Inside Harvard's data.gov Archive

Demographic Data and the Perfect Census

Jed talks with Christopher Dick, founder of Demographic Analytics Advisors and former Census Bureau population estimates researcher, about counting people at scale, the legal and technical constraints on census data, and what it looks like to build demographic data products that actually serve their users. Full show notes at https://greatdataproducts.com/episodes/2026/03/dick-demographic-data/ [https://greatdataproducts.com/episodes/2026/03/dick-demographic-data/]

The Storm Events Database Explorer

Jed talks with Kwin Keuter and Brad Andrick, geospatial software engineers at Earth Genome, about the Storm Events Database Explorer [https://stormevents.internetofwater.app/]. This collaborative project between Earth Genome, The Commons, and the Internet of Water Coalition provides access to over 1.9 million U.S. severe weather events spanning 70+ years of NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) storm records, including tornadoes, floods, hail, and hurricanes. LINKS AND RESOURCES * Storm Events Database Explorer [https://stormevents.internetofwater.app/] — Interactive map and search interface * Storm Events Database on Source Cooperative [https://source.coop/repositories/earth-genome/noaa-storm-events/description] — Cloud-optimized Parquet files * Earth Genome blog post on the project [https://www.earthgenome.org/blog] — Technical process and discovery work * The Commons case study [https://www.thecommons.earth/] — Project background and case study * NOAA Storm Events Database [https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/] — Original NOAA dataset and beta interface * GeoParquet.io [http://GeoParquet.io] — Chris Holmes’s project for working with Parquet files More show notes and transcript at https://greatdataproducts.com/episodes/2026/02/keuter-andrick-storm-events/ [https://greatdataproducts.com/episodes/2026/02/keuter-andrick-storm-events/]

Turning Federal Data Into Action

Jed talks with Denice Ross, Senior Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists and former U.S. Chief Data Scientist, about federal data's role in American life and what happens when government data tools sunset. Denice led efforts to use disaggregated data to drive better outcomes for all Americans during her time as Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and now works on building a Federal Data Use Case Repository documenting how federal datasets affect everyday decisions. The conversation explores why open data initiatives have evolved over the years and how administrative priorities shape public data tool availability. Denice emphasizes that federal data underpins economic growth, public health decisions, and governance at every level. She describes how data users can engage with data stewards to create feedback loops that improve data quality, and why nonprofits and civil society organizations play an essential role in both data collection and advocacy. Throughout the discussion, Denice and Jed examine the balance between official government data products and innovative tools built by external organizations. They discuss creative solutions for filling data gaps, the importance of identifying tools as "powered by federal data" to preserve datasets, and strategies for protecting federal data accessibility for the long term. LINKS AND RESOURCES - Denice Ross at the Federation of American Scientists: https://fas.org/expert/denice-ross/ [https://fas.org/expert/denice-ross/] - The federal data and tools that died this year (Marketplace): https://www.marketplace.org/episode/2025/11/25/the-federal-data-and-tools-that-died-this-year [https://www.marketplace.org/episode/2025/11/25/the-federal-data-and-tools-that-died-this-year] TAKEAWAYS 1. Federal data underpins daily life — From public health decisions to economic planning, federal datasets inform choices that affect Americans whether they realize it or not. 2. Data tools require active protection — When administrative priorities shift, public data tools can disappear. Building awareness of data dependencies helps preserve access. 3. Feedback loops improve data quality — Data users should engage directly with data stewards. Public participation in the data lifecycle leads to better, more relevant datasets. 4. Civil society fills critical gaps — Nonprofits and external organizations can collect data and advocate for data resources in ways government cannot. 5. Disaggregated data drives equity — Breaking down aggregate statistics reveals disparities and enables targeted interventions that benefit underserved communities. 6. External innovation complements government stability – A healthy ecosystem keeps federal data stable while enabling community-driven tools to evolve and serve specific needs. --- Great Data Products is brought to you by Source Cooperative. Learn more at https://greatdataproducts.com [https://greatdataproducts.com]

How Standards Emerge: Lessons from STAC

[Jed's audio in this sounds terrible because of a hardware setting that Marshall Moutenot very kindly helped us identify. Will sound better in future episodes!] Jed talks with Matt Hanson from Element 84 about the SpatioTemporal Asset Catalog (STAC) specification and its role in making geospatial data findable and usable. Matt describes STAC as "a simple, developer-friendly way to describe geospatial data so that people can actually find it and use it." The conversation covers how STAC emerged from a 2017 sprint in Boulder with 20 people and grew into a specification now adopted by NASA, USGS, and commercial satellite companies worldwide. Matt discusses the concept of "guerrilla standards," why adoption is the only metric that matters, the limitations of remote sensing, and why credibility can't be skipped when launching standards efforts. Full show notes and transcript: https://greatdataproducts.com/episodes/2025/12/hanson-stac/ [https://greatdataproducts.com/episodes/2025/12/hanson-stac/] Links and Resources: * STAC Specification: https://stacspec.org/ [https://stacspec.org/] * STAC: A Retrospective, Part 2: https://element84.com/software-engineering/stac-a-retrospective-part-2-why-stac-was-successful/ [https://element84.com/software-engineering/stac-a-retrospective-part-2-why-stac-was-successful/] * Emergent Standards white paper: https://tial.org/publications/white-paper-003-emergent-standards-enabling-collaborations-across-institutions/ [https://tial.org/publications/white-paper-003-emergent-standards-enabling-collaborations-across-institutions/] * STAC Auth Proxy: https://github.com/developmentseed/stac-auth-proxy [https://github.com/developmentseed/stac-auth-proxy] * FilmDrop UI: https://console.demo.filmdrop.element84.com/ [https://console.demo.filmdrop.element84.com/] * Planet Planetary Variables: https://www.planet.com/products/planetary-variables/ [https://www.planet.com/products/planetary-variables/] * CommonSpace: https://www.commonspace.world/ [https://www.commonspace.world/] * "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet Baby": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc9F0bh5OXc [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc9F0bh5OXc] Great Data Products is brought to you by Source Cooperative: https://source.coop [https://source.coop]

Inside Harvard's data.gov Archive

Jed talks with Jack Cushman from the Harvard Law School Library Innovation Lab about their project to archive and preserve more than 311,000 datasets from Data.gov [http://Data.gov]. We explore how they use BagIt for long-term preservation, built a serverless search interface that makes 17.9 TB of data discoverable in the browser, and what this means for the future of online archives.