The site runs as a hosted DataPlace application where NYCHANIS staff upload their own data while taking advantage of the indexing, storage and visualization power of DataPlace.

The technology driving this portal is available for license and is capable of driving any size data project.

Contact us to discuss how are technology and expertise can serve your organization.

Visit Foreclosure-Response.org to see valuable resources and mapping tools built using DataPlace Technology. 

About KnowledgePlex

Operating as a nonprofit, KnowledgePlex, Inc seeks to help transform disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods by creating, maintaining, and innovating a standard technology platform for information and data that can serve a wide variety of sectors.

Our aim is to provide a platform that allows you to focus on developing your data, information, and story rather than on IT and software. By providing information and technology that will empower communities and neighborhoods, we hope to usher in a new era of accountability and impact-tracking.

The technology platforms developed though our work are readily transferable to corporate, education, philanthropic, and other diverse organization applications. Read more about our products and services.

• Data Management and Visualization Platform
• Web Publishing and Content Management Platform

KnowledgePlex, Inc. works with many organizations to help them realize their knowledge management goals.

Contact us to discuss how are technology and expertise can serve your organization.

Time: Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 1:30 p.m. EST

The Center for Housing Policy, KnowledgePlex, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the Urban Institute have joined forces to launch Foreclosure-Response.org – a new Web resource that provides government officials, housing practitioners and advocates with up-to-date information on a broad range of state and local policy solutions related to foreclosure prevention and neighborhood stabilization. The Web site includes a comprehensive policy guide of strategies for preventing and responding to foreclosures, as well as access to interactive online discussions and tools that allow users to create customized data reports and maps (powered by DataPlace)  to identify areas in which to target resources and efforts.

In this online chat, speakers will introduce Foreclosure-Response.org and discuss how the information and tools available on the site can be applied to help communities develop more effective strategies for preventing foreclosures and stabilizing neighborhoods.

Speakers will also highlight promising approaches for achieving these outcomes that are being utilized by communities around the country.

Panelists:
Maya Brennan, research associate for the Center for Housing Policy
Conrad Egan, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference
Emily Salomon, research associate for the Center for Housing Policy
G. Thomas Kingsley, senior research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute
Chris Walker, director of research and assessment for the Local Initiatives Support Corporation

Join this KnowledgePlex chat to make the most of your visits to Foreclosure-Response.org!

This KnowledgePlex chat is part of “Housing Solutions Week 2009,” a series of events presented by the National Housing Conference (NHC) and its research affiliate the Center for Housing Policy focused on state and local strategies for responding to today’s critical housing challenges. 

The opinions expressed in this event are those of the participants and do not necessarily represent the views of KnowledgePlex staff or its officers or directors.

KnowledgePlex.org is featuring live coverage of Inauguration Day events in its multimedia section: http://www.knowledgeplex.org/mmedia_preview.html?id=2908791

The development team at KnowledgePlex announces a new and powerful data filtering tool now available at beta.dataplace.org. Users can filter across all locations in the U.S. using any of the 2,300+ indicators on DataPlace. 

This new feature can help you better analyze data by narrowing down large lists of locations using very specific criteria. Looking for loan amounts in a specific range? The example below shows how an original list of 791 cities in California can be reduced to 531. Click on the histogram to see the matching list of cities.  You can also combine multiple filters and indicators to narrow your results even more.  

Over the last few weeks, America has seen economic turmoil that, for many experts, is conjuring specters of the Great Depression. Foreclosure continues to cripple millions of homeowners and countless communities. Now, on a scale that few had foreseen, a larger, resultant crisis is unfolding. A domino trail of collapsing Wall Street giants has led to massive government intervention. As Congress mulls the components of this rescue plan, debate rages over its chances of success. In this Special Report, KnowledgePlex.org will provide ongoing coverage of the financial crisis and its effect on our economy and our communities.

To read the Special Report, click here.

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About KnowledgePlex, Inc.
DataPlace.org and KnowledgePlex.org are owned and operated by KnowledgePlex, Inc. We are a not-for-profit organization that seeks to help transform disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods by creating and maintaining an innovative technology platform for information and data to serve a wide variety of sectors. Our goal is to provide a platform that allows the user to focus on developing data, information, and story, rather than IT and software. By providing information and technology that will empower communities and neighborhoods, KnowledgePlex, Inc. fosters accountability and impact-tracking at the community level. The best way to understand how DataPlace will benefit your organization is to see it in action. Call KnowledgePlex, Inc. at (866) 441-9249 to arrange a brief demonstration. To explore online visit http://www.kplex.org/

What do they look like? Below is an example of a chart widget. Notice that you can hover over the chart lines to see the values for each year.

Below is a sample map widget, centered on Galveston, Texas, and showing the same indicator as above. Notice that you can change the map view by clicking and panning the map, zooming in or out with “+/-” zoom buttons, and turning on and off the map legend by clicking on the Legend tab.

Widgets are available for maps, charts, rankings, and preview windows; wherever you see a “Publish as Widget” button near the upper-right corner of the page. Each widget view has different options and optimal sizing ranges. The chart widget, for example, gives you the option of displaying a chart, a table, or both. In each case the widget preview window will show you what the resulting widget will look like on your blog or Web site.

Give widgets a try and, as always, we would appreciate your feedback on how they work for you.

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About KnowledgePlex, Inc.
DataPlace.org and KnowledgePlex.org are owned and operated by KnowledgePlex, Inc. We are a not-for-profit organization that seeks to help transform disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods by creating and maintaining an innovative technology platform for information and data to serve a wide variety of sectors. Our goal is to provide a platform that allows the user to focus on developing data, information, and story, rather than IT and software. By providing information and technology that will empower communities and neighborhoods, KnowledgePlex, Inc. fosters accountability and impact-tracking at the community level. The best way to understand how DataPlace will benefit your organization is to see it in action. Call KnowledgePlex, Inc. at (866) 441-9249 to arrange a brief demonstration. To explore online visit http://www.kplex.org/

DatePlace and KnowledgePlex in Joint Effort To Facilitate Communication, Disseminate Information As Ike Heads for the Gulf Coast

As Hurricane Ike bears down on the Gulf Coast, DataPlace and KnowledgePlex are making our resources available via a Special Report (http://www.knowledgeplex.org/specialreport.html) to measure the potential impact for counties with hurricane warnings. Hurricane Ike was predicted to make landfall in Galveston, Texas, on Friday night.  As of Friday morning, floodwaters began surging into Galveston Island, with forecasters warning of “certain death” for those who remain in their homes.

In all, six counties in Louisiana and 38 counties in Texas are at risk. The impact upon people and infrastructure  is substantial.

For these combined counties, the impact is, according to 2005 estimates:
- 7,205,582 people at risk
- 2,866,150 housing units at risk

In 2004 alone, federal expenditures for housing-related assistance in the region totaled more than half billion dollars ($581,299,064 for grants and direct payments).

This is a highly diverse region, approximately one-third Hispanic, 50% non-Hispanic White, and 15% African American, 4% Asian.

Many of the people living in the likely impact zones are also among the more vulnerable populations in the region–measured by rates of child and elderly poverty, people without access to a car, and elderly who speak little or no English. Populations in Zip codes 77550 in Galveston, and 77640 in Port Arthur, for example, are especially vulnerable. Zip Code 77550 forms part of Galveston Island, a thin strip of land exposed to the Gulf, and likely to see a great deal of damage if storm surge predictions are on target. The last Census found more than 40% of the children in the zip area living in poverty, and nearly a quarter of households with no car available. Public schools in the area also report high poverty levels: 69.8% of students were eligible for free or reduced price lunches in 2006.

With the safety of Gulf Coast communities like these in mind, the Special Report on Hurricane Ike will be updated continuously. Sections include:

·    Helpful Resources

·    DataPlace Tools

·    Articles

·    KnowledgePlex Group Discussions

Using the mapping tools from DataPlace, readers will be able to chart the storm’s impact from a variety of perspectives. Readers can also communicate with each other through KnowledgePlex Groups to create community for sharing information.  Group members can also upload their own data.  

Readers can join the Hurricane Ike group, free of charge, by clicking here.

To view the Hurricane Ike Special Report, click here.

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About KnowledgePlex, Inc.
DataPlace.org and KnowledgePlex.org are owned and operated by KnowledgePlex, Inc. We are a not-for-profit organization that seeks to help transform disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods by creating and maintaining an innovative technology platform for information and data to serve a wide variety of sectors. Our goal is to provide a platform that allows the user to focus on developing data, information, and story, rather than IT and software. By providing information and technology that will empower communities and neighborhoods, KnowledgePlex, Inc. fosters accountability and impact-tracking at the community level. The best way to understand how DataPlace will benefit your organization is to see it in action. Call KnowledgePlex, Inc. at (866) 441-9249 to arrange a brief demonstration. To explore online visit http://www.kplex.org/

For example, if you are assessing risk of foreclosure in different neighborhoods in your county, you might want to look at more than one indicator at a time, perhaps high interest lending rates for both home purchase as well as for refinance.  Instead of looking at the two indicators separately, Metrics allows you to select both indicators, and view the results on maps, charts, and more.

So, what is a “Metric”? Metrics are a type of index, but differ from a typical index in that Metrics can aggregate different years of indicators into a single indicator. For example, the Metric “Homeownership by Same Gender Couples” generates a single ranked list from loans made in 2004-2006. For now, this ability to lump together different years limits Metrics from automatically tracking change over time. 

Behind the scenes, the metric builder creates a normalized value for each indicator based on a standard deviation between the lowest and highest value. The normalized value is multiplied by a weight that a user selects when he or she builds a metric. The weighted scores are then summed and divided by the total of all the weights. As you can see in the example below, the resulting scores range between 0 and 100; these are not percents, just scores between 0 to 100.

So, you want to rank places using multiple indicators? No problem. Give Neighborhood Metrics a try, and let us know what you think.