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The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. As a priority Open Government Initiative for President Obama's administration, Data.gov increases the ability of the public to easily find, download, and use datasets that are generated and held by the Federal Government. Data.gov provides descriptions of the Federal datasets (metadata), information about how to access the datasets, and tools that leverage government datasets. The data catalogs will continue to grow as datasets are added. Federal, Executive Branch data are included in the first version of Data.gov.

There's been no shortage of hype about the relationship between cities and data, especially so-called big data. For large numbers of tech companies, cities, and even a growing number of urbanists, data promises to solve all manner of urban problems, from predictive policing to improving traffic flow to promoting energy efficiency.

Two weeks ago, we announced a crowdsourced database project in collaboration with Urban3 that aims to collect information on tax productivity of big box stores in comparison with other, more compact developments. We invited your submissions from towns, suburbs and cities across the country. Below is a preliminary map of that data, created by Josh McCarty.

The Health Inequality Project uses big data to measure differences in life expectancy by income across areas and identify strategies to improve health outcomes for low-income Americans.

"This remarkable equation is why people move to the big city," West says. "Because you can take the same person, and if you just move them to a city that's twice as big, then all of a sudden they'll do 15 percent more of everything that we can measure." While Jacobs could only speculate on the value of our urban interactions, West insists that he has found a way to "scientifically confirm" her conjectures. "One of my favorite compliments is when people come up to me and say, 'You have done what Jane Jacobs would have done, if only she could do mathematics,' " West says. "What the data clearly shows, and what she was clever enough to anticipate, is that when people come together, they become much more productive."

While bullshit may reach its apogee in the political domain, this is not a course on political bullshit. Instead, we will focus on bullshit that comes clad in the trappings of scholarly discourse. Traditionally, such highbrow nonsense has come couched in big words and fancy rhetoric, but more and more we see it presented instead in the guise of big data and fancy algorithms - and these quantitative, statistical, and computational forms of bullshit are those that we will be addressing in the present course.

Kumu is a visual data platform that allows you to map your relationships. Get started today by visiting kumu.io. Relationships matter to everyone - whether you're mapping your competitive landscape, developing networks of people, or creating system maps to change the world. Store your most important relationship information in Kumu and create maps that bring the big picture to life.

We are living in the midst of humankind's manifold crises, in a time of unprecedented change. Some call this era The Big Shift, Jump Time or The Great Transition. Out of the turbulence of this transformation, the world that will emerge will most likely be very different from what we know. Whether what unfolds will be for better or worse is up to us. Not up to us individually, but up to all of us who care for it.

What A Neural Network Thinks About Your Neighborhood--And Why It Matters http://ift.tt/2aT4OV2