Let’s talk data and public safety: A Q&A with the Challenge judges
We spoke with a few of our Challenge judges about the power of harnessing new data sources, what solvers should know, and what’s ahead for applying non-traditional data to public safety. Hailing from leadership roles in research, epidemiology, and emergency management, they offer unique perspectives on the potential for Challenge solutions to keep our communities healthy and safe. Here’s what they had to say during our Q&A:
What is the most exciting thing you’ve seen data accomplish?
“Although there is much excitement about “big data,” I’ve seen “small data” – passive and self-reported data captured about one person – be very valuable in helping individual patients understand their own disease state and trajectory. Patients have also found this data very useful for facilitating communication with their physician, to tell their story with data and to have their disease experience understood.”
– Ida Sim, MD, PHD, FCMI, Co-Director, Biomedical Informatics, University of California San Francisco Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute
“Identified, crucial data that continually changed and contributed to the overall public safety mission was exemplified during the 2014 – 2015 Ebola outbreak. Initial data collected prompted the necessary collaboration of multiple agencies that each had a critical role in preparing for and dealing with the epidemic. As information continually evolved, federal, state and local responders continually identified new data points necessary to fulfill their missions ranging from medical responses, training and even finance. The collection of data contributed to the overall success of the mission but also brought untold benefit to the numerous agencies that collaborated on the situation. Many of these agencies had never worked together before and due to that collaboration and understanding of each agencies missions, they remain close partners of public safety response in ways they never thought possible or necessary before.”
– Gary Schenkel, Former Executive Director, Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications
“The most exciting thing I’ve seen data accomplish is technology and how it’s used. It’s clear that our capabilities as people have evolved tremendously because of the Internet. We can do everything we need to from booking a flight, to tracking down a long-lost relative from the comfort of our own home. The Internet’s ability to galvanize people, open up new conversations and make the entire world feel at your fingertips is amazing. Today, we have more computational power in our smartphones than the many buildings of computers that sent a man to the moon! These technologies are so many things to so many different people, and it is changing every day because of new technological developments.”
– Eric Moore, PHD, Director, Research & Technology, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center
What’s one thing solvers should know about applying new data solutions to public safety?
“When applying data solutions to public safety, solvers need to consider the “public.” The public are the people who the data solutions affect. Data is not just data when it comes to public safety, data is the key to saving someone’s life. So how can someone understand the data, apply the data and use it to make smart choices? When gathering and disseminating data, we need to make several considerations to the public itself; we must consider the environment that the public lives in, what are the challenges, the desires, and the threats to that environment; where does the public get their information, who do they listen to; what resources are available to them? All of this is important because the solution needs to work for an end user and the end user is a person just like you and me. We need to do all that we can and look at the data from many different lenses in order to understand its relevance to the particular community we are addressing. That is how we can make sure that our solutions serve the ultimate purpose, to save and preserve life.”
– Eric Moore, PHD, Director, Research & Technology, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center
“Data is everywhere. Data can be collected on just about everything in the world. Data collected for the sake of collecting without purpose may be virtually worthless. The type of data collected must be differentiated for the purpose that will contribute to the overall mission of public safety. Multiple data points may be needed by multiple agencies for a multitude of purposes. What may appear as unimportant to one agency may be extremely critical to another. Collaboration on planning and operational concepts must be performed at pre-event stages to insure that necessary data is identified and what purpose it will serve to contribute to the overall mission. Collaboration must remain continuous as new necessary data may be identified and used as the overall public safety mission(s) may evolve during the operation.”
– Gary Schenkel, Former Executive Director, Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications
What potential do you see for publicly accessible data to make our communities safer? Why is now the time to explore this potential?
“The Hidden Signals Challenge is very timely as the threats that may impact areas of the United States vary as much as the numbers and types increase. The expectation of government to protect from, prepare for and recover from these threats increases exponentially as each new threat is identified. In many cases the identification may be very apparent, the response is often complex and will require multiple agencies to collaborate on solutions. In many cases, discussion stops at identification. Discussions must include operational response, cost, impact and long-term recovery included with in-depth risk assessment and management. This Challenge opens these long overdue discussions.”
– Gary Schenkel, Former Executive Director, Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications
“Mobile and IoT sensors can now be deployed more cheaply and ubiquitously than ever before. Combined with advances in cloud computing and machine learning, entirely new approaches to detecting emerging biothreats are possible now that were not possible before.”
– Ida Sim, MD, PHD, FCMI, Co-Director, Biomedical Informatics, University of California San Francisco Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute
“Publicly accessible data has tremendous potential to make our communities safer because more people can get relevant information faster. We see it every day when there is an incident, people use social media to alert the public to a threat, give a glimpse into what is going on, and tell loved ones that they are safe. Publicly accessible data brings us closer together by helping us understand what is out there. Today, we can see more, learn faster, and be in a better position to anticipate and provide assistance because we can get closer to real-time information. We have a savvy group of citizens who know how to use these tools and have made them a part of their everyday life. People can see and learn more about a situation beforehand, giving them more opportunities to strategize, prepare and respond to them.”
– Eric Moore, PHD, Director, Research & Technology, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center
Read more about the judges’ expertise here. Be the first to learn about the winning solution by subscribing to the Challenge newsletter.