Ariel Rokem, University of Washington eScience Institute
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How do we enable data-driven approaches in institutions devoted to social good?
How can we provide training for data-scientists interested in social good?
A ten-week internship program matching student DSSG fellows with project leads from organizations in the Seattle region devoted to social good, for intense joint work focused on providing a specific data-driven solution.
Focused, intensive, collaborative projects
Data scientists + domain scientists
Results that wouldn't be possible otherwise
Inclusive data-driven innovation for the future of cities
Between the University and the City
Between researchers
University of Chicago, since 2012
Georgia Tech, since 2014
4 projects (with project leads)
of 11 applications
17 DSSG Fellows
of 144 applications
6 High School students (ALVA program)
The eScience infrastructure
Individual mentorship
Peer instruction and collaboration
Socrata crime incidence data
Survey data
Data from social networks (facebook, twitter, etc.)
It is possible to both:
Trainee diversity poses a challenge in formal settings
But might be a strength in the context of project work!
Stakeholder involvement is important
(no projects "thrown over the fence")
In-house expertise (data scientists, program managers) are an important asset to the program