Dakar Network Strategy Our Nation is the finest example of an eclectic collection of human talent that the world has ever seen. Recruiting talent is competitive within this environment and more challenging when attempting be selective about race (or ethnicity), gender, or specific needs; like finding people interested in Science, technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The Department of Defense (DoD) is our Nation’s most enduring employer but comparatively very few people know of the breadth of its employment opportunities or how to gain access. DoD is also generally regarded as one of the finest examples of diversity within all of industry. DoD still seeks to be more representative of this Nation and holds a high regard for talent, especially STEM talent from a dwindling pool. As competition grows globally it is imperative that recruiters understand, have access and have the ability to influence the potential recruit.
Dakar recognizes these challenges and understands the need to reach the talent during the influential, developmental and decision periods. Currently there are multiple locations for interested parties to get information on DoD related material…and similarly multiple means of having discussions, or socializing their thoughts. However, each of these venues are narrow or “soda straw” views. DoD even spends millions of dollars on Internet, Media venues and advertisements for relatively low return on investments. Even gender or ethnicity specific venues don’t necessarily garner the type talent the event purports. What if the all the related social discussions, regardless of the initial platform, were connected? Moreover, what if the data and demographics of the participants were collated in a single repository? Improving the Utility of Minority Recruitment Statistics A prerequisite for this concurrent human-centered analysis is Seamless aggregation, hosting and maintaining the data in one place, regardless of its original source. Aggregation and hosting It is acknowledged that the Office Of Minority Equal Opportunity Development is public, but it must be transformed, parsed, and merged from more than one source, and then imported into a software tool chosen by the user to enable data manipulation and reporting. Only then can such synthesis potentially support individual inquiries in concurrent dimensions.
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Data management Given the current state of reporting, when detailed information is needed on recruitment of minorities, a tedious effort is required to reap targeted results from what is publicly available. The effort takes time, and highly likely that more than one vendor has gone to the trouble of integrating data from multiple sources, each unaware what others have done before him/her. And even if the data was accessed it may be outdated. Another issue with independent synthesis is the risk of mismatching disparate datasets. This can lead to errors, as well as inconsistencies in data among parallel, uncoordinated synthesis efforts. Also, the ability to tie together content across sources may be tedious, require red tape to gain access or may simply be unfeasible. As time passes, there is an added concern with data provided by certain online sites that report derivative data. What will the endurance be for those resources, especially ones with a laser-like focus on a particular interest area such as recruitment for a single ethnic group?
What will be their fate long after that operation has ceased, or the organization responsible for the analysis disbands due to a lack of funds or other reasons? Will their website and its contents be maintained in perpetuity? How will reports inclusive of newer facts and figures capture that aging content in order to present cumulative data if those earlier, older resources fade away?
Reaping Value in the Data The limitations of today’s data presentation creates challenges for leaders of non-defense government organizations who want to look at the details on the people through varied lenses, or for minorities who seek to recognize the contribution of their brethren at a level of detail that has greater meaning for them, or for reporters who seek the ability to easily generate statistics relevant to a particular story line they are researching. Presumably, at least the employees of U.S. defense agencies have back office tools and greater access to data. Beyond the “third party” information needs, there is another very important customer for minority recruitment—the disenfranchised student from underserved communities and his/her key supporters such as family members, caregivers and others with close ties. Minority recruitment would also benefit personally from improved information access. A potential recruit or his/her family members may find solace in learning that their experience in a particular STEM program was one of a group of ten others of like race hailing from the same region, or from the same ethnic group and gender. They could define, explore and quantify the group that interests them personally if the data were more accessible, especially if it were combined with tools that allow for its easy exploration and visualization.
Making the details on Minority recruitment more accessible is also an additional way to pay tribute to them. Releasing the information from its silos and providing greater depth, this way to provide a higher level of recognition (i.e. internships/scholarships)—a more humanized and personalized one. Beyond taking personal pride in their development, the student recruit and his/her family members can take pride as a representative of a specifically defined group with whom they identify, where the group is characterized by their own combination of ethnic group, race, service group, gender or other concurrent attributes that have personal meaning to them and that are in the public domain. For attributes not officially tracked, self-reporting could add further to personalization of the data and enable novel data-driven revelations. The difficulty in getting at this type of detailed information on our student recruits is not because the basic data is not public. For the most part, it already is, thanks to the rigorous efforts of the DoD. Rather, it is because it is not published in a way that allows it to be easily retrieved, synthesized, analyzed and understood. It exists in different forms and from different resources, each with different pieces of the information puzzle. With limited exceptions, these puzzle pieces are scattered and stored in information containers not designed to support data merging for consumption in agile ways.
A Solution for Transparency, Usability and Recognition
Capturing the data in a single, central repository that includes tools for easy exploration and reporting would serve a wide and diverse audience. A publicly accessible repository, one that is more inclusive than datasets now available for export, would be a more enduring, more useful and more reliable home for this valuable information. Â
The DoD likely has such utility for internal use, but it is inaccessible to outsiders. If theirs is not designed for “walkup and use� ease and convenience, then even DoD users could benefit from a new data management solution.
Yale Computer Scientist David Gelernter, in his book Mirror Worlds (1989), sketched a vision of a global public information space into which the real-time state of the world’s activities would be constantly fed, digested into a seamless model of the state of the planet, and fed back to millions of personal computers where it could be visualized, examined, and analyzed by countless people for countless purposes. Technology available today can rapidly and cost efficiently translates that concept to practical application if the scope is scaled to a limited information domain. The domain of the Office Of Minority and Equal Opportunity Development information is highly approachable through their current website and social channels, but they’re classic examples of one-way communication portals. New developments in database technology and novel webbased tools for data sharing and visualization can be readily combined to create a seamless, integrated, public information resource on Minority recruitment that can be easily maintained for use by all for any number of purposes. We present here a simple roadmap for the creation of a resource, initially domestic in scope, which will be a selfrenewing repository for information on our nation’s features and benefits for working for the Government’s Department of Defense. Over time, consideration can be given to extending the resource to include information on educational
stakeholders or other groups who face similar challenges and consequences. The repository can apply existing commercially available technology for data capture, storage, and delivery. We believe it should also provide user-friendly capabilities for data manipulation and present human-friendly visualizations of simple queries and more sophisticated analyses. Starting Point — The Data Sources At present, there are no data sources that provide online reports on minority recruitment on a consistent basis. At the highest level, The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) updates this information and posts summaries in news items found on defenselink.mil. More details can be found on websites provided by DoD Personnel and Procurement Statistics. Sources mainly display data tables, each of which includes a limited number of attributes. The sites offer little facility for exploring content beyond simply reading tables. The Personnel site enables users to export certain data into several file formats, but the fields included for use with this feature exclude race and ethnicity, even though that data is offered in other tables.
Understanding Users Taking the available data to a higher level of transparency and utility will require thought and planning. Research is needed to understand the various homes for the available data and how content and the responsibility for it differ across the hosts. A technical assessment is needed to understand how the content can be correlated and tied together across sources. Business and technical constraints need to be explored to understand the potential for establishing those connections and for making the resulting combined content more accessible. Research is also needed to validate the types of information and tools needed by government and nongovernment consumers of the data. It will be important to understand how key stakeholders will consume the data. This will entail engagements with various stakeholders in design sessions. Human-centered design techniques such as interviewing and contextual inquiry can be applied to reveal spoken and unspoken needs. We at Dakar believe that to tame the complexity of technology and information, such research is crucial to understanding user needs and for the design of solutions that are human-centered. Innovative ideas to gain novel value from the data can be explored. Ideas may include collaborative data analysis, linkages to social media for purposes of networking, outreach and self-help, and mechanisms to identify
government sponsored social materials or related news items.
services,
educational
Depending on how such a resource is funded, and the mission of the organization that ultimately hosts it, these ideas range anywhere from aggressive to mere starting points for transformational opportunities to realize greater benefits from the data. State of the Art Solutions for Data Interaction The results of these research investigations are important to inform the overall concept and detailed design of a repository and tools for accessing, manipulating and viewing minority recruitment data. Fortunately, commercial software solutions are well suited to manage these data tasks and can be swiftly and affordably adapted to serve various purposes. One example is Rhiza Insight http://www.rhiza.com/. Its simple-to-use mapping and analysis tools enable users to break down data silos to reveal clear patterns. Geospatial analysis tools, which are no more difficult than Google Map, let users create results that can be communicated in more meaningful, engaging ways than data tables and single attribute filters. 3 Rivers Connect (3rc) http://www.3rc.org/is an example of how such a platform is fed with multiple data sets and used in support of a diverse community with equally diverse interests. 3rc uses its Insight instance to power a portal
informing citizens and policy makers with maps, charts and data about the Pittsburgh region. The 3rc site, Pittsburgh Today, provides a single point of access to key social and economic data and quality-of-life indicators from federal, state and local governments, policy analysts at RAND, nearby universities, and more. The result is a comprehensive overview of the city’s progress, assets and challenges. Citizens access the data as intuitive mapping visualizations created in Insight, and policymakers delve deeper into the raw data for sophisticated analysis. This enables more informed policy conversation about improving the region, based on hard facts and empirical observations that are equally visible to all constituents. Information management tools like Insight help users adeptly answer both general and targeted questions and derive greater meaning from complex data. They include features such as graphs, maps and other representations, and the convenience of linking to source data for automated updates so the most current information is always presented. Users further benefit from the ability to introduce additional public information that increases the diversity of content. This enables richer analyses along more dimensions. The following example illustrates how multiple datasets are applied in a novel analysis. The map in Figure 5 shows how an investigator can visually explore locations to consider for a community
center for seniors based on present center locations (circles sized by capacity), senior population (shaded census blocks), poverty below a threshold (crosshatch) and proximity to subway routes (lines). The data underlying the shapes can be drilled for greater detail by clicking.
Media features increase audience connection to the data, such as the ability to share newly created visualizations with others or the use of RSS syndication to distribute and receive the latest content. Subscribers to an RSS feed on minority recruitment might include military analysts, legislators, the press, social service providers, STEM programs and their families, and other civilian subscribers. Compared to reports that park their data in static tables trapped within .pdf file formats, these powerful, dynamic
functions for representing and disseminating content create greater freedom of information and enhance our ability to make sense of and derive value from it. Moving from Data to Knowledge The increase in data transparency offered by modern data management tools can lead to new insights and elevate the level of impact of STEM and preparing the United States in developing a more diverse workforce to defend the nation. Improving access to, and exploration of, the data would benefit community members at large who seek to learn specific facts and patterns regarding the development and placement of homegrown talent in STEM fields, specifically to be date-mined for DoD recruitment. Perhaps most importantly, by making more accessible the attributes that help define who these students are at the earliest possible age, as individuals will increase their visibility and pride will be elevated. The use of storytelling inside of the portal about service and sacrifice past and present will be embedded in outward-bound communication to provide historical and restorative upliftment. This represents an additional way for us to pay tribute to those brave and honorable people who sacrificed health or life for our country’s beliefs. The cost of war is high when measured in dollars, but the most valuable asset for
humanity is life itself. It is with equal humanity and humility that we can pay our respects and honor America’s patriots military and civilian by making related information more transparent and accessible. SOLUTION: ANALYTIC CONTROL PANEL AND REPORTING SYSTEM We deploy a proprietary CENTRAL ANALYTICS CONTROL PANEL AND REPORTING SYSTEM that will: A. Compile existing and new Data Sources within a Central System B. Track and manage Data Sources while creating real time results overview of activity and projections C. Provide consolidated real time reporting in effective visual representation that will be useful in identifying key environments to target D. Systematically create representations of best query and result orientation for future targeted environments E. Deploy Mass Penetration VIRAL REPORTING MARKETING through campaigns within multi-dimensional connected applications, Social Networks, Devices, Internet, Broadcast and the physical world. VIRAL REPORTING MARKETING We target mass market consumer trends and device adoption (PC, Smartphone, iPad, Readers, Broadcast and
Event Marketing, Social Networking and Social Media) to disseminate campaigns and viral media ads to trigger conversion and penetration within hard to reach and mass environments. This is all delivered through a central web based control panel that controls content-to-devices-connected apps-to Internet relational database reporting systems. Delivering the following: • CONTENT DRIVEN ADD CAMPAIGNS distributed digitally and FREELY available targeting mobile devices and social communities. We do in essence what mp3 format did to the music industry. • CAMPAIGN TARGETED influential environments.
EVENTS
within
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• BUNDLE THROUGH DEVICES AND BRANDED VALUE ADDED VEHICLES that popular trend based hardware and software to deliver extensive value added connected applications which will cross pollinate social networks and physical environments.