Page 44 - GCN, August/September 2017

case study DATA ANALYTICS Rat problems? In D.C.,
The Lab @ DC is helping officials make policy decisions driven by what’s in the numbers. Rodent abatement is one initiative.
BERNARDO RAMONFAUR/SHUTTERSTOCK/GCN STAFF
data could help.
BY MATT LEONARD
Governments are trying a wide range of approaches to en- able and encourage data- based decision-making: establishing data teams, creating chief data officer positions and building open-data por- tals. Now Washington has created the Lab @ DC to help make policy deci- sions driven by what’s in the numbers.
The lab, which is based in the Office of the City Administrator, has been up and running for most of this year, but its formal announcement wasn’t made until late July. Its mission, according to Lab Director David Yokum, is “injecting a pretty serious scientific capacity right in the nerve center of government.”
The staff is made up of data scientists who have diverse backgrounds in math, computer science and social science.
A project starts with an idea driven by a problem in the city, a policy debate, a piece of legislation before the City Coun- cil or anything else. From there, the Lab @ DC team works with the city agency that would be in charge of that particu- lar area. Casey, for example, is working on a project dealing with rat control, so he worked with the city’s Department of Health and its rodent control team.
The ideas are then presented in the form of a memo to a committee within the lab. For those that are approved, a pre-analysis is developed and publicly published.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTEXT
The lab is using existing public data and datasets it creates itself in the form of randomized control trials. Casey’s
“You can’t manage what you can’t measure, and by using the scientific method, we are getting the best possible measurements to inform how we manage the city.”
Peter Casey, a senior data scientist at the Office of the CTO and at Lab @ DC, said the process for deciding what proj- ects to tackle is “somewhat akin to peer review in the academic community.”
— RASHAD YOUNG, WASHINGTON, D.C.
project on rat abatement is using data from calls to the 311 service number.
“The way that works is we’re draw- ing from existing 311 data to figure out where we’re getting calls from and
44 GCN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 • GCN.COM