With more than 300 researchers working across the intersections of social and economic policy, the Urban Institute publishes a wealth of data, information and analysis. But how is that evidence generated? What tools, datasets, and technology platforms does Urban use to conduct that research? What data visualization and digital tools deliver content to your computer?
To explore these questions, today we are launching a new platform, Data@Urban. As part of our commitment to democratizing data, we take you “behind the numbers” to explain how we harness new technology, create innovative data visualizations and tools, and leverage data from new sources as we conduct rigorous research. In this blog, we draw from social science, policy, communications, data science, and technology experts across Urban, tailoring our content to people doing similar or related work in public policy and the social sciences.
Topics found on this blog are distinct from those found on Urban Wire, the Urban Institute’s central blogging platform. While Urban Wire elevates the debate with evidence-based insights about specific policy issues, Data@Urban is a place to explore how our work comes to life.
We anticipate talking about things like leveraging the cloud for data-intensive research; tutorials in programming languages such as R, JavaScript, and Python; behind-the-scenes discussions of Urban feature stories and data tools; data visualization tutorials in d3, R, and Excel; and open data portals, to name just a few. Where possible, we will provide links to additional guides, source code, and relevant datasets so you can use our processes in your own work.
For now, we are using Medium to host our content, but we plan to migrate Data@Urban to the Urban Institute website, urban.org. Posts are tagged by topic, so you can follow what matters most to you. And if you follow us on Twitter, we’ll alert you to new content there, too.
Our goal is twofold. First, by providing these tools and tutorials, we will empower others to put data directly in the hands of positive changemakers to make smarter, more informed decisions. Second, by discussing how our underlying research is conducted, we hope to bring new knowledge to the fields of research, technology, and digital communications.
Initially, we plan to post every few weeks, but we may consider posting more frequently in the future. We hope you enjoy Data@Urban, and we look forward to sharing how we think, work, and study here at the Urban Institute.
The Data@Urban Team
Editorial Managers
