Dear NICS Community of Practice participants,
I’m pleased to tell you that Brookings has
posted the opening for the new position of NICS Manager. As the development of
NICS has moved from the Learning Phase to the Initiation Phase (from
“planning” to “doing”), we require a full-time staff
person to manage the process. I strongly encourage you to let your professional
colleagues and acquaintances know about this position, which can be viewed directly
at: http://www.brookings.edu/admin/metro7805.htm.
The successful applicant will play the key role in guiding
the NICS CoP through a complex process around a complex subject, with enormous
potential for improvements in the availability and accessibility of small area
data nationwide. With over 200 people involved, the NICS CoP is a terrific
resource for getting the word out. Please take a moment and consider to whom
you might send the job announcement—your help will be important in
leading us to good candidates. If you have any questions about the position,
please do not hesitate to contact me.
While I have your attention, I want to give you an
update of recent, current, and upcoming NICS activities:
·
The June 30th CoP meeting (“The
Emerging Toolkit for NICS”), explored the work of a number of NSF Digital
Government Program grantees. The tools they presented have the potential to be
services available on NICS or to otherwise aid in the development of NICS.
(Presentations can be viewed at http://colab.cim3.net/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?NationalInfrastructureforCommunityStatistics/CoPMeeting_2005_06_30NICS.)
Meeting participants were quite excited about a number of tools in development.
Kudos to NICS consultant Valerie Gregg
for organizing the session; we are meeting with Valerie this week to examine
the possibilities for encouraging further development of these and other tools
and bringing them into NICS.
·
The Operations Committee has approved a web survey of
users of community data, to be announced and unveiled after Labor Day. The
intent of the survey is to better ascertain the needs of users of community
data, so that NICS can be more appropriately designed.
·
The fall meeting of the CoP will focus on the topic of
metadata. The success of NICS depends on our ability to manage the dimension of
metadata, e.g., determining what metadata to require, what quality to accept,
and what incentives to provide. NICS consultant Cindy Taeuber is preparing
background papers to guide us on this topic. The Program Committee is meeting
this month to set a date and design the agenda for the fall meeting.
·
The Program Committee is preparing an announcement, to
be released after Labor Day, on the NICS Affiliates Program. NICS Affiliates
will be involved in community statistical efforts that can serve as important
participants in the development of, and providing content to, NICS.
Thanks again for your participation in the NICS CoP.
We look forward to your friends applying for the NICS job, and to seeing you in
the fall.
Sincerely,
Andy Reamer
Andrew Reamer,
Deputy Director
Urban Markets Initiative
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts
Ave., NW
Washington,
DC 20036
(202) 797-4398
areamer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx