Ben Wellington - The Data Storyteller

Ben Wellington, a professor at Pratt Institute and founder of IQuantNY, discusses his journey into data storytelling. He redesigned a statistics class using real public data, inspired by the Open Data Movement. He shares a case study where he used open data to reveal a systemic issue with parking tickets in NYC, leading to policy changes. Wellington emphasizes the democratization of data and its potential for advocacy.

What motivated Ben Wellington to redesign the statistics class at Pratt Institute?

• A request from the school administration

• His background in data science

• The use of fake data in traditional classes

• His interest in urban planning

What is the primary goal of the Open Data Movement?

• To restrict access to government data

• To make all government data public by default

• To limit data access to researchers only

• To create more textbooks with real data

How did Ben Wellington's blog, IQuantNY, gain attention?

• By being featured in textbooks

• By being picked up by media outlets

• Through university newsletters

• Through paid advertisements

What issue did Ben Wellington address using open data regarding parking tickets?

• Illegal parking in front of fire hydrants

• Systemic issuance of tickets for legal parking

• Lack of parking spaces in New York City

• High parking fees in downtown areas

What was the outcome of Ben Wellington's analysis of parking tickets?

• No change in policy

• Introduction of new parking zones

• Increased parking fines

• Retraining of officers and refunds for wrongly issued tickets