Transparency via the New York Times

I frequently admire graphics in the New York Times. And, I wish many times that audit reports could communicate as clearly. Sometimes I even use ideas I find in the Times to design an illustration for a report. For example this map illustrates my point. The NY Times compiled data on facilities that have permits to discharge pollutants and responses from states regarding compliance and entered it into an interactive map. You can enter your zip code and learn what facilities are near you and the number of violations they have had.

There is much talk now in government about increasing transparency. The federal government has launched http://www.recovery.gov/ to track stimulus funds and we have http://www.usa.gov/ that serves as a gateway to government information including a page of links to government data sources. But flooding citizens with data is not necessarily transparency.
The EPA has a similar feature to the NY Times map that is referenced on its main page. You can enter your zip code and access "MyEnvironment." Here you will have access to information about environmental quality in your area. There is a map with sites that report to the EPA. But the only information for each site is the name and address. It lacks what is of most interest to a citizen - the number of violations. I tried to probe further to see if with more investigation I could find this out at the EPA site but it proved impenetrable to me. Maybe if I had searched more industriously I might have found the information. But you have to admit that a citizen probably would not be as determined.

Four graphs say it all

I continue to admire the NY Times graphics. Here are four graphs that collectively explain why health care reform is necessary. We should try for similar visualization in our audit reports. We could communicate quickly and effectively. What if an audit report was only two pages, one with graphs and the other with recommendations.

Sometimes you just happen upon something

Blogs can lead to interesting places. I started with NYTimes Freakonomics blog. That led to a blog that I hadn't seen yet called frumination. I followed the link because we are currently conducting an audit of transportation outcomes and this link was about what would be the effect if there were no subways in New York. The author of the frumination blog took data available from the Metropolitan Planning Organization of New York (an organization required for federal transportation funding) to do his/her analysis. Another blogger took the data and visualized it in another way. This shows the power of making data available and transparency.

Didn't pass the "easy" test

I started with great interest a blog post at Freakonomics and thought that the links to "stat candy" might be good examples for auditing criteria about transparency and providing data to everyone. But after visiting both sites called out in the post, I was very disappointed. I know I haven't finished my coffee and it's early morning, but I was stumped. If I was unable to figure out how to pull data into maps and charts, how would the citizen feel. Obviously these sites are not for normal consumption. Increasing transparency needs to fit two criteria - easy to locate and easy to use.

Storytelling

There's a blog post that I just have to tap into. It's from one of my favorite blogs, Community Indicators. So thanks for pulling together these thoughts. The post references other bloggers and writers who are discussing how statistics do not always evoke a response as strongly as emotions might and also that a good story is more memorable than data. When I followed the link and read about the finding that when statistics were part of an appeal for donations the amount given dropped, I wondered - is an audit report not as effective as it could be because we lay out the factual, statistical evidence? But the second reference to A Case for Web Storytelling reminded me of the work that we put into a report so that it has a cogent message. Yes, we rely on statistics and fact, but we also try to put it into a story that management and the public can relate to.

Interesting graphics

Audits can be very dense. It is difficult to simply describe complex ideas and findings. I am always on the look out for new ways to visually communicate ideas and reduce the reliance on writing. In a GAO audit that was issued recently I found some very interesting examples of visual communication of complex ideas. See the audit, pages 3, 11, 14, and 18. The graphics show the U.S. Department of Transportation's efforts over time to reduce traffic fatalities, illustrate the consequences of falling behind a damaging trend that with early action could have been reduced, and the evolution and spread of portable electronic devices in the United States to illustrate how this trend may need to be addressed for accident prevention. All very dense concepts but effectively communicated in visual diagrams.

Visualizing audit findings

At the end of audit analysis, the task is to put the findings into a cohesive framework. The report needs to be clear and concise but comprehensive enough that the auditee understands the problem and how it can be resolved. Sometimes what I like to do is to put the findings in a drawing. Should the findings all spin off of one large overarching problem or should the findings culminate one-after-one into a final effect like a fish bone diagram. When I researched blogs a weekend ago I came across this blog. The writer also posts on the Freakonomics blog at the New York Times. In the future I think I'll see if I can apply her methods to bring sense to an audit.

Patterns

Auditors can come from all types of disciplines. What you bring from one organizational experience can help you understand another organization or service. One of my most "ah-ha" moments was when I was being interviewed for my first auditor position. I was given a chart that showed information about a parking structure. It illustrated parking patterns of long term versus short term parkers. I was asked what kind of questions I would ask if I was going to study the usage. I looked at the pattern of the data and realized it was the same kind of pattern and dilemma that I had studied from my current organizational experience. I was working as an analyst for a public safety coordinating body. A question the criminal justice system always faces is how to manage jail population effectively when some offenders come in for short periods and others stay for months. I don't know if that is why I was hired, but my first response in that interview was "This is just like jails!"