Land-Grab Universities: The Data and the News App

Transcript

1. Land-Grab Universities The Data and the News Application Geoff McGhee and Tristan Ahtone MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning September 22, 2021
2. Speaking from Indigenous land: the traditional territory of Coast Salish peoples, specifically the Duwamish Tribe (Dkhw Duw’Absh). https://www.realrentduwamish.org
7. What could be missing?
8. Material for many more stories • 162 treaties or other land transfers to United States • 52 Universities that benefited from Indigenous land • ~250 Native Nations whose land was acquired • ~80,000 land parcels in 24 states totaling 10.8 million acres • $22.8 million raised (inflation adj.: $495 million) • Photography documenting dozens of locations
9. What to do with all that data? • Summarize it in infographics and maps • Collect it in a set of documents to share • Post it on Github
10. Working with the Data
11. “Show your work”
12. Github Repository
13. Github Repository
14. Github Repository: Geodata
15. What are our GIS “layers”? 1. Recipient universities
16. What are our GIS “layers”? File File Type Data Type Records Description University_Points.shp Geodata Point 52 Point locations of the universities receiving lands
17. What are our GIS “layers”? 2. Land parcels
18. What are our GIS “layers”? 2. Land parcels
19. What are our GIS “layers”? File File Type Data Type Records Description University_Points.shp Geodata Point 52 Point locations of the universities receiving lands Parcels_Polygons.shp Geodata Polygon 79,461 Boundaries of land parcels - mostly squarish, but not all 79,461
20. US Land patent database - 11 million records
21. Land transfer?
22. Adding more GIS layers
23. Adding more GIS layers 3. Land cession boundaries
24. Adding more GIS layers 3. Land cession boundaries
25. GIS Layers File File Type Data Type Records Description University_Points.shp Geodata Point 52 Point locations of the universities receiving lands Parcels_Polygons.shp Geodata Polygon 79,461 Boundaries of land parcels - mostly squarish, but not all Cession_Polygons.shp Geodata Polygon 260 Boundaries delineated by treaties and other land cessions
26. Tabular data GIS “layers” ?
27. Github Repository: Record Details
28. Universities: Record Details
29. Universities: Record Details
30. Universities: Record Details
31. Universities: Record Details
32. Parcels: Record Details
33. Parcels: Record Details
34. Parcels: Record Details
35. Parcels: Record Details ?
36. Cessions: Record Details
37. Cessions: Record Details
38. Cessions: Record Details
39. Cessions: Record Details
40. Cessions: Record Details
41. Alternatives to Land Cessions Data? https://www.native-land.ca
42. Alternatives to Land Cessions Data? https://www.native-land.ca
43. Alternatives to Land Cessions Data? https://www.native-land.ca
44. Github: Summary Data in Excel
45. Github: Summary Data in Excel
46. Github: Summary Data in Excel
47. Showing Linkages
55. Presenting the Data
56. What to do with all that data? • Summarize it in infographics and maps • Collect it in a set of documents to share • Post it on Github • Present it online in a news application • “What’s a news application?”
57. News Applications
58. News Applications “News applications are windows into the data behind a story. They might be searchable databases, sleek visualizations or something else altogether. But no matter what form they take, news apps encourage readers to interact with data in a context that is meaningful to them: looking up crime trends in their area, checking the safety records of their local doctor, or searching political contributions to their candidate of choice.” –The Data Journalism Handbook, European Journalism Centre
59. landgrabu.org
60. What you can do with a News App • Explore an entire data set • See different dimensions of data – more than a “list” • Get summary views like topline stats or maps • Filter and sort data • See record-level detail • Recenter a story around your focus of interest
61. Explore the data
62. Explore the data Explore the data
63. What you can do with a News App • Explore an entire data set • See different dimensions of data – more than a “list” • Get summary views like topline stats or maps • Filter and sort data • See record-level detail • Recenter a story around your focus of interest
64. See different dimensions
71. What you can do with a News App • Explore an entire data set • See different dimensions of data – more than a “list” • Get summary views like topline stats or maps • Filter and sort data • See record-level detail • Recenter a story around your focus of interest
72. What you can do with a News App • Explore an entire data set • See different dimensions of data – more than a “list” • Get summary views like topline stats or maps • Filter and sort data • See record-level detail • Recenter a story around your focus of interest
73. What you can do with a News App • Explore an entire data set • See different dimensions of data – more than a “list” • Get summary views like topline stats or maps • Filter and sort data • See record-level detail • Recenter a story around your focus of interest
74. What you can do with a News App • Explore an entire data set • See different dimensions of data – more than a “list” • Get summary views like topline stats or maps • Filter and sort data • See record-level detail • Recenter a story around your focus of interest
75. See record-level detail
76. How we did it • Gatsby JS-generated “static” site • UI built with Javascript/React JS • Running on Node JS and AWS Server • Design began in Jan. 2020 • Development Feb-March • Launched April 6 Design by Geoff McGhee geoffmcghee.com Development by Cody Leff codymleff.com
77. Many More Stories to Tell
78. Ideas for further reporting and analysis • What parcels got picked? 
 Altitude and slope analysis, distance to natural water sources, inches of average rainfall, land cover type vs price paid, distance to road network, “hot spots” of selection • Patterns by state? Did Eastern/scrip states show different tendencies for selection? Areas with heterogenous selection by many states (like California Central Valley?) • Mineral/resources wealth - oil, gas, mining, timber abundance • Current estimated value of properties, or of all properties in a parcel • Relationship to present-day Native Nation/tribal population centers and headquarters • University program and policy changes • Enrollment change at LGUs – over all time since records kept? • Existence of Native/Indigenous study programs • Scholarship programs directed to American Indian/Alaskan Native students • Value of federal research grants to universities
79. Many people to thank • Tristan Ahtone, Kalen Goodluck, Gretchen King, Jennifer Sahn and everyone at High Country News • Prof. Robert “Bobby” Lee • Margaret Pearce and Erik Steiner for graphics advice and data help • Cody Leff for tireless development work • Support from the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and the Fund for Investigative Journalism @mcgeoff on Twitter geoffmcghee@gmail.com Questions welcome