CIVIC-PG Track B: Understanding Native American Tribal Residents Needs through Better Data and Query Systems

奥达瓦印第安人的小特拉弗斯湾部落（LTBB）管理部门目前使用的是拼凑的数据筒仓，这限制了他们识别和解决居民需求的能力。该项目定义了一个中央“记录数据库”，其中包含一套关于LTBB居民及其社区的综合指标，如人口统计、健康、教育、经济、自然环境、就业、住房、公共安全和交通。除了标准的社区指标外，该数据库还纳入了部落知识，并包括部落语言中的关键术语。该项目是支持部落国家制定数据战略和数据主权的重要组成部分。该项目在设计这一数据库时采用了先进的技术，包括：整合有很大差异的现有数据集；插值缺失值；解决数据公平性问题，使用该数据库为未来的数据收集策略提供信息，并使数据库易于多个部门和具有不同技术水平的部落政府雇员使用。数据收集是昂贵的，因此必须谨慎使用。该项目使用集成和插值的智能组合，以最大限度地减少对新数据收集的需求。它以团队过去在数据公平性方面的工作为基础，以确保获得的结果是公平的。在过去的研究中，有许多最近的技术进步促进了数据的收集、集成和分析。然而，这些进步通常只涉及数据驱动决策过程的一个组成部分，而将多个这样的进步整合到一个数据项目中可能是具有挑战性的，因为在大多数学术研究中，许多现实生活中的“皱纹”被认为是不存在的。该项目确定并解决了在学术研究环境中经常缺失的关键考虑因素，从而通过在具有高社会价值的场景中的实际部署推进了研究的普遍性。在这个项目的第二阶段，团队将建立一个记录数据库，以及易于使用的查询工具。由此产生的记录数据库将推动部落政府的战略方向，包括通过更有针对性的努力寻求和分配资源，以及通过更好地识别未满足需求的公民。该项目是对公民创新挑战项目（track b）的回应，旨在弥合基本资源与服务和社区需求之间的差距，是国家科学基金会、国土安全部和能源部之间的合作项目。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBB) administration currently works with a patchwork of data silos that limits their ability to identify and address the needs of their residents. This project defines a central “database of record” containing a comprehensive set of indicators about LTBB residents and their community, such as their demographics, health, education, the economy, the natural environment, employment, housing, public safety and transportation. The database incorporates tribal knowledge in addition to standard community indicators, and includes key terms from the tribal language. This project is an important component of supporting tribal nations’ effort to develop data strategies and data sovereignty. The project incorporates technical advances in the design of this database, including: integrating existing data sets with large variations; interpolating missing values; addressing data equity, using this database to inform future data collection strategies, and making the database easy to use by tribal government employees in multiple departments and with varying levels of technical skills. Data collection is expensive, and hence must be used sparingly. This project uses a smart mix of integration and interpolation to minimize the need for fresh data collection. It builds upon the team's past work on data equity to ensure that the results obtained are equitable. In past research, there have been many recent technical advances that facilitate collecting, integrating, and analyzing data. Nevertheless, such advances often address one component of the data-driven decision making process, and integrating multiple such advances into a data project can be challenging because of the many real-life “wrinkles” that get assumed away in most academic research. This project identifies and addresses key considerations that are often missing in an academic research environment, and thus advances research generalizability through real-life deployment in a scenario with high social value. In Stage 2 of this project, the team will build a database of record, along with query facilities that are easy to use. The resulting database of record will drive the strategic direction of the tribal government, including through better targeted effort in seeking and allocating resources, and through better identifying citizens with unmet needs.This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program—Track B. Bridging the gap between essential resources and services & community needs—and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.