Author Archive
Data Byte: Many Eyes
How long is everybody’s morning commute here in Sarasota County? How safe are the airlines flying out of our local Sarasota-Bradenton Airport? There are a lot of great places to grab a cup of coffee here in Sarasota County. How much coffee are we consuming? Want to see for yourself? IBM has developed an online [...]
Data Byte: National Priorities Project - A Federal Priorities Database
How many federal dollars are invested in Head Start, 21st Century Learning, or Pell grants here in Sarasota County, and how do these investments relate to reductions in families experiencing poverty in our community? How many federal dollars is the U.S. spending on Medicare/Medicaid or Social Security Retirement Insurance here in Sarasota County, and how [...]
Maps to Inform Redistricting Efforts
Using ArcGIS software, SCOPE created the following maps to further inform discussions and deliberations regarding redistricting here in Sarasota County:
Map of Existing Districts for the State of Florida House of Representatives: Note that Sarasota County includes 5 Districts: 69, 55, 67, 70 and 71. Only District 70 lies entirely within the boundaries of Sarasota County. [...]
Data Byte: Food Environment Atlas
There are many great places to eat in Sarasota County. We don’t have to go far to find something tasty. But are we eating too much fast food? Are we paying too much for a gallon of milk? How is our food environment affecting our health? These are just several of the things you can [...]
Data Byte: Gapminder
Millions of people across the world are watching “TEDTalks” on Youtube and other online media distribution websites. What is TED? TED is a non-profit with the goal of spreading ideas through “riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world”.
One of the frequent TED speakers is a Swedish professor who helped create Gapminder, Dr. Hans [...]
A “Social Explorer” Take on Sarasota County
The NY Times has put together an analysis of the 2010 census data using the Social Explorer web application to show what households in America are looking like nowadays. Sarasota has the claim to fame as the oldest large county in the nation; so what do you think households with older adults in our community [...]
Community Data 2.0 Participant Engagement
Here at SCOPE we are interested in how community engagement flourishes. By “engagement,” we mean becoming connected and inspired to create positive community change. We believe that for enough engagement to be generated, in order to create change around any given issue, our community needs to be paying attention to where inspiration is manifesting. Then we [...]
Great Schools, Involved Parents, Successful Kids…AND Plugged In Communities
After last week’s FCAT testing across the district for students, school performance may be on every kid’s and parent’s mind. It matters to the rest of us too, given that kids’ academic success is linked to many other community indicators, economic and otherwise. One way to find out more about how kids in our community [...]
Data Byte: Innovations emerging from the Japanese Earthquake & Tsunami
There has been extensive coverage in the media regarding the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan. Recovery from this tragedy has been aided by the use of technology. A system has been created in Japan where people can text message, e-mail, and report on the web; property damage, hazards, evacuations, power outages, or even to [...]
March 2011 - City of Sarasota Election Results
Last week, SRQ Daily published data relating to the recent City of Sarasota elections. Here at SCOPE, we are most interested in within-community patterns, so our GIS mapper Matt Roach has generated maps of the election results. They illustrate both voter turnout and winners by precinct. How do the patterns revealed confirm your expectations? In [...]