Nationwide Network Of Urban Chief Data Officers Now In Place
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Harvard Ash Center launches network to establish and support the national peer network of CDOs.
The Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation has established a national peer network of Urban Chief Data Officers (CDOs) called the Civic Analytics Network (CAN). According to the release, CAN will “collaborate on shared projects that advance the use of data visualization and predictive analytics in solving important urban problems related to economic opportunity, poverty reduction, and addressing the root causes of social problems.”
The initiative is being supported by a grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, which will help transform the way local governments deliver services and set urban policy through improved access to and use of emerging technologies and cross agency and collaborative solutions.
In the world of municipal government, a CDO is a chief data officer, and is still relatively new and there aren’t that many CDOs around the nation, mainly limited to larger cities, as Route Fifty explained.
Professor Stephen Goldsmith, director of the Innovations in American Government Program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, has been involved in the project since last summer, according to Government Technology. He explained, “We’ve watched the emergence of a lot of good work but we also noticed that it wasn’t replicating quickly.”
“CDOs are at the forefront of the technological revolution reshaping local governments across the country,” said Stephen Goldsmith, the Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government at the Ash Center. “The Civic Analytics Network will allow us to build an important peer network of digital innovators to share creative solutions and strengthen our understanding of how cities and counties can better harness and apply data to address the 21st century challenges of urban governance.”
The Civic Analytics Network will be engaged in the following activities: analytics use case development to address multi-disciplinary social service challenges that require multi-agency collaboration; shared platform for data visualization to better understand patterns of need for municipal services and gaps that exist in addressing public need; convening twice a year in person and once a month by phone to facilitate discussions of ongoing challenges and accomplishments; and dissemination via white papers, case studies, and conferences of research on the use of data visualization and predictive analytics in cities and counties throughout the country.
“Local governments across the country are working to better utilize data and evidence to solve important problems”, said Josh McGee, Vice President of Public Accountability at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. “The Civic Analytics Network will support leaders who are committed to making measurable progress in addressing problems including homelessness, teen pregnancy and neighborhood blight.”