April 10, 2023

Yay for DSSG!

Daniel X. O’NeilJune 20, 2014@danxoneil

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Smart Chicago

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Our PrinciplesTechnology

OpenEveryoneChicago

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The Strategy

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Access, Skills, and Data

• Access to the Internet for all– Broadband at home– Public computer centers and Community

technology centers– Next generation stuff

• Skills once you’re on the Internet– All on ramps

• Data so that there’s something worth looking at once you’re on and know how to work it– Apps– Infrastructure

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The Founders

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2 Philanthropies and1 Municipality

• The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation– A center for ideation and conception– 2007 report, “The City that NETWorks”– The primary source of funding

• Chicago Community Trust– Provides housing for the organization and is fiscal agent– At the center of funding and knowledge for the region– Critical financial, human resources, and other support

• The City of Chicago– The most important policy lever in the region– Departmental relationships– Getting things done

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The Role ofHumans in Big Data

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I <3 big data.

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And much of my careeris devoted to data.

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So where are all the people?

Big data is empty of humans.

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Humans have use.

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April 10, 2023 14

So How Do We Fix That?

Humansbeatdata.

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Civic User Testing Group

• Direct, sustained engagement with the regular residents for whom the tools are made.– UX testing– Community meetings– Computer training

• $5 gift cards/ $20 gift cards• Result: 800+ people in 50 wards

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The Work

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Data Round Trips

• Connect Chicago: data taken from City data portal

• Data was improved by seven teams of two people each– they physically visited every single location in our database

• That data now forms the basis for the City data

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April 10, 2023 20

April 10, 2023 21

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Chicago Works For You

• A city services dashboard that helps people see the entire corpus of the city at once

• Not their little slice, but all of us• We’re in this together, but we will

have a hard time seeing things that way unless we have tools that frame it that way

• Interface is dictator@danxoneil

April 10, 2023 23

And Lola Chen!

@danxoneil

“Any alert person canride the streets of Chicago

and see the patternof pothole problems.The ride might take

4 hours or so.The making notes might

take 1 hour.”@danxoneil

Random Advice

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DON’T GET MUCKETYMUCKITIS@danxoneil

RESEARCH ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING@danxoneil

NOT EVERYTHING IS AGITHUB REPOSITORY

@danxoneil