Census Data Collection – Implications for Rural and Small Urban Areas

In 2010, every residence in the United States will receive a short census form of 10 questions.   The 2010 Census asks for name, gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship and whether the head of household owns or rents their home. More detailed socioeconomic information previously collected through the decennial census will be asked annually of a small percentage of the population through the American Community Survey.

The use of the American Community Survey (ACS) is good, because sample data is, and will continue to be collected every year. We will be able to continue to model how the country’s population changes year to year.  However, what data is available and when it is available, will depend on where you live.  It is my understanding that for statistical reasons, the sample ACS data available for populations of 65,000 or more can be based on one year estimates while the data for geographies under 65,000 have to be averaged over a three or five-year period. This means that rural areas and smaller urban areas will not see any new information until at least 2013.

I will be interested to see what this information gap will mean for these areas, and the under-served populations who live there.

Mapping Haiti

On Tuesday, January 12th, I heard the same news as everyone else in the world: a horrendous earthquake – 7.0 in magnitude – struck less than ten miles from the city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  I felt the need to do something beyond donating money – something that would have a meaningful effect for people; something that would save lives.   My husband, a nurse and former search and rescue professional, was constantly being asked if he was planning to travel to Haiti to assist with rescue efforts.  In contrast, I felt less than useless.

It was hard to listen to the news of the devastation in Haiti, and know that my skills wouldn’t be needed until the rescue was done, and even then, there are a lot of people out there with more practical public administration skills that would help more than mine would.  I struggled to think of a way that I could be useful.  I couldn’t possibly imagine what I could do from 1,500 miles away. 

I received an email from my agency director, a few days after the earthquake. The email outlined some ways that people from our agency could assist efforts in Haiti, including Doctors without Borders, the Red Cross, etc.  At the end of the email was a link to Crisis Commons, looking for people with technical skills to meet on an appointed Saturday for an all day session of “civic hacking”.  They were looking for people with all kinds of technical skills, including telecommunications, networking, and yes, mapping skills.

Along with other like-minded technical professionals, I spent the day at “Crisis Camp” mapping roads, buildings, and other features that would help rescue organizations like the Fairfax County Urban Search & Rescue Team (USA-1) navigate through areas that were damaged or otherwise inaccessible.  Along with 20+ other people at our particular event, and many people around the world, I continued the process of building an open source map of Haiti using Open Street Map.  (According to some sources, there are no complete, current maps of Haiti, aside from some old maps that the CIA created at least 20 years ago.  This is the first effort of this kind, possibly ever.)

The Crisis Camp was much more than just mapping.  There were people building language translating applications, helping develop a wi-fi network in Haiti, and many other extremely technical projects.  It was amazing to me to see all of these technology wizards, project managers, and other interested folk working together to accomplish feats that would take years and many millions of dollars in the “regular” world.  There have been two other Crisis Camps in DC (that I know of), many others across the U.S. and internationally, and more events to come.

I feel good about my efforts with Crisis Commons.  I have done something useful that has meaning beyond this single event.  I have learned some new technical skills, and gained experience with a technology/tool that will have an impact on other similar efforts,and in my regular work. Out of tragedy comes action and education.  I could not ask for a better way to make a difference in the world.

Crisis Commons

Open Street Map Project

A Thousand Words

A picture is worth a thousand words. At least that is what we have all been taught. As a Geographic Information Systems and Public Administration professional, it has been exciting to see how many agencies in my organization are picking up on the potential for using mapping technologies such as geographic information systems to present a picture that shows how our constituents and our government resources are related.

A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information (ESRI). The system relies on human operators and analysts to develop geographically referenced data. Geographically referenced or “spatial” data are data that tell you both what things are and where they are.

GIS can be used for scientific investigations, resource management, and development planning, as well as for evidence-based policy making. I have recently seen several excellent applications of GIS in public health, for example, where consumers (constituents using available resources) are mapped and compared to health care delivery points (hospitals, primary care facilities, etc).  After analysis, delivery resources can be adjusted based on actual usage to serve the actual rather than the estimated consumer population.

It is wonderful thing to see the looks on people’s faces when they realize the power of mapping the relationships between people and places. Usually it just takes a simple presentation of something like flu vaccination locations and high-risk populations.  Mapping flu vaccination locations and census block groups by elderly population can instantly show the power of the geographic information. Are the flu vaccination sites accessible to the elderly? Are the sites in places that have populations in need of their services?

I can already see that my office is going to be overwhelmed with requests for mapping assistance this year. It is a blessing and a curse, but it is worth the effort if we can make a difference in even just a few lives. I encourage you to seek out the GIS resources that are available to you in your agency. Talk to other organizations as well and find out what they are doing with GIS. I will guarantee you that you will find it to be a tremendous resource in your work as a public administrator.

Reflecting on (Public) Service

On this, Veteran’s Day, I’ve spent some time thinking about “service” and what it means.  Today we are celebrating the efforts of our military veterans and the heroic service that they have performed.  I found myself also considering my choice of government service.

There are a few things in my life that I know were the right decision, and my choice to be a public servant is one of them.  I am still passionate about what I do after 10 years, and I plan to be passionate about it for many more years.  I can only hope that my fellow public service professionals are as lucky as I am -  to love what we do.

Mentorship

I recently had the honor of participating in a panel discussion regarding women and minorities in science and technology.  Our discussion revolved around how we can encourage women and minorities to enter science and technology careers, and how we can make the case to these groups early on in life.

We, the panelists all spoke to different perspectives on the topic, yet we all came to the same conclusions.  It is critical to implement mentor programs in schools and encourage existing practitioners to serve as role models.  I realized as we were talking, that I’ve had some great mentors when it came to technology.  Mostly my mentor/mentee relationships have been informal, but good relationships nonetheless.  In my public administration career, however, I don’t feel like I’ve really had the opportunity for a good mentor.

I’m not complaining.  I don’t feel like I am missing out.  I am curious, though:  Have you had a mentor in your public administration career?  How have they helped you?

It’s Not Just What I Know

One of the things that I love about the field of Public Administration is the fact that there is such a diversity of experience and expertise across the discipline.  As a Master’s of Public Administration candidate, I took classes with police officers, health care administrators, city administrators, and all manner of public employees.  We all took the same core classes, but because of our varied careers, we all brought different experiences to the table.

In my work, I have had the opportunity to work with demographers, engineers, telephone network engineers, transportation experts, and more, all in the pursuit of making life better for our constituents. I am exposed to many different fields of expertise on a daily basis – all public administration practitioners.

My gardening hobby recently gave me the opportunity to meet another, very different kind of public administrator.  This past Friday I attended a talk about the history of victory gardens in the United States and the place victory gardens have in the modern day.  Rose Hayden-Smith, the speaker, is a practicing U.S. historian and Director of the Ventura County, California/University of California Extension Service.  While our fields of expertise and range of experiences are quite different, it is easy to see that our passion for public service is much the same.

Much like people in general, no two public administrators have the same experiences.  Our experiences as people and as public administrators are what make us good at what we do.  Our diverse experiences and expertise are what make our government work.

Rethink the Attitude of Training

I am a government employee who trains employees for a living.  When I have my students introduce themselves at the beginning of a class, I find that the students tend to fall into two categories:  employees who are attending the class because they want to learn something new, and people who are there because their boss says they have to attend the training.  It always amazes me that out of the people who are attending because they want to learn something new, at least half of them tell me that they get guff from their supervisors about being away from the office for training.  It’s not just my classes either; I hear this from other trainers as well.

I suppose that some people might abuse the opportunity to be away from the office.  I choose to think, however, that employees are using training opportunities to better themselves and make themselves more valuable as employees.  It bothers me that employees would be made to feel bad about attending training. I don’t think there is anything much worse than trying to better yourself and improve your ability to do your job, and simultaneously feel like you are letting someone else down.

I am biased.  I believe that what I train (Geographic Information Systems) is a critical skill for employees of the 21st Century.  Many other skills should be considered critical as well.  Writing and general communication skills are also critical parts of any employee’s ability to do work.  Training for these skills, and others, should be encouraged. Instead of thinking that employees are trying to get away with somethiing, we need to rethink this attitude, at an organizational level, and focus on encouraging employees to develop these and other new skills.

Government Employee or Bureaucrat

I am almost always irked at the response I get when I tell people that I work in Government.  Usually it is something along the lines of “Oh, you’re a bureaucrat.”  It irritates me when I hear that comment, so I usually say that I’m not a bureaucrat, “I am a government employee.”  Or sometimes I say that I am a “public employee.”

Recently, I was pondering why the term bureaucrat bothers me so much.   I think it’s because the connotations are so awful.  When I hear the word bureaucrat, I think of corrupt government officials or 1984-ish, anonymous drones working in some dingy warehouse of a government building.  It’s the same reason I don’t like the term “public servant.” Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way, because I found many blogs and articles discussing similar issues. (Try an internet search for “connotation bureaucrat, and you’ll see what I mean.)

The American Heritage Dictionary defines bureaucrat as:

1. An official of a bureaucracy.
2. An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure.

Government employees do follow procedure, so that’s not inaccurate or particularly distasteful.  The term rigid is maybe a little bit stronger than I would use, but at the same time, it is still fairly accurate.  Part of the purpose of a bureaucracy is the adherence to administrative procedure and the fact that things in government don’t change at the drop of a hat.

Dictionary.com gives the following definitions for the term bureaucrat:

1. an official of a bureaucracy.
2. an official who works by fixed routine without exercising intelligent judgment.

The “without exercising intelligent judgement” part of bureaucrat is the part that rankles me so.  Unfortunately, a lot of people that I meet feel this way about government employees.  I’m not going to say that there aren’t government employees who just show up for the paycheck, but I firmly believe that those employees are the exception rather than the rule.  Hey, I have a pretty good head on my shoulders, I work hard, and I have the constituent letters of thanks to prove it!

I like Roger Shuy’s analysis about the word bureaucrat:

Several words in the English language rise to the level of making us mad and bureaucrat seems to be one of them. When our tax filing gets challenged, we blame those nasty bureaucrats at IRS. When we’re bogged down with pages of needless forms to fill out, it’s the fault of those anonymous servants of the government who are the problem. When a statute is incomprehensible, it’s the bureaucrat’s fault, even though we might better place the blame on the legislators who wrote it in the first place.

from Language Log

The next time someone asks me if I’m a bureaucrat, I’ll have to think on it for a moment.  I’ll probably continue to answer with my standard “government employee” response, but I might just start a discussion about what it means to be a good bureaucrat.

Eva Stern is a Geographic Information Systems analyst and trainer for the District of Columbia. Ms. Stern manages the GIS training program for the Office of the Chief Technology Officer, and relishes her role in the bureaucracy.  You can find her Twittering (unofficially, of course) @EvaStern