Tag: Digital Literacy/Equity

A collaborative hackathon to build public mapping resources using NYC Open Data

How Maps Speak is a collaborative hackathon run by Parisa Setayesh and Shokran Rahiminezhad, two PhD candidates at the CUNY Graduate Center, focused on building a public teaching resource for mapping using NYC Open Data. Rather than centering on a single technical product, this hackathon brings together participants from diverse disciplines to co-create beginner-friendly mapping tutorials, examples, and workflows that show how maps are used to communicate with communities.

Participants will contribute and comment on short, structured materials, such as annotated mapping examples, tool-agnostic tutorials, and community-facing workflows, using NYC Open Data as a shared reference point. These contributions will form the foundation of Mapping Commons, an open, publicly accessible collection of mapping resources designed for non-experts.

The hackathon emphasizes collaboration, reflection, and public usefulness over competition or speed. No advanced technical or GIS experience is required. Learn more here and register below.

This hackathon is designed for an interdisciplinary audience, including:

  • Students and researchers
  • Urban planners, designers, and architects
  • Community organizers and advocates
  • Educators, librarians, and journalists
  • Data visualization practitioners

Baruch students are leading a data-driven walking tour of Gramercy Flatiron based on litter basket data from the NYC Department of Sanitation and monument and tree data from the NYC Parks Department.

Nothing to do with dumpster diving, but everything to do with leveraging unique data sets from NYC Open Data that are used to design a data-driven walk. The event will demonstrate how combining a myriad of datasets can drive new community gathering places and economic development.

Student docents from Baruch College and New York University will point out and discuss famous and unique places next to litter cans in the Gramercy Flatiron including famous statues and unique places in Madison Sq. Park, eateries on 5th Ave, the farmers market in Union Square and Broadway, notable homes of Dutch, English and Americans in Gramercy Park

Following a brief discussion about the architectural importance of the Courthouse, students will then lead us through Madison Square Park, pointing out important statues and plaques, notable sculpture then down Broadway through Flatiron towards Union Sq. Park. The walk will then head north through Gramercy Park ending at the Vertical Campus of Baruch College at 25th Street and Lexington Ave.

The walk begins at 12pm on the front steps of the Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State adjacent to Madison Sq. Park. Bring questions, snacks, and curiosity. The walk will last about 90 minutes. If you want to learn more after the tour, stick around for a discussion about how it was designed – sign up here.

Baruch College and New York University students will present their results from mining the litter basket dataset available from NYC Open Data sources. Students will demonstrate how this data combination of other datasets to identify famous places, plaques, statues, trees and famous buildings in the Gramercy Flatiron neighborhoods.

These presentations will be based on data from the NYC Department of Sanitation, monuments and plaque datasets and tree census data from the NYC Parks Department. Students will discuss famous and unique places next to litter cans in the Gramercy Flatiron including famous statues and unique places in Madison Sq. Park, eateries on 5th Ave, the farmers market in Union Square and Broadway, notable homes of Dutch, English and Americans in Gramercy Park

Nothing to do with dumpster diving, but everything to do with leveraging unique data sets from NYC Open Data  the presentations will demonstrate how combining a myriad of datasets can drive new community gathering places and economic development.

Presentations begin at 1:30pm. Meet in front of the Baruch College Welcome Center at 137A East 25th Street. The building is located in a pedestrian plaza between 3rd Ave and Lexington Ave. Attendance is limited to 30 people. Please bring an ID card (like a driver’s license) that will allow you to get through security.

Before this discussion, join the related walking tour that starts at 12 p.m..

Open Data Week 2026 March 22-29, 2026 (and more!)

At more than $118 billion, New York City’s annual budget is larger than the budgets of all but three U.S. states. It funds everything from parks and libraries to housing programs, street maintenance, childcare, and public safety. But the documents that make up the City’s budget were not designed primarily for public transparency, they are built to manage spending and comply with accounting rules. As a result, it can be surprisingly difficult for even experienced observers to understand where the money actually goes.

In this session, the Independent Budget Office’s Logan Clark will walk participants through the basics of how the City’s budget works and how to use publicly available data to better understand the City’s financial position. The session will introduce key budget concepts and vocabulary, explain why the budget is structured the way it is, and explore how different datasets can help illuminate city spending and ultimately, improve service delivery.

Participants will get a practical tour of major public resources, including the Independent Budget Office’s Fiscal History tools, the Comptroller’s Checkbook NYC tool, and public datasets from the Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget. Attend this event to learn how to begin answering questions about agency spending, budget trends, and how public dollars translate into the services New Yorkers experience every day.

Childcare in the City is a free, student-led Open Data Week event exploring how NYC Open Data can power public storytelling and policy communication. Undergraduate students from Barnard College analyzed data from the NYC Work and Family Leave Survey and translated their findings into a short podcast featuring expert guests Dr. Meredith Slopen (Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare) and Dr. Jane Waldfogel (Compton Foundation Centennial Professor for the Prevention of Children’s and Youth Problems at Columbia University School of Social Work).

The event opens with a live listening of the student-produced podcast, followed by a moderated talkback with the graduate student mentors, student creators and expert guests. Together, they discuss their findings, the role of open data in civic life, and what the numbers reveal about childcare and family wellbeing in New York City—a timely topic given ongoing mayoral and gubernatorial conversations around universal childcare.

This 90-minute, in-person and virtual event is held on the Barnard College campus and is open to students, educators, researchers, and anyone interested in open data, storytelling, and family policy. Register here.

As part of NYC Open Data Week 2026, the CUNY Public Interest Technology (PIT) Lab will host a week-long Open Data Takeover of the NYC PIT Pop-Up at the Oculus / World Trade Center. The activation advances Open Data Week’s goals of accessibility, civic learning, and practical use of open data by bringing open data projects into a highly visible, public-facing space. Attendees can drop in at any time during the hours below for a demonstration of the tool and to speak with the presenter. Most of the demos will also be streamed live from the Pop-Up on its Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/cunypitlab). Inside the Oculus, the Pop-Up is located on the Main Floor C2, in the South Concourse, at Shop #53 (next to M.A.C. Cosmetics). View the full PIT Lab schedule. No RSVP needed, just stop by!

[2pm–6pm]
Mike Spade – DuBois Does Data
35 years after slavery, Du Bois set out to provide a definitive image of the Negro condition in the United States. His data efforts not only quantified economic parity or lack thereof, he also focused on where people lived, and how they lived. During the 1900 Paris Exposition, he shared his findings with the world. But how do those findings hold up 125 years later? What has changed? Has anything stayed the same? At Du Bois Does Data, engage with his visuals, portraits, and data in a multi-sensory experience. Scents derived from the life and experience of W.E.B. Playlists charting the course of Black American music from his birth to his death, a day before the “I Have A Dream Speech.” Books celebrating his work and a first edition copy of his completed passion project, Africana. Curated vintage stamps in his image, portraits, and his article in Africana will serve as activations for A/R experiences, bringing the nostalgia into the palm of your hand. In Du Bois Does Data, we also used Python to evaluate the condition of Black Americans 125 years after his exhibit using Census data in 6 Jupyter Notebooks.

Ray Brescia – Gamifying Know-Your-Rights Information
This presentation will explore the power of gamification and then describe one current work in progress, an online game, “Haunted Housing,” that is designed in partnership with community-based advocacy organizations in New York City to educate youth, particularly from immigrant communities, about housing rights.  Gamification can be utilized in many other contexts–from immigrants’ rights to school discipline–and I will describe our ground-up method for developing this tool and encourage others to explore similar initiatives in other contexts.

Merlin Valdez – VoteFeed.org
VoteFeed.org is a Twitter/Bluesky-like user experience that allows constituents to interact with their respective U.S. representative in congress by sharing their opinion on policies up for vote in the legislative agenda.

Open Data Week 2026 March 22-29, 2026 (and more!)

This is a virtual hands-on workshop where we will dive in on spreadsheet fundamentals using Google Sheets through the lens of teaching virtual high school students. Participants who are new to spreadsheets and to those with intermediate skills are encouraged to attend, and those that teach high school students looking for a data lens. Participants will access a shared spreadsheet where we will learn about spreadsheets fundamentals together, and model how these skills can be taught to high school students. We will analyze a data set from NYC Open Data to apply the new functions we learn.

Ethel Khanis teaches high school chemistry and Socratic seminar at New York City’s first virtual high school.

Ken Cobb and Marcia Kirk from the Department of Records and Information Services will present a discussion and demonstration of newly released voter registration records available on Ancestry.com. These records document the period from 1915-1956 and include several important events: women’s right to vote, both World Wars, and the Great Depression.

Open to researchers and people interested in researching genealogy, family history, local history, voting patterns, population movement. This is an in-person event at the NYC Department of Records and Information Services, 31 Chambers Street, NYC in Room 111.

Open Data Week 2026 March 22-29, 2026 (and more!)

In this session, we present projects from Maps @ MIXI, a mapping club about spatial justice, open data, and critical cartography. Throughout the year, five NYC youth worked on four projects during the club in which they analyzed NYC Open Data and other open data sets like the US Census. The projects span a variety of topics – access to pools, the housing crisis, restaurant hygiene ratings, and youth-targeting police activity. The projects are youth-driven and represent the questions youth bring to open data.

First, this will briefly introduce the Maps @ MIXI club. Then, each youth/team will briefly discuss their project, the motivation behind the work, and the map they created.

Unequal Pool Distribution Around NYC and How It Affects Overall Public Health by Zachary Kiselev
How can we use NYC Open Data to understand whether pool access is unevenly distributed between neighborhoods, and how can this be used as a marker for overall public health?

Using NYC Open Data to Understand the Causes of New York City’s Housing Crisis by Oleksandra Borysova
How can NYC Open Data show why NYC has a housing crisis by looking at vacancy, rents, wages, population changes, transportation, and Airbnb listings?

Predicting Restaurant Hygiene Grades Across New York City by Gab Dechirico and Mariam Khan
In New York City, to what extent do neighborhood socioeconomic indicators and cuisine types predict a restaurant’s likelihood of receiving an “A” hygiene grade, after accounting for inspection frequency and violation patterns?

Policing and Youth: Analyzing Police Stops of Youth in New York City by Wen Chen
How does the racial composition of youth subjected to police stops within 700 feet of NYC public schools differ from the racial composition of youth residing in the surrounding census tracts?

UnSchool of Data is BetaNYC’s open space unconference for networking, co-creating, and learning. It brings together city residents, technologists, civic leaders, students, advocates, policy nerds, government staff, elected officials, journalists, designers, and more to leverage open data to tackle some of the most pressing issues in NYC and beyond.

It’s a community driven day for turning open data into civic solutions.

UnSchool of Data has these underlying goals:

  1. Convene community members to share civic insights and ideas.
  2. Create processes/projects that people will use for further action.
  3. Foster formal and informal communities of practice and action.

Learn more about UnSchool of Data and how it works at www.schoolofdata.nyc/unschool.