News & Updates
Making Household Need Data More Accessible: DHS Launches Its Interactive Databook
On April 16, 2024, the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services (DHS) launched a new interactive version of their databook. As the largest state department that provides services for Hawai‘i residents across all islands, DHS collects a wealth of data regarding the conditions and needs of communities statewide. The interactive databook – along with the PDF version that will continue to be released annually – will provide valuable aggregated, anonymized, community-specific data so that the public, service providers, and policymakers may make data-guided decisions when it comes to accessing, providing, and funding benefits and services.
A Simple Guide to Data Visualization for Non-Profits
Data visualization is becoming an increasingly popular tool for organizations to share and make sense of their data. To help those interested in getting started with data visualization, Hawai‘i Data Collaborative’s data visualization and analysis lead, Tiana Tran, has created this guide that outlines the main considerations when choosing a visualization tool, points to resources for learning how to use that tool, and shares Tiana’s favorite resources for learning how to create effective visualizations.
Hawai‘i Data Collaborative at the 16th Hawai‘i Book & Music Festival
Nick Redding, Executive Director of the Hawai‘i Data Collaborative (HDC), was invited to join two panels at the 16th Annual Hawai‘i Book and Music Festival.
The first panel took place on October 5th, and included experts in healthcare, public health, and data to discuss Lessons for Future Pandemics. The second panel took place on October 28th, and included data experts to discuss Big Data Visualization.
Open Access to Hawaii.PolicyMap Renewed for Another Year
We are pleased to announce that open access to Hawaii.PolicyMap will continue to be available for another year, thanks to the generosity of The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Hawai‘i Energy, and Hawai‘i State Department of Health, who have come alongside the Hawai‘i Data Collaborative to sponsor the Hawaii.PolicyMap Enterprise License.
TRUE Insight: Tableau Success Stories in Hawai‘i
Insight from data has made an impactful difference in Hawai‘i’s response to COVID.
On January 27, 2021, Deena Tearney, CEO of Pacific Point, moderated a panel that discussed how:
Successful response requires everyone to come together and rapidly innovate in times of crisis
Data, data visualizations, and data integration with other system increases decision making value
You can create and foster a data culture at your organization
Panelists included Jeremy Blaney of Tableau; Erin Hughey of Pacific Disaster Center; and Nick Redding of the Hawai‘i Data Collaborative.
The Hawai‘i Variable: COVID-19 Dashboards Workshop
On January 21, 2021, Civil Beat's data reporter, Yoohyun Jung moderated a panel of experts as they explored Hawai‘i's COVID-19 data dashboards during an in-depth workshop and discussion.
Panelists included:
Nick Redding, Hawai‘i Data Collaborative
Joshua Quint, Hawai‘i Department of Health, Disease Outbreak Control Division (DOCD)
Niea Gardner, Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA)
Victoria Fan, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa and Hawai‘i Pandemic Applied Modeling Work Group (HiPAM)
Panelists demonstrated how to navigate Hawai‘i’s many COVID-19 data dashboards and figure out how to extract the most important, and interesting, information out of them.
Tracking the Coronavirus and the Federal Funding
In Hawai‘i Magazine’s “Hawai‘i Gives Back” Series, Hawai‘i Data Collaborative’s (HDC) Nick Redding is featured in “Tracking the Coronavirus and the Federal Funding” contributed by Hawai‘i Community Foundation, where he discussed:
Why HDC works to make data accessible;
How COVID created a shock to the system that has helped people see the value in data;
What we should be doing now to prepare for the next disruption.
Bite-Size Data Viz: State of Hawaii Operating Budget
The State of Hawaii’s Operating Budget is important for many reasons: it reveals the state’s revenue sources and expenses, dictates the investments our policymakers choose, and provides an overall picture our collective priorities. Recent budget data for fiscal years 2014-2019 is available on Hawaii’s Open Data portal as an Excel spreadsheet that includes more than 500,000 rows of individual line items.
The Danger of Letting Data Define the “Thing”
There is growing interest from a broad range of local stakeholders in better understanding our local challenges through data. This cadre of stakeholders believes that making community indicators more accessible will be incredibly useful for building a better understanding of well-being – and that understanding can shape the actions we take to improve our communities. If decision makers can get a high-level sense of conditions and outcomes related to health, education, economic opportunity, housing, etc., they can make more informed decisions regarding how to allocate resources to improve disparities.