NEWS AND MEDIA
DataSourceNJ Announces Plans for the NJ Data Repository
In alliance with New Jersey Institute of Technology’s Ying Wu College of Computing, DataSourceNJ is excited to announce plans for the NJ Data Repository, a continuously operating, comprehensive online data repository containing local, county, and state government reports and data as well as related public interest content. The NJ Data Repository will offer free, unfettered relational data along with robust analytical tools to journalists, 501c3 nonprofits, government agencies, and, later, to the general public and private entities. In so doing, NJ Data Repository will contribute to cost-effective government performance and be foundational to sustainable local news and community activism in New Jersey.
The maintenance and evolution of NJ Data Repository will be low cost and productive. For online databases, software will schedule automated capture and inclusion of new data into the repository. Smart searches of other relevant online data, via keyword and data relationships, will find new data to include. Even manual processes, such as working with local governments to retrieve data that is not online (e.g., township contracts) will be optimized with efficiency and cost in mind.
Repository Differentiators:
Leveraging existing databases and software tools, the NJ Data Repository will differentiate itself from other public database efforts by:
- integrating data from disparate databases into an aggregated database versus existing database portals linking to separate databases,
- creating a powerful user interface triggering many back-end instructions, thereby enabling the least technical among us to capture data in a usable and easy-to-understand manner,
- making the continuous capture of data self-operating, requiring little maintenance, and
- incorporating analytical tools, such as regression, classification and clustering to give users the insights that they seek.