Vox Data

Team Name

Vox Data

Team Members

Project Description

Description:

Open data provides us with reliable yet raw information. One of the main hurdles inhibiting its use lay in its siloed nature. As a consequence, extracting meaningful insights becomes laborious and time-consuming. Even when insights are drawn, consumers lack a platform to voice their ideas and positively affect change in our society.

Vox Data gives a voice to open data and the people.

Vox Data consolidates over 100 unique open datasets from public and private enterprise, focusing on quality of life metrics. Using a range of statistical techniques, it analyses the past to predict the future value of each metric. Normalisation and individualised thresholds are then applied to produce Quality of Life (QOL) scores out of 10. These scores represent the calibre of these QOL indicators in our current and future states. Effectively, Vox Data cuts through the data deluge to provide clarity in the chaos.

A deeper understanding of the open data sources driving these scores are found by clicking on each metric. Along with a narrative, quantitative and qualitative information is displayed showing historical trends of the overall QOL score. Each of the individual components forming the QOL score are also displayed, providing a further level of drill-down analysis.

A moderated community forum sits directly below the individual data components on each click-through page, giving a voice to the people. Access to such disparate information under one umbrella empowers consumers to make informed decisions about the future of their society. This is done through posting their own ideas, commenting on others’ or up/down voting specific threads. The commenting functionality allows the community to debate and discuss concerns of importance and how they can make a change.

Transforming these ideas into impact has always been a challenge for society. The forum provides a unified voice which speaks to local and federal politicians regarding key areas affecting citizen’s current and future quality of life. In addition, accountability through transparency is championed due to the integrity of the data.

Ultimately, Vox Data makes open data more conversational, providing a big-picture viewpoint on all things quality of life.

NB: A working version of the click-through functionality has been developed for Health and as such, all links on the front page will direct to Health.

Data Story

Over the past 5 years, the ACT Quality of Life Score has experienced a steady increase before a dip in 2018. The driving factors behind this dip were the decreases in the scores of Technology, Crime and Safety, Transport, and Government Services. More specifically, the percentage of late busses, pedestrians involved in accidents and cyclist crashes have all increased.

Looking ahead, Vox Data predicts ACT to have a Quality of Life Score of 6, up one point from our current score of 5. This is mainly due to improvements in Health, Education and the Economy.

Drill-down into ACT Health’s Score:
ACT Health’s score is projected to remain steady over the next ten years, moving from a current score of 6.4 to 6.3 in 2029. Both male and female life expectancies continue to drive improvements in overall metrics while more specific indicators such as the number of adults or children who eat 5 or more serves of vegetables a day negatively impact the score. While mental health mortality is projected to rise in recent years, infant mortality and perinatal death rate are on the decline. The steadily growing number of taxpayers with private health insurance continues to partially offset the cost of healthcare related concessions provided by the Government.