INDICATORS PROJECT DESIGNED TO CREATE INFORMED POLICIES
BYLINE: E.J. Perkins, The Arizona Republic
Mariko Silver is a key player in the development of the Arizona Indicators Project, an online database (www.asu.edu/indicators) built by Arizona State University in collaboration with The Arizona Republic, the state Department of Commerce and Arizona Community Foundation. The project was part of a three-part series by The Republic that sought to determine what steps the Phoenix area needs to take to make itself globally competitive.
Silver is director of Strategic Projects for the Office of the President at ASU where she implements strategy-setting initiatives in areas that include science, technology and innovation policy; economic development; and higher-education policy.
Silver holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. She is completing her Ph.D. in economic geography at UCLA.
In a "Live Talk" interview last Wednesday at aztalk.azcentral.com, Silver talked with editorial writer Ed Perkins about the genesis of the project and what the next steps will be to develop the database. Here are highlights from the conversation.
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1. Tell us a bit about the Arizona Indicators Project, and how Arizona State University and The Arizona Republic teamed up with a specific goal in mind.
About a year ago, President (Michael) Crow and The Republic leadership began a conversation about the level of policy debate in metropolitan Phoenix. They all agreed that most people had insufficient access to the data necessary to make informed policy decisions. This is a challenge everywhere, but particularly so in Arizona.
Many other states have a portion of state government that is specifically focused on vetting and providing data to legislators, other policymakers, as well as to the general public. We don't have this function in a developed way in our state government.
Based on this conversation and subsequent conversation with many community leaders, it became clear that there was a public service that had to be performed. So, ASU and The Republic set about to kick-start the Arizona Indicators Project.
2. What is the key to making the indicators project a success? Education?
Certainly education, letting people know that the project exists, that the data exist and are usable, these things are essential. But, I want to emphasize again, that the future success of the project lies in the full engagement of community leaders and multiple communities. And that means suggestions for additions improvements and active participation in the discussion about what indicators are relevant and for what purpose. A community data resource like Arizona Indicators can be a catalyst for discussions that can lead to very positive developments for the region and the state.
3. What have you learned from other cities' indicator projects? What's the same and what makes Arizona unique?
The Arizona Indicators Project is unique in that it is so dynamic. The data are presented in user-manipulable formats, so that people can visualize the data combinations they find most useful and we will be constantly building in more user-driven innovations and tools. Plus, the data will be updated on an ongoing basis.
4. Does Arizona have all the ingredients to succeed? Or is this part of what indicators hopes to identify so we can prepare the recipe?
There is no one recipe for success. Nor is there even uniform agreement on what we should use to measure success. But there are clearly some essential ingredients that lead to outcomes that many regions have used to monitor progress. The project will help us see where we might be lacking some ingredients as well see the ways in which we are really strong. We can't really set a path for where we want to go as a metro area and as a state if we don't know where we are.
5. There sometimes seems to be the belief that Arizona is on a sure-fire road to success, given its unparalleled growth status. But is that a false assumption, and/or does it come down to quality growth vs. uncontrolled sprawl?
In many ways, Arizona is a success story. We are the envy of many communities that lament declining population and labor pools. With that kind of success comes an opportunity that declining regions simply do not have. We have an increased capacity to control our own destiny.
6. What's next for the Arizona Indicators Project?
Improvements and expansion in all dimensions. Measures are constantly being refined, reassessed and updated. Our partners have made suggestions about our future direction. The Arizona Department of Commerce is interested in metrics that define a business climate conducive to innovation, and in this coming week, we will be rolling out the first of those innovation indicators.
The Arizona Community Foundation has recently become a major partner in the project and we are working together with them and with Valley of the Sun United Way to expand and deepen the data available on this site, likely starting with health- and human-services-related data.
It's very exciting to see the project coming together as a resource for residents throughout Arizona to help us understand more clearly and in more dimensions both where we are and where we are going -- what kind of future we are making.