Queens residents interested in learning about data and its unique applications can attend a free virtual workshop with the Queens Public Library this week.
The NYC Office of Technology and Innovation(NYCOTI) is hosting “Driving Decisions With Data Visualizations” on Thursday, March 27, from 1 to 2 p.m. as part of Open Data Week.
During the data visualization workshop, Queens Public Library staff will explain how they use data to help connect visitors across the borough. Presenters will also explain how maps are created using software, including ArcGIS Online, NYC Open Data, and NYC Planning shapefiles.
Zachary Feder, program manager of Open Data, gave an overview of Thursday’s workshop. ”The really neat thing about this particular event is you’re learning a little bit about maps and geospatial data and how to use it, but then you’re also learning it through the context of the Queens Library and their operations,” Feder said.
Feder explained that NYC Open Data is a database that collects internal data from other city agencies and makes it available and accessible to all.
“We take the operations of government, so anytime a tree is planted by the Parks Department, the road is repaved through the Department of Transportation, trash is picked up by sanitation… all these things grow in a database,” Feder said. “ What Open Data does is it takes that otherwise internal information, and it makes it available and accessible to people by default.”
“In New York City, open data isn’t just a policy or an executive order; it’s a legal requirement,” Feder explained.
Feder added that unless there is a reason shared why information can’t be published, data is published if it meets the definition of a public data set.
The information is then made accessible on the NYC Open Data website so viewers do not have to search various city agency websites to find open data sets. Additionally, a “data dictionary” provides a context for the information.
In addition to the workshop with the Queens Public Library, the agency is offering over 70 free in-person and virtual events across the five boroughs during Open Data Week. During this week, instructors from all backgrounds, including government, journalism, nonprofits, advocacy and community organizations, tech startups, and more, discuss how they use different data sets.
Feder said that Open Data Week is an opportunity for people to learn how data sets can be used outside of spreadsheets and other standard applications. “I think it’s an opportunity for people to learn about their neighborhood and city, for people to engage with their government, and, really, just look at what’s important to them or what’s interesting to them,” he said.
There is an array of unique data workshop topics for all interests, including working on a map of the 57 best sandwiches in NYC based on a New York Times article to even mapping a data set of squirrels living around parks in the city.
Feder also encourages locals to venture outside the borough to view DATA Through Design’s eighth annual exhibit at BRIC, located at 647 Fulton St, Brooklyn. The exhibit is open now through April 6.
Feder said the exhibit transforms data into tangible art. “You can see how artists and data visualization experts look at these different data sets, [creating] everything from ceramics to mixed media,” Feder said. “ A few years ago, we had a group of people who sonified a data set about climate change, so they turned it into musical notes and then had a trio of musicians play a data set.”
Created over nine years ago, Open Data Week as a celebration of New York City’s public data and all its uses.
Open Data Week is an annual festival held in March to mark the anniversary of the city’s first open data law, which was signed on March 7, 2012. It comprises community events organized and produced by the NYC Open Data Team at the Office of Technology and Innovation, BetaNYC, and DATA Through Design.
Individuals interested in attending the free virtual workshop must register in advance to receive the Zoom link. Registration details can be found here.
