Data Central and DataTALKS

Daniel Lucas, Division Coordinator

Raw data can be difficult to distill into usable, understandable, and consequential information. And, once released, people can sometimes embellish or distort data past its integrity.

OEV understands its audience is an eclectic mix of political and economic participants, some local and others external, who may be seeking different implications from the same information. OEV’s Data Center has over 80 indicators collected and curated for our community—demographics, economy, labor force, development, and other aspects, to help inform and facilitate decision-making about business growth, expansion, or relocation in Tallahassee-Leon County.

Our Business Intelligence Division heads up this initiative, updating the Data Center with its interactive and dashboard displays. We produce it entirely in-house: from data gathering to curation to publication. We are fortunate to have a chain of custody with data dependably curated by current and former staff going back many years. OEV strives to give its clientele a “farm to table” data experience, in order to convey a concise message and minimize embellishment or distortion. Few local economic development organizations possess the quantity and quality of data that OEV has. It is challenging to communicate the complexity of that data in an accessible yet informative way, which is why OEV has developed the Quarterly Economic Dashboard and #DataTALKS.

The Quarterly Economic Dashboard (QED) is an award-winning publication that tracks 13 of the most relevant and locally significant economic indicators for Tallahassee-Leon County, parsed down from a much larger number of trackable metrics. QED is a gauge of local conditions to inform our community with its quality, consistency, and impartiality. QED’s austere, concise, consistent format limits the temptation to tinker with a display that might only accentuate positives and play down negatives.

OEV’s #DataTALKS video series blends detailed data analysis in an accessible and laconic format. The series examines a broad range of economic concerns, highlighting interesting and insightful topics. The videos are briefings of suitable length, detail, and visual design to convey intricate topics in an encouraging manner. Some topics (e.g., graduate retention, homestead exemption) present customized data synthesized in-house with findings available nowhere else. An informed community is a successful community, and we want to do our part by sharing information with anyone who may be curious, in a pleasant and impartial manner.

If you would like to learn more about either of these platforms, visit the Data Center on our website here: www.OEVforBusiness.org/data-center.