New Tools for Data Visualization & Analysis from the Local to the Global

Description:
This seminar will be of a particular interest to social scientists, policy-makers, or any institution engaging with large set of socio-economic, industrial and geospatial database. The Open Indicators Consortium (OIC) is a joint venture which combines the resources of a university with the experience of industry professionals. The mission of the OIC is to transform publicly available data into visually compelling and actionable indicators, which can then be used to inform public policy, research and decision making. The OIC focuses on improving access to data about communities and regions. The consortium has served as a forum where its members, technical and academic experts, data providers and users, have worked together to design, create and test a new software platform for data visualisation. This new software system, Weave, allows the user to visualize, analyze and compare complex data such as economic, social, environmental or health indicators at the local, regional, national or global level. Weave is also in development as a unique aid to economic cluster analysis, policy development, and program assessment. Weave is Web-based software that allows users to examine data from any location at any time. High-performance and highly interactive, Weave provides quick turn-around time for data analysis. Map visualizations employ a variety of boundaries, such as political, economic or environmental jurisdictions providing the user flexible geographic boundaries. Weave has been designed for flexibility and future expansion of capabilities. Weave includes numerous tools for uploading data sets and customizing visualizations. The software architecture has supported successful testing of additional software features supporting collaboration within and across regions, personalization, session history and ability to generate modern interactive web-based reports. The final version of the open-source software will be made fully available in December 2010, with constraints only on commercial use.

Dr. William Mass is Director of the Center for Industrial Competitiveness and Associate Professor and Graduate Faculty in the Regional Economic and Social Development Department at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Dr. Mass is founding Co-Director of the Open Indicators Consortium (OIC) and serves as Chair of the OIC Data Committee. Dr. Mass conducts interdisciplinary research on public policies that influence the geographic pace and pattern of workforce and economic development and transitions in economic leadership among firms, industries and regions. His peer reviewed publications are primarily on technology transfer, development and diffusion within and across the U.S., Europe and Asia; and local and regional development policies in New England. He is the co-editor of Organizational Capability and Competitive Advantage. Dr. Mass was a Newcomen Fellow, a one year Research Faculty appointment, at the Harvard Business School, and a National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health. His recent research has been supported by the National Academy of Sciences, the Economic Development Administration, the Boston Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. He has previously taught at the University of Connecticut at Hartford, Tufts University, and the Harvard School of Public Health.

All Welcome