Anecdotes about Data http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/ en-us Copyright 2008 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:55:27 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.33.uthink http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Bureau of Labor Statistics Web Redesign and Nifty New Features The Bureau of Labor Statistics has redesigned its website and has added many useful features, of which some are highlighted here. For all new features, see http://www.bls.gov/bls/redesign2008.htm.

1. RSS feed for latest economic indicators: http://www.bls.gov/feed/bls_latest.rss

2. Calender of all releases with the option to subscribe via *.ical/*.ics: http://www.bls.gov/schedule/news_release/

3. Guide to Data by Geography: http://www.bls.gov/guide/geography/

4. Tutorials: http://www.bls.gov/tutorial/home.htm

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/07/bureau_of_labor_statistics_web.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/07/bureau_of_labor_statistics_web.html Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:55:27 -0600 MN Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board The MN Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board makes finding campaign finance data a little more complex than one might expect. The data isn't as recent as one might expect either - 12/31/2007 in most cases and most information provided is in *.pdf files. Exceptions are noted.

Independent Expenditures - http://www.cfbreport.state.mn.us/dyncfb/cfbsearch5.php

Contributions Received by a Candidate - http://www.cfbreport.state.mn.us/dyncfb/cfbsearch1.php

Contributions Made by Individuals - http://www.cfbreport.state.mn.us/dyncfb/cfbsearch2.php

Contributions Received by Party Units or Political Committees - http://www.cfbreport.state.mn.us/dyncfb/cfbsearch3.php

Contributions Made by Party Units or Political Committees - http://www.cfbreport.state.mn.us/dyncfb/cfbsearch4.php

Political Party, Political Committee and Political Fund Reports - http://www.cfbreport.state.mn.us/rptViewer/viewRptsOther.php
On the Board home page, "Political Party Units" are listed as a separate link, but they're really a subset of the overall Political Party database.

Candidate Report of Receipts and Expenditures - http://www.cfbreport.state.mn.us/rptViewer/viewRptsCan.php

Lobbyist Disbursement Reports - http://www.cfbreport.state.mn.us/rptViewer/viewRptsLob.php
Data through 2008

Public Official Lists - http://www.cfboard.state.mn.us/po_lists.html
Reports in *.html; content undated.


]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/07/mn_campaign_finance_and_disclo.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/07/mn_campaign_finance_and_disclo.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:38:19 -0600 State Campaign Finance Databases For information on state-level campaign finance, see Campaign Finance Databases from the State Agency Databases site.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/07/state_campaign_finance_databas.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/07/state_campaign_finance_databas.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:41:28 -0600 New Financial and Travel Statistics added to STAT-USA STAT-USA has new financial and travel statistics. STAT-USA is a subscription database from the Department of Commerce that contains statistics either hard to find elsewhere or not available elsewhere.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/07/new_financial_and_travel_stati.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/07/new_financial_and_travel_stati.html Social Sciences Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:25:35 -0600 All Americas Barometer Survey Newly licensed: All Americas Barometer Survey

An effort by the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) to measure democratic values and behaviors in the Americas using national probability samples of voting-age adults.

http://www.lib.umn.edu/site/moreinfo.phtml?id=15174

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/05/all_americas_barometer_survey.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/05/all_americas_barometer_survey.html New Data Fri, 30 May 2008 14:04:49 -0600 Foreclosures and Short Sales in the Twin Cities The Minneapolis Area Association of REALTORS® has released "Foreclosures and Short Sales in the Twin Cities Housing Market," a special new research report that attempts to answer some of the more pressing questions surrounding lender-mediated properties. Includes an analysis of current inventory, new listings, closed sales, sales prices, and the impact that the growth of lender-mediated properties is having on each trend.

The data was gathered and analyzed by MAAR staff in collaboration with Aaron Dickinson, REALTOR® member with Edina Realty, and utilizes a new data approach based upon information from the NorthstarMLS system.

To share comments or questions on this new report, please contact Jeff Allen, MAAR Research Manager, at jeffa@mplsrealtor.com or Aaron Dickinson at aarondickinson@edinarealty.com.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/05/foreclosures_and_short_sales_i.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/05/foreclosures_and_short_sales_i.html Social Sciences Tue, 06 May 2008 10:03:38 -0600 New Guide to Newspaper Circulation Statistics Thanks to our Journalism, Film and Mass Communications Librarian, Johan Oberg (oberg091 at umn dot edu), you can find sources of current and historical newspaper circulation statistics compiled at http://www.lib.umn.edu/journalism/circulation.phtml.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/04/new_guide_to_newspaper_circula.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/04/new_guide_to_newspaper_circula.html Social Sciences Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:46:17 -0600 2007 Residential Real Estate Activity Report for the Twin Cities Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors' produced report on home sales activity in the metropolitan area over the last year. Includes summaries of 2001-present for sales, values by county, city and neighborhood and some maps. See Residential Real Estate Activity Report

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/02/2007_residential_real_estate_a.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/02/2007_residential_real_estate_a.html Social Sciences Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:06:28 -0600 Estimating Excess Mortality in Post-Invasion Iraq Estimating Excess Mortality in Post-Invasion Iraq

From the article:

"There is no set formula for accurately tallying deaths from humanitarian crises. When a population becomes destabilized, estimation of mortality is likely to be severely challenged. In the case of a sudden traumatic event, such as a natural disaster affecting an otherwise stable population, health and human service agencies, though compromised, may well be able to facilitate an accurate assessment of deaths through the use of prospective registries of vital events."

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/02/estimating_excess_mortality_in.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/02/estimating_excess_mortality_in.html Social Sciences Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:11:22 -0600 USDA State Fact Sheets State Fact Sheets

State fact sheets provide information on population, employment, income, farm characteristics, farm financial indicators, and top commodities, exports, and counties for each state in the United States.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/01/usda_state_fact_sheets.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2008/01/usda_state_fact_sheets.html Social Sciences Thu, 17 Jan 2008 10:52:01 -0600 Social Explorer Created by Queens College, City University of New York, and partnering with the University of Minnesota's own National Historical Geographic Information System, this subscription edition of Social Explorer offers the ability to create customized maps and reports of demographic, housing, and employment patterns throughout the United States using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Data are available by decade between 1940 and 2000 for a variety of geographical entities that are as small as the census tract for certain areas.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2007/12/social_explorer.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2007/12/social_explorer.html Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:22:42 -0600 Obesity rates for females by country for 2005, 2015 Obesity rates for females by country for 2005, 2015

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2007/11/obesity_rates_for_females_by_c.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2007/11/obesity_rates_for_females_by_c.html Social Sciences Wed, 07 Nov 2007 10:44:22 -0600 Roper Center membership now active The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research is one of the world's leading archives of social science data, specializing in data from surveys of public opinion. The data held by the Roper Center range from the 1930s, when survey research was in its infancy, to the present. Most of the data are from the United States, but over 50 nations are represented.

Our membership with the Roper Center is now active and ready for use. With the membership, University of Minnesota current students, faculty and staff have access on and off campus to the full suite of Roper content, including iPoll and the Dataset Collection.

For surveys with national adult or major subpopulation samples (such as registered voters, women, or African Americans), iPOLL can be used as the primary finding aid to locate datasets on particular topics or for specific time periods. For state, foreign, and other special samples, the Dataset Collections can be used to locate datasets by keyword (the abstract is searched), date, country, survey organization, survey sponsor, or type of sample. Our membership includes downloads of all files in the Roper Express collection.

Roper also offers the option to do online analysis of selected datasets through the IDEAS: Interactive Data Exploration & Analysis System.

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2007/10/roper_center_membership_now_ac.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2007/10/roper_center_membership_now_ac.html Social Sciences Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:48:37 -0600 The Topography of Poverty in the United States: A Spatial Analysis Using County-Level Data From the Community Health Status Indicators Project The Topography of Poverty in the United States: A Spatial Analysis Using County-Level Data From the Community Health Status Indicators Project

From the abstract:

"The spatial analytic techniques are broadly applicable to socioeconomic and health-related data and can provide important information about the spatial structure of datasets, which is important for choosing appropriate analysis methods."

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2007/10/the_topography_of_poverty_in_t.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2007/10/the_topography_of_poverty_in_t.html Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:51:59 -0600 Global Patterns of City Size Distributions and Their Fundamental Drivers Global Patterns of City Size Distributions and Their Fundamental Drivers

Interesting article that uses a combination of census data and geospatial data in support of the argument that "macroscopic patterns of human settlements may be far more constrained by fundamental ecological principles than more fine-scale socioeconomic factors".

]]> http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2007/10/global_patterns_of_city_size_d.html http://blog.lib.umn.edu/westx045/data/2007/10/global_patterns_of_city_size_d.html Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:47:29 -0600