How Somerset Intelligence Network is using data presentation to explain community profiles to a wide user audienceBackgroundThe Somerset Intelligence Network (SINe) aims to gather and use intelligence effectively to support policy-making and improve the quality of life for people living in the county of Somerset. SINe is part of the South West Observatory and is co-ordinated by the Partnership Intelligence Unit (PIU), based at Somerset County Council – a strategic partner. The website (http://www.sine.org.uk/) is a public portal to SINe and the Observatory. It acts as a first point of access for people and organisations looking for data, information and research about Somerset at a range of geographical levels. We spoke to Mike Smith, information manager with the PIU. He says that one of the issues identified early on was that individual partner organisations each had their own data sets but there was little coordination in terms of bringing them together. A team was set up to collate data sets and disseminate them which is now being done via a microsite called INFORM Somerset. This provides an overview of Somerset based on a range of themes including health and wellbeing and crime and community safety. Getting startedOnce staff for the PIU was recruited, it started to look at how other organisations were disseminating data and it was quickly recognised that a data visualisation package was needed. After going out to tender, InstantAtlas was selected as the preferred provider and the decision was taken to have a hosted solution. Meeting the needThe site went live on the 1st April 2011 and the indicators in each theme are presented in easy-to-use, interactive maps and tables that can either be viewed, printed off and/or downloaded. Users can look at how an indicator varies by area or alternatively see a collection of indicators within a particular area (i.e in a profile). As the project has progressed other data sets from partner organisations have been made available which Mike says is helping the team present more in-depth intelligence for each theme. “Two main projects have involved community profiling because the most often-asked question is what sort of people live in different parts of Somerset,” he says. “We haven’t yet told everyone about INFORM but we have done some user testing and the feedback has been very encouraging. So far we have demonstrated it to officers at the county council and we are hoping to get in front of elected members to show them as well.”
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According to Mike, INFORM is now playing an important part in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) alongside the SINe website. “We have moved away from the need to have lots of data presented in tables,” says Mike. As for future projects, the 2011 Census is something Mike feels will be well-suited to a data presentation approach. “InstantAtlas will be a vital tool for getting the Census data out there,” says Mike.
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