DC students combine data and technology to work for social good

Data and technology are not just for professional techies. Organizations in the DC area are showing students that with a little training, a lot of motivation—and, of course, data—they can leverage technology to shine a spotlight on important social problems.

Middle- and high-school students in DC are learning how to advocate for social change by combining publicly available government data with high-tech mapping skills through a program called TAGS DC. The effort has been led by the DC Geographic Alliance along with DC’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer.

Working with experts and mentors, students in the program use geographic information systems and local data to shed light on social ills and press for change. They then present their findings and recommendations to their communities, including DC officials.

Alumni of TAGS DC recently leveraged data released by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) to build a map showing where DC homeless students go to school. They have also created an interactive map showing which DC neighborhoods are “food deserts,” where residents lack access to stores that sell healthy food. (Disclosure: my son is an alumnus of the TAGS DC program.)

Open data combined with technology

While creating maps doesn’t directly provide solutions, you can’t begin to solve a problem if you don’t know it’s there. The DC government has recently been releasing more data, and technology now makes it possible to present that data in formats, like maps, that make it easier to analyze. As a result, parents and other community members as well as students are better able to identify problems and advocate for change.

This past weekend, some TAGS DC alumni participated in an interactive science fair called the Tech Embassy. Hosted at Affinity Lab during a new event called the Funk Parade, the Tech Embassy invited visitors to explore civic tech projects made by DC residents for DC residents. Similar pop-up spaces focused on bridging technology and community are planned for DC street festivals this summer.

Tech Embassy participants engaged with local projects created by Code for DC, DC Public Libraries, Open Technology Institute, Code for Progress and others.

As the event demonstrated, data and technology can be available and useful to all of us. Whether and how we choose to participate is up to us.

Do you know of any student-led projects using data and technology for social good? Please tell us about them in the comments!