Student Data Challenge: Make an Impact with Open Data

Here's the Challenge

Data is a strategic asset in every department of government. The U.S. Open Government Data initiative offers a huge opportunity to harness the power of the people to find new stories and improve policy based on facts. Students have been able to find success, and even influence policy by analyzing open government data. Please join us for an exclusive Viz Challenge to analyze Open Data compiled by United States Department of Veterans Affairs and other federal, state, and local agencies to help make an impact on the community.

Choose one (or more) of the data sets and proposed problems to solve. It is encouraged to expand your analysis leveraging additional data sets and analytics tools to enhance your data story.

Problem Statements & Data Sets

Select one or both cases to solve. Solving both cases will be considered two submissions, and two forms should be submitted. Please note the problem statements and data sets can be considered a starting point, and additional analysis is encouraged. Feel free to expand and leverage other data sets.

  • Veteran Education Benefits - U.S. Veterans can find it difficult to locate the schools and educational programs that are covered by the GI Bill, and fit their needs and interests. Create a tool to help veterans analyze and and measure the advantages and availability of those programs.
  • Homelessness - Identify the top causes of homeless? How does that relate to individual’s housing cost, health condition, education level and overall income level? Are there regional trends? How do veteran homeless compared with all population? How to best address the challenges?

Directions to save to Tableau Public here.

Submission Rules

  • You must be currently enrolled in a degree-granting program at an accredited academic institution at the time of submission to participate.
  • Teams (up to 4 students) are permitted. Both team members need to provide their names and contact information upon submission.
  • You must publish your viz to your Tableau Public profile. Be sure the data that you're using can be shared publicly.
    • Learn how to publish your viz to Tableau Public here.
    • Only one entry per round is allowed and work must be original. You can make edits to your submission up until the deadline. If you submit multiple entries, only the most recent entry will be considered.

Timeline

February 11, 2019 - April 22, 2019

All submissions received between February 11 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time(ET) and April 22 at 11:59 a.m. ET will be considered. Judging and results will be communicated by mid-April, with top teams for each problem being offered a small networking meeting with leaders with Tableau, partnering organizations and/or agencies on career development, as well as invited to join Tableau partner networking events to connect with peers and leaders in the industry.