2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

130 Strengthening Communities with Neighborhood Data
Invest in People
Train (or Recruit) More Software Programmers
For all the progress we hope to make toward software simplification, it’s
important to recognize that even the best software does not eliminate
the need for competent data technicians. Increasing data processing and
software engineering skills across the board is a challenging task, but the
good news is that every successive cohort of school children will likely
start middle school at a measurably higher skill level than its predecessors.
This generational improvement could be accelerated through public
investments in science, technology, engineering, and math education.
As we broaden and deepen the community of technicians capable of
turning raw data into retail data tools, opportunities for progress toward
community revitalization will increase. Today, the demand for skilled
software and data technicians still far outstrips the supply. Encouraging
immigration of skilled technicians through the H1-B visa program can
yield excellent results in this regard, but the federal government continues
to resist expansion of this valuable program.
Promote Data Literacy
Perhaps an even larger challenge is to raise the capacity of end consumers
to leverage data tools for improvements in their quality of life. Improving
people’s ability to effectively leverage data tools is more challenging
than improving the skill of our software technicians. Technicians have
voluntarily sought to learn the skills critical for their craft, but the people
who most need to leverage data tools are often unwilling or unable to
learn how to do so. The pattern is familiar: Tools and resources often are
rejected or ignored by those most in need of assistance. Such resistance
may persist regardless of efforts to help, but some interventions, such
as ubiquitous affordable broadband networks, increased investment in
technology education, and face-to-face outreach, can at least set the preconditions
for gradual improvement.
Promote Evidence-Based Decisionmaking
Analogous to the problem of training individual end users to effectively
use data tools is the problem of promoting data-driven decisionmaking
among institutions. No amount of great data or software can