1) Evidence informed activism uses data and statistics to shape deliberations and actions on social issues. Counting and quantifying things can reveal relationships and normal behaviors. 2) When issues are better understood through data, bureaucracies and decision makers are better able to take informed actions. Several examples were given of using data to inform campaigns and policies around homelessness, transportation, and other issues. 3) Scholar activists are encouraged to conduct research that supports community groups and activists. Data can be assembled in different ways and used to build understanding, but some resist over-classification or feel data is being misused. Overall evidence and data-based deliberations and actions were advocated for various social issues.

1. Evidence informed activism &
data-based deliberations
Tracey P. Lauriault
Dunlop Oriel House, Dublin 2, 7:30PM 4th March 2015
The Programmable City Project
NIRSA, NUIM
Shaping Dublin:
A Seminar Series on the Contemporary City
By the Provisional University

2. Producing
knowledge

3. Counting things makes them visible
2006
http://www.cso.ie/en/census/index.html

4. http://www.dublindashboard.ie/pages/DublinEnvironment
Quantifying things provides information
http://www.epa.ie/air/quality/#.VPX7KCxi_nM

5. http://euclid.psych.yorku.ca/SCS/Gallery/imag
es/dan/quetelet-binomial.jpg
https://archive.org/stream/lathoriedelhom0
0halbuoft#page/n5/mode/2up
Counting and quantifying reveals what is normal

6. http://www.calculator.net/bmi-calculator.html
Correlating things shows relationships

7. When things are known actions are taken
Homosexuals were deviants and
genetics demonstrated a biological predisposition
Poor air quality is associated w/traffic congestion,
transit and car pooling are remedial planning
actions
Obesity was considered a moral defect, biology
and the political economy have been shown as
factors, it has become a social issue

8. http://www.oireachtas.ie/documents/bills28/bills/2015/515/b515d.pdf
Bureaucracy acts upon known things
http://www.refcom.ie/en/
http://www.rte.ie/archives/exhibitions/1980-smoking/
http://www.ices.on.ca/flip-
publication/neighbourhood-
environment-and-
resources/index.html

9. Classification and counting is resisted
https://www.a
sthma.ie/news
/were-calling-
for-clean-air-
for-all
http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-
style/people/being-plus-size-does-not-mean-you-re-
unhealthy-1.1834306
https://www.change.org/p/seventeen-magazine-
correct-their-bmi-calculator-s-definition-of-healthy-
range?utm_campaign=action_box&utm_mediu
m=twitter&utm_source=share_petition

10. Data
Based
Deliberations
Femicide

11. http://kareningalasmith.com/counting-dead-women/
Counting Dead Women

12. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/focus-on-violent-crime-and-sexual-offences--2013-14/rpt-
chapter-2.html
Official Statistics
• The Home Office now records and publishes data on
homicide victims and the relationship of the victim to the
principal suspect and sex the of the victim.
• But it does not have the sex of the killer or connect
different forms of male violence against women. .

13. http://www.womensaid.org.uk/page.asp?section=00010001001400130010&sectionTitle=Femicide+
Census#femcensus
Femicide Census

14. http://www.womensaid
.org.uk/domestic-
violence-
events.asp?itemid=335
1&itemTitle=Femicide
+Census%3A+Profile
s+of+Women+Killed
+by+Men&section=0
00100010017&sectio
nTitle=Events+calend
ar

15. Why the Femicide Census?
• Provide a clearer picture of domestic homicides in the UK by
age/ethnic origin/ relationship/ profession/region/outcome;
• Provide a clearer picture of men’s fatal violence against women
that is not committed by a partner or ex-partner;
• Information to create advocacy tools to provide concrete data
on domestic violence homicides;
• Provide data when NGOs working to end domestic violence
against women is providing expert evidence on domestic
homicides in civil cases or before the Coroners court;
• Provide comparisons and parallels between cases to identify
where there is the potential for a systemic argument against
the State for failing to protect the Right to Life; and
• Provide a resource for academics researching femicides

16. Data
Based
Actions
Charities

17. http://openknowledge.ie/about/#whoweare
http://openknowledge.ie/first-irish-charity-data-hackday/
Charity Hack Day
http://tcubedublin.com/
https://ti.to/
http://www.slideshare.net/AdrianOFlynn/solving-irish-charities-transparency-problemhttp://www.focusireland.ie/reports/2012/annual-report/accounts.html
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwvqlbZTmJr6TFQyYVVVYXB0eWc/edit
http://dochas.ie/publications/accounting-and-reporting-charities-statement-recommended-practice-charity-commissionhttps://www.cafonline.org/publications/2014-publications/world-giving-index-2014.aspx

18. Evidence
Informed
Actions
Homelessness

19. http://www.homelessdublin.ie/pass
http://www.dublincity.ie/official-street-count-figures-rough-
sleeping-winter-2014-across-dublin-region
http://www.cso.ie/en/census/census2011reports/ho
melesspersonsinirelandaspecialcensus2011report/
Homelessness Data collection

20. http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentHousing/Housing/SpecialNeeds/HomelessPeople/
http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentHousing/Housing/SpecialNeeds/HomelessPeople/
Homelessness Data Dissemination

21. • Dublin Region Homeless
Executive (DRHE) -
Research and Data
Advisory Committee
(RDAC)
• Housing Agency
• DRHE
• Public Health
• Focus Ireland
• School of Social work and
Social Policy TCD
• Programmable City, NUIM
• School of Business, TCD
• HSE
Network of Decision makers
• Homelessness Oversight
Committee
• National Homeless Consultative
Committee
• Dublin Joint Homelessness
Consultative Forum
• 2016 Census Advisory Committee
• Department of the Environment,
Community and Local Government
• Local Authorities/HSE
• Charitable organizations
• Housing and service providers
...more
Homelessness Data Actors

22. “https://gcrc.carleton.ca/confluence/display/GCRCWEB/Pilot+Atlas+of+the+Risk+of+Homelessness
Atlas of the Risk of Homelessness

23. Aging Social Housing Stock in Toronto

24. Data
Based
Actions
Transit

25. Transit & Demographic Data
Eoin O’Mahony, Assistant Lecturer SPD/DCU & Omar Sarhan, GIS and data enthusiast
https://irelandafternama.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/privatizing-public-transport-from-the-periphery-to-the-centre/

26. Public Transit Conversation
Privatizing public transport from the periphery to the centre?
• Data Sources
• Dublin Bus routes considered for privatisation - 23 Dublin Bus & 5 Bus Éireann routes
• CSO/AIRO maps at small area & electoral division to examine what public is served
by public transport
• Data Sets:
• Population by social class – professional workers, skilled manual labour
• Private Car Ownership
• Deprivation Index
• Analysis
• Core – periphery analysis of bus route privatization
• Examine demographics of ‘orbital’ areas served by proposed privatised bus routes
• Effects of frequency of service delivery to different populations
• Limitations
• Absence of route-specific passenger load data
Eoin O’Mahony, Assistant Lecturer SPD/DCU & Omar Sarhan, GIS and data enthusiast
https://irelandafternama.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/privatizing-public-transport-from-the-periphery-to-the-centre/

27. Data
Based
Campaigns

28. http://www.npr.org/2015/02/10/384129985/advocates
-join-fight-to-eliminate-detroit-s-rape-kit-backlog
http://www.endthebacklog.org/about-us/about-endthebacklog
Rape Kits Campaigns
http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/

29. http://ajah.ca
http://poweredbydata.org
Charitable Sector Data

30. Municipal Data Collection Tool

31. Data
Based
Deliberations

32. Save the Census Campaign
http://datalibre.ca/census-watch/
488 Against

33. Evidence
Informed
Activism

34. Evidence for Democracy
https://evidencefordemocracy.ca

35. Scholar
Activist
Research

36. Co-Production of knowledge with and/or for
community based groups, charitable
organizations & issue driven activists
1. Scholar activists commit to channel their
resources and privileges afforded academics
2. Resourcing in the form of research design
3. Research that explores the barriers to
sustained and active participation in
activism
Scholar-Activist Research
Kate Driscoll Dericksona & Paul Routledgeb (2014) Resourcing Scholar-Activism:
Collaboration, Transformation, and the Production of Knowledge. The Professional Geographer
67(1), DOI: 10.1080/00330124.2014.883958

37. Data
Assemblage

38. Kitchin’s Data Assemblage
Attributes Elements
Systems of
thought
Modes of thinking, philosophies, theories, models,
ideologies, rationalities, etc.
Forms of
knowledge
Research texts, manuals, magazines, websites,
experience, word of mouth, chat forums, etc.
Finance
Business models, investment, venture capital,
grants, philanthropy, profit, etc.
Political
economy
Policy, tax regimes, public and political opinion,
ethical considerations, etc.
Govern-
mentalities /
Legalities
Data standards, file formats, system requirements,
protocols, regulations, laws, licensing, intellectual
property regimes, etc.
Materialities &
infrastructures
Paper/pens, computers, digital devices, sensors,
scanners, databases, networks, servers, etc.
Practices
Techniques, ways of doing, learned behaviours,
scientific conventions, etc.
Organisations
& institutions
Archives, corporations, consultants, manufacturers,
retailers, government agencies, universities,
conferences, clubs and societies, committees and
boards, communities of practice, etc.
Subjectivities
& communities
Of data producers, curators, managers, analysts,
scientists, politicians, users, citizens, etc.
Places
Labs, offices, field sites, data centres, server farms,
business parks, etc, and their agglomerations
Marketplace
For data, its derivatives (e.g., text, tables, graphs,
maps), analysts, analytic software, interpretations,
etc.
Systemsofthought

39. Q & A
Tracey P. Lauriault
Tracey.Lauriault@NUIM.ie
@TraceyLauriault
http://www.nuim.ie/progcity/
Thank You!