--a daunting task for the nation’s poor.
Think of the evictions. How many of you have heard of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act? It is the primary legislations responsible for educating at-risk children and those facing or experiencing homelessness. Yes, it is easier to blame floundering governors and mayors for keeping schools closed, then opened, and then closed again.
We need to revisit what is contributing to homelessness--A wave of evictions is on the horizon. What impact could they have on kids' education?But I suggest the story is around how “access” is being defined and how already cash-strapped communities are intended to fund additional support.
And when we discuss remote learning there is historical precedence and research we need to consume. Where Platform Capitalism and Racial Capitalism Meet: The Sociology of Race and Racism in the Digital Society
We were founded by racism. Plain and simple. The sooner we all get onboard the sooner we can create policy to address these social constructs that marginalize and limit opportunities for all of our citizens. Did COVID really create a racial divide in education, healthcare, and economies? Or did it reveal what has always been there? Providing meals, safety, upward mobility, socialization, an education--a daunting task for the nation’s poor.
Think of the evictions. How many of you have heard of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act? It is the primary legislations responsible for educating at-risk children and those facing or experiencing homelessness. Yes, it is easier to blame floundering governors and mayors for keeping schools closed, then opened, and then closed again.
We need to revisit what is contributing to homelessness--A wave of evictions is on the horizon. What impact could they have on kids' education?But I suggest the story is around how “access” is being defined and how already cash-strapped communities are intended to fund additional support.
And when we discuss remote learning there is historical precedence and research we need to consume. Where Platform Capitalism and Racial Capitalism Meet: The Sociology of Race and Racism in the Digital Society
As the state legitimizes the use of digital and algorithmic decision making, it also creates new data worlds (Gray 2018; Milan and van der Velden 2016) to which few sociologists have access. The inaccessibility of these data is part of their value to state and capital interests. Private data worlds where decision making can be veiled from democratic inquiry fuel economic and political commitment to more datafication. This brings about more secrecy.--Tressie McMillan Cottom, Where Platform Capitalism and Racial Capitalism Meet: The Sociology of Race and Racism in the Digital Society
The Gini index below shows how black populations experience higher rates of inequality. Yes, there is a little more to it but you can see how developing skills around data sourcing and formulating meaningful questions can add much to curating empathy and insights.
Library...
| I needed a minute. Distractions only take you so far and then you need to focus and make a plan. We all go through times of stress--the difference is how we manage these moments. People overeat, play video games, take walks, smoke, and a wide variety of other positive and negative coping mechanisms. I try to lean in to behaviors that can better serve my goals. | I prefer to go out on long solo runs on the trails. I queue up a list of podcasts that reflect my curiosity in work-related topics, life in general, and creativity. I have been studying spatial data science and cartography for a large project and I simply needed to clear my brain for the next round of analyses. |
I teach workshops examining the data layers contributing to poverty. This doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I read many books to influence where to look for data but I listen to podcasts like Code Switch. A recent podcast reminded me that when voting data was reported based on younger cohorts and racial categories--it wasn’t real.
We don’t have the data yet and it could be a minute before we distill the data to that level.
We don’t have the data yet and it could be a minute before we distill the data to that level.
Five quick lessons for improving your data literacy
 Nobody cares that you are looking for a job. What are your unique skills and interests? Never stop learning. I am taking several MOOCs from ESRI.com. Geospatial analysis is more than just geocoding data onto a map. There is a rich dimensionality allowing data to better inform. Use data for good. Capture metrics to find out what type of visualizations, topics, or stories resonate with the bulk of your subscribers. In my case, the poverty data I was capturing from CENSUS data only used location for drop a pin in a spot on a map. I was leaving data on the table. Exploring geospatial analytics allowed me to pursue suitability models--and learn new tools for spatial data science. What are some of your new tools? | LinkedIn You are woefully underutilizing the latent potential of LinkedIn. I don’t take it too seriously. I have fun with it and use it as a portal for interested peers to reach me. Period. Look at the area under my photo. If you aren’t using it to display your personality or special skills, change that today. There is a saying out on the trails, especially if you are an ultra runner. When you fall, and you will fall, don’t blather about it--rub some dirt in it and keep going.  I am surprised to say this but I think I am in good company. Or a bad omen. “The unexamined life is not worth living” quoted by Socrates before being sentenced to death does yield some truth. I don’t know why my blogs trend so well in Metro Manila but there you go. Don’t write for likes but like what you write!   |   This could be putting a bullet in my own foot but in a world where everyone is an expert--err on the side of foundational learning. The type of learning that doesn’t become obsolete after the next release. Truths that can stand the test of time. Andy’s book is that for me.  Your mileage may vary but the point is to embrace the tidal seasonality of learning. We have the time right now and we can all benefit from careful thought and contemplation. |
"If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes."
--Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Data literacy is a popular buzz word lately. Often cited as an organizational goal or an individual professional metric but you might be surprised how blurry the end game might be. How do you define success? When are you considered “literate”? And why are courses delivered in soothing dulcimer tones? Where are the challenges and limits? The solutions are not marketable and should be evolving with the complexity of our data questions.
Morgan Freeman wasn’t necessarily referring to data in the opening quote (in the title) but you can see why I made the leap. Better data, better questions, better insights. We need to curate empathy not the next gizmo for sale.
In my opinion, this is mission critical. You can design, sell, even give-away the alleged “secret sauce” but make no mistake--this is more than what chart to use to display your data or how best to create a visualization.
The decisions you make upstream to tool selection are more important than the tool itself. We don’t have the luxury of mistaking an ideology for an effective solution to complex problems. Tableau is trying to make introductions to data literacy that albeit a little late to the party--might help guide us all in the right direction.
My main criticism is that all roads to literacy appear to be paved with Tableau products but having said that--Tableau Public is free and can certainly launch you on a journey of data discovery. When I teach data literacy--especially since my audience is typically underserved populations or adult learners--I share free resources along with the paid alternatives.
Because if literacy is not equitable, what is the point?
Morgan Freeman wasn’t necessarily referring to data in the opening quote (in the title) but you can see why I made the leap. Better data, better questions, better insights. We need to curate empathy not the next gizmo for sale.
In my opinion, this is mission critical. You can design, sell, even give-away the alleged “secret sauce” but make no mistake--this is more than what chart to use to display your data or how best to create a visualization.
The decisions you make upstream to tool selection are more important than the tool itself. We don’t have the luxury of mistaking an ideology for an effective solution to complex problems. Tableau is trying to make introductions to data literacy that albeit a little late to the party--might help guide us all in the right direction.
My main criticism is that all roads to literacy appear to be paved with Tableau products but having said that--Tableau Public is free and can certainly launch you on a journey of data discovery. When I teach data literacy--especially since my audience is typically underserved populations or adult learners--I share free resources along with the paid alternatives.
Because if literacy is not equitable, what is the point?
CENSUS data
Data literacy requires actionable insights and workflows. Although many of us work with large datasets (especially in healthcare) I spend much of my time in Census data files.
Here are the buckets from the Tableau data literacy initiative. The next few posts will explore how these apply to an actual data set.
Here are the buckets from the Tableau data literacy initiative. The next few posts will explore how these apply to an actual data set.
- Introduction to data literacy
- Recognizing well-structured data
- Exploring variables and field types
- Exploring aggregation and granularity
- Understanding distributions
- Understanding variation for wise comparisons
- Using correlation and regression to examine relationships
For example, when I want to examine poverty or racial inequity I know there is a variable in the Census data that will look at vacancy rates. This is exploratory data analysis but I need to find the data.
I skipped ahead simply to show you how I might do a little front end research to figure out where I might begin to find meaningful variables. I remember a project in Los Angeles where there was an association made between poverty, race/ethnicity, and percentage of multiple family units.
This data is also captured by Federal Government and economic forecasters to gauge the economic environment.
When working with Census data you need to know which tables contain the data you hope to explore. I know that B25004 has the data. I have spent more time with the 2018 data but we do have access to 2019 although with limited geographical files so I rely on acs5 for 5-year data in real life but for purposes of this quick look here is what I am sharing.
I skipped ahead simply to show you how I might do a little front end research to figure out where I might begin to find meaningful variables. I remember a project in Los Angeles where there was an association made between poverty, race/ethnicity, and percentage of multiple family units.
This data is also captured by Federal Government and economic forecasters to gauge the economic environment.
When working with Census data you need to know which tables contain the data you hope to explore. I know that B25004 has the data. I have spent more time with the 2018 data but we do have access to 2019 although with limited geographical files so I rely on acs5 for 5-year data in real life but for purposes of this quick look here is what I am sharing.
Briefly, I share how to find the codes for your state or county level data and how you bring the data into Colab for a rapid Python analysis. From my less than 10 minute query above I know that I might be interested in Block group 4, census tract 126.01 to explore vacancy rates and other attributes in the area.
A quick look in ArcGIS allows me to explore poverty levels in my local county to see if there are any trends. We notice that purple is displaying higher percentages of the population whose income in the past 12 months is below the poverty level. The next step for me would be to redefine poverty as the definitions we work with in government settings were articulated in 1963 and include income and only food expenses. It is out of date but we are able to define a wide variety of other variables better suited to identify contributions to inequity.
A quick look in ArcGIS allows me to explore poverty levels in my local county to see if there are any trends. We notice that purple is displaying higher percentages of the population whose income in the past 12 months is below the poverty level. The next step for me would be to redefine poverty as the definitions we work with in government settings were articulated in 1963 and include income and only food expenses. It is out of date but we are able to define a wide variety of other variables better suited to identify contributions to inequity.
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Think about overlaying the visualization below and see if you see patterns between vacancy rates in communities and where the poverty levels are highest. The dataset I normally work with has 62 variables all culled from census data. More to come...
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In a world of "evidence-based" medicine I am a bigger fan of practice-based evidence.
Remember the quote by Upton Sinclair...
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”
Remember the quote by Upton Sinclair...
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”
