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Tracing Illegal Guns

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy

May 23, 2018 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Albuquerque, Pennsylvania

A publicly available online platform launched by the New York Attorney General fills in big data gaps on guns being used in crimes and trafficked from elsewhere. “We were able to get a snapshot really quickly of where the worst guns are ending up and where they started.” The data can establish groundwork for interstate trafficking cases and also inform policy decisions and New York is happy to share the technology other communities can build their own databases.

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Switzerland's new algorithm could get up to 30% more refugees into work

Jack Graham

May 18, 2018 |

Apolitical |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Switzerland, Bern

Switzerland will soon be piloting a new algorithm to help refugees find jobs. The algorithm uses "machine learning to match geographic employment outcomes with refugees’ personal characteristics, such as gender, age and nationality." Researchers found that using the algorithm would have helped 41% more refugees to be employed between 2011 and 2016, but "real world" impact is yet to be measured. However, there are concerns about transparency and fairness.

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AI tool helps law enforcement find victims of human trafficking

Alexandra Ossola

April 16, 2018 |

Futurism |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

When Emily Kennedy was a teenager traveling in Eastern Europe she saw street kids she learned were trafficked by the Russian mob and decided to tackle human trafficking in her college work. The company she launched, Marinus Analytics, created a software application that has been used by authorities to rescue hundreds of victims in the U.S. and Canada and is expanding. The data it gathers has also debunked assumptions about how and where trafficking takes place.

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Here's how The New York Times is trying to preserve millions of old pages the way they were originally published

Shan Wang

April 12, 2018 |

Nieman Lab |

Multi-Media |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York

Project Kondo has identified and archived over 7 million New York Times web pages that contain news content in outdated and unsupported formats. Readers can report broken links, but the number of sites to review is too big to do by hand, so the team created an automated tool called ‘munger’ to identify JavaScript with unsupported code and clean it up into HTML that can be shared widely. In order to preserve the content exactly how it was originally published, the websites are moved to a different domain, archive.nytimes.com, where readers are notified that they are reading an archived article.

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A LinkedIn to combat rights abuse?

Emmanuel Freudenthal

March 29, 2018 |

The New Humanitarian (formerly IRIN) |

Multi-Media |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Nigeria

Who Was In Command, is a database that publishes the “names, ranks, and command responsibilities of security forces in Nigeria, Egypt, and Mexico.” That’s because when security forces use excessive force, and commit human rights abuses, often people don’t know their name, and can’t report them. Now, the names are all available in one website.

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City Rolls Out Tech Platform to Improve — and Ration — Shelter, Housing for the Homeless

Rob Waters

March 08, 2018 |

San Francisco Public Press |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

In San Francisco, a new online navigation system based off the theory of coordinated entry is merging separate databases into one to track the city's homeless population. The system uses this information to prioritize their limited housing stock - but it also means the process can become more complicated for some families in the system.

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This Map of New Orleans Might Save a Life

Jared Brey

January 19, 2018 |

Next City |

Multi-Media |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

By relying more heavily on data analysis, New Orleans officials decreased ambulance response time in many parts of the city from 12 minutes to 8 minutes. This is just one successful project of many from the non-profit group Results for America. The group works with local governments to use data and evidence to solve urban issues, and it has seen successes in New Orleans, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

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Predicting Crime in Chicago

Scott Pelley

January 07, 2018 |

60 Minutes |

Broadcast TV Programs |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

What if a computer program could tell you who was at risk for shooting someone or being shot themselves? This is now a reality for Chicago Police Department. By piloting the use of this technology, and assembly a cohort of cops, social workers, ministers and moms to visit the names of those the computer names, the city has seen a decrease in violence over the last year.

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Can an Algorithm Tell When Kids Are in Danger?

Dan Hurley

January 02, 2018 |

The New York Times Magazine |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Wrongly assessing risks for children in potentially abusive or dangerous homes has dire consequences, but a new predictive analytics system is assisting screeners to help those who need it most.

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How Georgia State Stopped Students From Slipping Through The Cracks

Martha Dalton

December 18, 2017 |

WABE |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Georgia

Georgia State University recognized that a large portion of their students don't graduate. They identified academic behaviours that correlate to flunking out and hired advisors to keep an eye on all students and contact them to help if a student exhibits one of these behaviours.

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