Critical Data
A tiny bootstrap sample of resources
Community, Debate, Activism, Policy
Left Turn, Clyde
Treasure-Troves of Primary and Secondary Data Sources
Counting that Counts
Library Links
Spatial Data Treasure-Trove
Core Surveys from Government Agencies, University Centers, and Nonprofit Foundations
Secondary-Secondary: Synthetic Alchemy
Primary-Synthetic Social Data
Data sets developed by Gary King, including "The Supreme Court During Crisis: How War Affects Only Nonwar Cases,"
"Elections to the United States House of Representatives, 1898-1992," and the "Record of American Democracy Project"
Flash a Mirror at the Panopticon
Recent Additions
That's a title that needs no explanation, right? The existence of such a center fills the heart with hope. The fact that such a center is so urgently needed fills the heart with anxiety.
Yes! Finally, the politics of data in Vancouver are becoming just a bit more open.
Amazing resource from the folks at The Reinvestment Fund -- allows a wide range of interactive maps of a wide range of housing and demographic information relevant to crucial questions of geography, development, and policy.
A new initiative of the Obama Administration, designed to increase public access to information gathered and created by the Executive branch.
Blocks, tracts, places, counties, County Business Patterns, etc., etc., all free, in ready-to-use shapefiles, all rectified to a common projection. Remarkable!
380,000 word searchable
database of "orchestrated deception
on the path to war" by top officials
of the Bush Administration
Data Transfer
A collection of aerial views from Lion's Gate Bridge to Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver, the downtown peninsula, North Vancouver towards Coquitlam, then back along Burrard Inlet to the Port of Vancouver. Beware, this is a monstrous file, some 444MB. Apologies for the glare and window reflections in some of the shots.
Tabulations of denial rates, racial-ethnic composition of mortgage applicant pool, and rate-spread loan shares for all Metropolitan Areas in the United States.
For Kristen Crossney.
For Dan Hammel.
Tracts used in the classifications presented in Elvin K. Wyly and Daniel J. Hammel (2005), "Mapping Neoliberal American Urbanism." In Rowland Atkinson and Gary Bridge, editors, Gentrification in a Global Context: The New Urban Colonialism. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 18-38.
Image ©copyright 2006 Tyler Pearce
Other Resources
U.S. Federal Research and Legal Portals
(see the profile of Carl Malamud, "a self-styled Robin Hood
of the information age," in John Markoff (2007). "A Quest to Get More
Court Rulings Online, and Free." New York Times, August 21, C6. Malamud
is challenging the oligopoloy of corporate control of searchable laws and
court decisions, declaring that these are the "operating system of the nation...
The system only works if we can all openly read the primary sources.
It is crucial that the public domain data be available for anybody
to build on." Markoff, p. C6.
to build on." Markoff, p. C6.
Fair Housing and Fair Lending Resources
Mapping Tools
Miscellaneous Culture Jamming
DefCon: "We believe elected officials
put their hand on the bible and swear to
uphold the Constitution. Not the other way around."
Urban Resistance and Social Justice Mobilization
Assorted Urban Teaching Resources
This site was not made possible by the financial support of large multinational corporations seeking to distract attention from their misdeeds by making contributions to pseudo-liberal media products or charitable causes. Instead, this site is brought to you by the generous support of all the taxpayers who have supported the public, non-profit educational insitutions that have allowed me to pursue free, independent inquiry wherever it takes me.
I Am Not Making This Up Department, Division 17: Responding to the controversy over the massive investment that Wall Street hedge funds are making in several companies spearheading the proliferation of surveillance cameras throughout hundreds of cities in China, Peter Siris drew comparisons to New York City's extensive surveillance system. "Is New York a police state?" he asked. Siris is the managing director of two hedge funds that are named (I am not making this up) Guerrilla Capital and Hua-Mei 21st Century. Both funds have been early and aggressive investors, providing funding for an increasingly sophisticated infrastructure of cameras, facial recognition algorithms, and software that makes it possible "for security cameras to count the number of people in crosswalks and alert the police [if] a crowd forms at an unusual hour, a possible sign of an unsanctioned protest." Keith Bradsher (2007). "Wall Street Sees an Opportunity in China's Surveillance Boom." New York Times, September 11, A1, A12, quotes from p. A12.
Marginal elasticity of bogosity under conditions of asymmetric intelligence: "Economics is the only academic discipline that in recent decades has moved in the direction that America and much of the world has moved, to the right." George Will (2007). "The Democratic Economist." Washington Post, October 4, A25.
"The supply of moral outrage is limited. When we aim it at the wrong targets, we squander a valuable resource." Robert Frank (2007). "Invisible Handcuffs." Book Review of Robert Reich, Supercapitalism: the Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life (New York: Knopf). New York Times, October 21.
"Most people like to believe something is or is not true. Great scientists tolerate ambiguity very well. They believe the theory enough to go ahead; they doubt it enough to notice the errors and faults so they can step forward and create the new replacement theory. If you believe too much you'll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won't get started. It requires a lovely balance." Richard W. Hamming (1986). "You and Your Research." Presentationg at the Morrise Research and Engineering Center, Morristown, NJ. Transcription by J.F. Kaiser. Available at http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html.
The efforts of some cyber-sleuths, insurgent independent journalists and bloggers "are the latest sign that a new generation of individuals see 'information gathering as a participatory contact sport,' said Jonathan Zittrain, a law professor at the Harvard Law School and a co-founder of its Berkman Center for Internet and Society. 'I think that is a positive sign.'" Quoted in Miguel Helft (2008). "Internet-Age Detective on the Trail of Gymnasts: Cyber-Sleuth Uncovers Information on Disputed Birth Dates of Chinese Athletes." New York Times, August 29, C14.
According to the theory of relativity, you already read this disclaimer -- just in a different place.
CopyLeft 2018 Elvin K. Wyly
Except where otherwise noted, this site is
Yikes!
Sixty million observations! Eighty eight million!
The paragraph above is a lie. When words hurt, sentences kill. And those do. My first sentence above erased eight hundred forty one thousand, three hundred seventeen individual stories. The second sentence disappeared five hundred sixty-one thousand, one hundred thirteen.
How could I be so callous, so care-less?
What can these huge numbers mean, when the complexity of individuals, all those multifaceted lives, are distilled down into ... each ... one? One. Each one an observation. Capable of being observed.
Now I think I understand why Markus Doel (2001) was so angry with the number one. It puts everything on the same level, and that feels violent, when we realize how many different sides there are to our own personal, individual identities. Think of trying to summarize as as "one" "observation." One? Louis Wirth (1938) taught us that the segmented self is the essence of personal identity in the overwhelming informational ecosystem of the city: we show different sides of ourselves when we interact with different people, in different circumstances. Indeed, we act so differently that perhaps it would be more honest just to say that we really are different 'selves' in different situations. Michael Curry (1997) brilliantly updates the idea for today's "digital invidual" -- the passwords, avatars, and cookie-and-GPS-trails each of us leaves for others exploring the strange landscapes of the social web.
. Torsten Hagerstrand and Allan Pred understand this, and so does Julie Graham (1993), Ananya Roy (2011), Michael Curry (1997), and Elizabeth Lee (2012).
So does Auguste Comte, and Louis Wirth, and Peter Gould, and Julie Graham, they're speaking now through Michael Curry (1997), and Ananya Roy (2011), Elizabeth Lee (2012), and so many others, each
Quick links to current addictions
Recent Bedtime data-documentation-what-does-this-variable-mean? Reading...
"The data-antagonistic Harper government has so muzzled federal scientists that an editorial in the prestigious Nature magazine demanded that it was "time for the Canadian government to set its scientists free."
"...he had already trained himself to tune out the daily ratings updates, which arrive on computers and BlackBerries throughout Rockefeller Center every weekday at four. 'Obviously, the numbers are bad right now,' he said. But television ratings are notoriously noisy, distorted by imperfect monitoring and by the imperfect science of statistical extrapolation, so he was on guard against drawing lessons from a strong Thursday, or a weak Monday. 'Looking at day-to-day ratings tickles the worst instincts human beings have on causal inference,' he said, sounding as if he were a rat, describing his own lab. 'It creates cargo cult. It creates rain dances. It's like, Oh my God, the number's good today. What did we do yesterday? Well, we danced, and it rained. So let's dance!'"
MSNBC host Chris Hayes, describing the ratings analysis for his new show All In With Chris Hayes, cited in Kelefa Sanneh (2013). "Twenty-Four Hour Party People." The New Yorker, September 2, 48-57, quote from p. 51.
"Cyberspace. Places. Users. SMUSH! Wow!"
Wow, indeed...!
Fred,
Federal Reserve Economic Data
recently applauded as "the most amazing economics website in the world."
for tax-return income and Earned-Income Tax Credit (EITC) analysis
"Hurtig has run for Parliament, founded a political party and published articles, pamphlets, and half a dozen books about what makes us Canadian. His crowning achievement is the creation of a modern encyclopedia written by Canadians about Canadians. ... Now, at 82, an age when one might expect he'd be spending his days walking the dog on the seawall, Hurtige rides to battle again: this time, the foe is the prime minister, subject of The Arrogant Autocrat: Stephen Harper's Takeover of Canada." Harper has exploited a dysfunctional electoral system in order to foist upon Canada 'an extreme American-style, neo-conservative agenda' that distorts and betrays the 'Progressive Conservative' party that the big-C Conservatives took over, Hurtig argues, in a cogent analysis of various tactics used to systematically dismantle democratic processes and progressive principles. "What kind of democracy, Hurtig wonders, embraces the suppression and politicized state control of information essential to good governance? He cites Harper's overt hostility to environmental concerns and the price of his over-emphasis on oilsands development; the systematic muzzling of scientists; what he calls 'datacide,' the emasculation of agencies gathering reliable baseline statistics as a way of undermining fact-based opposition to ideologically motivated policy; rapidly growing income inequality and a shrinking middle class; neglect of the poorest and most vulnerable Canadians."
--All direct quotes are taken from Stephen Hume (2015). "Mel Hurtig Rides into Battle Again." Vancouver Sun, June 8, p. A6.
Post-election update: Trudeau's first official act restores the census. Data...!
Resist the Violent, Racist Trumpian World of 'Alternative Facts'!
Official statement distributed to all members of the Association of American Geographers:
"February 21, 2017
The Honorable Mike Lee
U.S. Senate
361A Russell SOB
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable
Paul Gosar
U.S. House of Representatives
504 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Senator Lee and Congressman Gosar,
The undersigned organizations are writing with regard to S. 103 and H.R. 482, legislation you recently introduced regarding Department of Housing and Urban Development regulations.
As you know, this bill provides that “… no Federal funds may be used to design, build, maintain, utilize, or provide access to a Federal database of geospatial information on community racial disparities or disparities in access to affordable housing,” in addition to nullifying the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation.
It is our belief that this legislation could foster racial discrimination and have far-reaching consequences on federally-sponsored research on racial disparities, as well as on federal human health programs; census issues; education programs, including services for children; federal housing programs; Department of Justice programs; and other critical programs. Our association members often conduct research or provide services – some of which is federally funded – using geospatial information related to racial and other disparities, and we fear that the enactment of this legislation could have a damaging effect on a wide range of Americans and their communities.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. Please do not hesitate to contact John Wertman at the American Association of Geographers at jwertman@aag.org or (202) 234-1450 if you have any questions about this issue or would like to set up a meeting with representatives from our organizations to discuss the policy implications of these restrictions to the use of and access to geospatial data and racial disparities information.
Sincerely,
American Association of Geographers
American Anthropological Association
American Educational Research Association
American Geographical Society
American Geosciences Institute
American Psychological Association
American Sociological Association
Association of Research Libraries
Cartography and Geographic Information Society
Center for Global Policy Solutions
ChangeLab Solutions
Consortium of Social Science Associations
Economic Policy Institute Policy Center
Global Alliance for Behavioral Health and Social Justice
Institute for the Study of "Race" & Social Justice
Midwest Political Science Association
NAACP
National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development
National Collaborative for Health Equity
National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association
National States Geographic Information Council
North American Regional Science Council
Poverty and Race Research Action Council
Rural Sociological Society
Society for Research in Child Development
The City Project
University Consortium for Geographic Information Science"
Too many pickup trucks have gun racks. More need fact racks.
Fascinating! Anat Caspi, at the University of Washington, has developed AccessMap, which is a sort of Google Maps customized to show city sidewalks and other features according to conditions for differently-abled people.
Robotic Renaissance?
"...the data led us to the conclusion that the subject should be a portrait, of a caucasian male, with facial hair, between thirty and forty years old, in dark clothing with a collar and wearing a hat, and facing to the right..."
But then see this important analysis and critique: Daniela Aiello, Lisa Bates, Terra Graziani, Christopher Herring, Manissa Maharawal, Erin McElroy, Pamela Phan, and Gretchen Purser (2018). "Eviction Lab Misses the Mark." Shelterforce, August 22.
Facts are stubborn, and sometimes dangerous, things. Source: Thomas H. Russell, ed. (1912). The Sinking of the Titanic. Chicago: National Bible House / L. H. Walter, p. 72; copyright lapsed, material is in the public domain.
"Truth — truth is so vital to our world. Truth is what we base our reality on, and we have to agree on that to have a civil society."-- Scarlett Lewis, confronting the conspiracist Alex Jones. Read Elizabeth Williamson (2022). "I Want You to Hear This: A Sandy Hook Mother Confronts Alex Jones." New York Times, August 3; and for further perspective on the cybernetic poststructuralism that has distorted positivism beyond all recognition for more than a few decades now, see Elvin Wyly (2014). "Automated (Post)Positivism." Urban Geography 35(5), 669-690; and Elvin Wyly (2017). Conspiracy Capital. Vancouver, BC: Department of Geography, University of British Columbia.