How well and in what ways do governments communicate with their citizens? How do governments analyze data and create visualizations to promote public access to government information?
Team Leaders
- Ken Rogerson, Sanford School
- Orlin Vakarelov, Philosophy
Team Members
- Pimchanok Chuaylua, Political Science
- Blaine Elias, Public Policy Studies
- Nathalie Kauz, Public Policy Studies
- Lauren Kelly, Public Policy Studies
- Tanner Lockhead, Public Policy Studies
- Melinda McTeigue, Mechanical Engineering
- Sai Panguluri, Public Policy Studies
- Angie Shen, Public Policy Studies
Objectives
- To explore the normative and theoretical principles underlying the relation between information access and improved governance
- To develop a sustainable model for analyzing large datasets that relate to public issues
- To engage Duke students and faculty in Durham community
Methodology
- Access the data sets available through Durham City’s websites: Open City Data and Neighborhood Compass
- Analyze the data sets in the following topics: education, housing, safety and transportation
- Create data visualizations
- Advise Durham governmental organization on how to improve the efficiency of public access to governmental information
The impact of our advice, analysis and visualization will be assessed through the improvement of Durham citizens’ access to government information
Partnership and Outputs
- Created data visualizations demonstrating performance of Durham public schools
- Presented the data visualizations to Durham City
- Advised Durham City to improve its website interface
Insights
- Durham City has shown significant improvement on public access to government information through the utilization of technology.
- The team has gained hands-on experience from analyzing data and communicating with governmental organizations.
Download the poster presentation (PDF).
