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Data in the Big City

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DataKind and Craig B.
Data in the Big City

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We hear about plenty of initiatives to make civic data more accessible or to build new apps for cities, but we rarely get to hear about the novel ways that cities themselves are innovating with their own data and the ways in which we can all take part. At this Meetup we'll have two brilliant talks from people that are in the trenches every day using data to modernize our fair city. We'll hear about data crime fighting in City Hall and learn about initiatives where volunteers are teaming with government to give fresh perspectives to our biggest challenges.

Data Analytics at City Hall

Nicholas O'Brien

You may have heard of Mayor Bloomberg's secret Geek Squad (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/nyregion/mayor-bloombergs-geek-squad.html?pagewanted=all), headed up by new Chief Analytics Officer and friend of DataKind, Mike Flowers. Well Nicholas O'Brien is the Chief of Staff of this data science skunkworks, using data from across the city and beyond to optimize city practices, track down crime, and make the city a better place for us all to live. We'll here about the team's latest exploits and find out more about the city's quest to use data for the greater good.

Exploring the Urban Forest

Jacqueline Lu and Brian Dalessandro

Jacqueline Lu (NYC Parks) and Brian Dalessandro (media6degrees) first teamed up at our NYC Parks DataDive last fall, where they tackled the challenge of predicting storm damage to the city's trees. The two continued working beyond the weekend to tackle more detailed studies of the city's tree pruning programs and saw the effects of Superstorm Sandy played out against their studies. This month they'll share how NYC Parks is using data science to improve its practices and talk about the challenges and joys of doing pro bono data science with government agencies.

Mingling at 7, talks start at 7:30.

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