From the course: DJ Patil: Ask Me Anything

How can a data scientist influence policy?

From the course: DJ Patil: Ask Me Anything

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How can a data scientist influence policy?

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(gentle music) - So, to this question of how data scientist, once they're in the room, how they can change things, here's an interesting one that happened in the White House. So, after the officer-involved shootings in Ferguson and in other towns, there was this question of what can the White House do. The salient teams were getting together and talking about this. And we were able to be in the room, and we're able to be in the room because I was the chief data scientist, and so I had a seat at the table. Around that table, you had, these were led by phenomenal people like Valerie Jarrett, and Cecilia Muñoz, and everyone else, and we start to figure out what could we do. These are great civil rights lawyers, and activist, and all amazing people, and there's sort of like me, the technologist. And people are kinda looking over, "Why is the data scientist here? "Well, at least he's smart, let's see what happens." Fast forward a few months, President Obama had put together this blue ribbon commission of police chief, activist, everyone, to ask what could be done and what would be the recommendations for the nation. And what was powerful about that is the majority of recommendations all involve technology and data. They all had this sort of thread of like body cameras, using data everything. And some of the most durable ideas that came out of our collaboration, it wasn't my idea, it was our collective ideas, because I didn't know many of these aspects of the problems that these people would work on these issues of criminal justice and civil rights had informed me of. But when we did it together, suddenly we got to see this is how this comes together. But that wouldn't have happen if we hadn't been in the room together, they hadn't been willing to let me in the room. I was willing to spend the time really listening to understand what the problem was. (gentle music)

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