16 Comments

1. Title of Dataset Web Address Brief Description Usage Examples Provided by (etc. organization, academia, company, institute) Detailed Description
   1 http://analyticsconnection.org/ http://alpha.data.gov/ A collection of open data from government, companies, and non-profits that is fueling a new economy. Has different options to choose from: Commerce, Energy, Health, Education, Safety, Finance, Global Development US Govt. “A collection of open data from government, companies, and non-profits including:
   • Commerce – GPS, Weather, Census Data
   • Energy – Outlook and Analysis, Energy Usage, Energy Star, Your Car’s Data Stream, Renewable Energy + See all energy datasets and tools
   • Health – Recalls and Safety Alerts, Medicare Plans, Hospital Quality Data, Public Health Data, Clinical Trials, Health Indicators, Your Health Record + See all health datasets & tools
   • Education – Open Badges, Academic Data, Learning Registry, Education Data Standards, Higher Education Datasets + See all education datasets & tools
   • Safety – Product Recalls, Natural Hazards Data, Vehicle Crashes + See all safety datasets & tools
   • Finance – SEC Data on Public Companies and Mutual Funds, Credit Card Complaints, Student Loan and Financial Aid, Retirement Plans, Bank Data + See over 50 major finance datasets published by federal agencies
   • Global Development (Global Health Surveys, Geographic location, Budget and Funding Data, Agricultural and Land Use, Eligibility Indicators”
   2 American Community Survey http://www.census.gov/acs/www/ The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing statistical survey that samples a small percentage of the population every year — giving communities the information they need to plan investments and services. You can use American Community Survey (ACS) data in different ways and for different reasons. Each one of our downloadable PDF Compass handbooks helps a particular group with specific how-to instructions and/or case studies. United States Census Bureau
   3 American Fact Finder http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml American FactFinder provides access to data about the United States, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas. The data in American FactFinder come from several censuses and surveys. Find popular facts about your community by using Community Facts. Enter a state, county, city, town, or zip code in the Community Facts text box, then click GO. The Community Facts page displays, showing you the population of the geography that you entered. Click on the subjects listed on the left side of the page (Age, Business and Industry, Education, etc.) to see other interesting information about your geography. Click the links under “Popular tables for this Geography” to see tables containing other data for your community. United States Census Bureau
   4 Analytics Connection http://analyticsconnection.org/ The Analytics Connection Community’s mission is to promote open development and sharing of business analytics curriculum worldwide in order to promote better understanding of analytics and to promote analytic skills. Analytics Connection provides a unique opportunity to glimpse into simulated companies dealing with real life situations specific to the particular industry. The following case studies are used to gain insight into what data is required and how this data can be used to provide business insight to promote better decision outcomes. IBM, TELFER “The Analytics Connection website enables educational institutions to use and share internationally relevant case studies for integration into pre-existing programs. The following case studies are the result of joint collaborations between academic & industry to provide hands-on experiences using business analytic tools to enhance learning.

   Case studies bridge the gap between the knowledge gained through education and the application of this knowledge to solve everyday problems. Each case study contains a description, company data in the form of an IBM Cognos cube for analysis, and teaching notes which are aligned around a set of real-world situations. COGNOS Data Cubes available for sharing by joining a University Faculty Consortium for Analytics Education run by Prof. Greg Richards, U Ottawa”
   5 Arizona State University Healthcare http://chir.asu.edu/data The Center for Health Information and Research (CHiR) is part of Health Solutions at ASU. A key activity of CHiR from its outset has been obtaining health data being collected routinely by various health care and public health entities and making these data available for use for epidemiologic, health services and outcomes research.
   6 City Forward http://www.cityforward.org/ City Forward is a free, web-based platform that enables users – city officials, researchers, academics and interested citizens world-wide – to view and interact with city data while engaging in an ongoing public dialogue about cities. City Forward data catalog is a listing of the data sets currently available for use from publicly available data sources about cities and metropolitan areas around the world. Please use the links back to the data source and their terms of use.
   7 City Forward http://cityforward.org/wps/wcm/connect/cityforward_en_us/city+forward/about/data+catalog/data+catalog+table+content Has profiles for over 100 cities around the world. You can upload and visualize your own data sets on this site. City Forward data catalog is a listing of the data sets currently available for use from publicly available data sources about cities and metropolitan areas around the world. Please use the links back to the data source and their terms of use, and be sure to review the City Forward Terms of Use for further information on the data and how it may be used.
   8 Crunch Base http://www.crunchbase.com/ CrunchBase is the free database of technology companies, people, and investors that anyone can edit. Here, you can learn and edit everything about companies like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, MySpace and Tagged, products like Droid and Google Wave, and people like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs Europe, Japan
   9 Data.gov http://www.data.gov/ The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. With interactive datasets, you can search, filter, and explore on the fly, right through your web browser! You can also create charts and maps, and APIs are available for developers. Click on the name of a dataset to start interacting with it. United States Government
   10 Databib http://databib.org/ Databib is a searchable catalog/ registry/ directory/ bibliography of research data repositories. Databib is a tool for helping people identify and locate online repositories of research data. Users and bibliographers create and curate records that describe data repositories that users can search. Can search from a various of topics which includes Agriculture, Area, Science, Business, Communication, Education, Arts, History, Interdisciplinary, Law, Language, Mathematics, Philosophy, Social Sciences. Sparks! Innovation National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services
   11 DataCite http://datacite.org/ Establish easier access to research data, increase acceptance of research data as legitimate contributions in the scholarly record, and to, support data archiving to permit results to be verified and re-purposed for future study. “Many organizations around the world. These are for US: California Digital Library (Member) Office of Scientific and Technical Information, US Department of Energy (Member) Purdue University Libraries (Member) Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research – ICPSR (Associate Member)
   Microsoft Research (Associate Member)”
   12 Earth Policy http://www.earthpolicy.org/books/fpep/fpep_data Earth Policy Institute
   13 European Central Bank http://www.ecb.int/mopo/implement/omo/html/index.en.html
   14 European Commission eurostat http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home/ Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union situated in Luxembourg. Its task is to provide the European Union with statistics at European level that enable comparisons between countries and regions.  One example: for an accurate picture of EU unemployment it is important that unemployed people in Finland or Portugal are counted or measured in the same way as in Ireland or Germany. So Eurostat works with Member States to define common methodology on unemployment or asks Member States to include appropriate questions when gathering national data. These EU data are then sent to Eurostat so we can publish EU-wide unemployment data, which can then be used to compare unemployment rates between countries. European Commission
   15 European Space Agency http://www.esa.int
   16 European Union Growth and Productivity Accounts http://www.euklems.net/ The construction of this database is financially supported by the European Commission, Research Directorate General as part of the 6th Framework Programme, Priority 8, “Policy Support and Anticipating Scientific and Technological Needs” and as part of the 7th Framework Programme, Theme 8: Socio-Economic Sciences and Humanities, Grant agreement no: 225 281.  It provides updates and data for additional years and revisions of longer time-series in case national statistical institutes (NSIs) provided these. The data on output, value added and employment in EU KLEMS is now fully consistent with the series in the OECD Structural Analysis Database (STAN) at the corresponding industry levels. For labour composition use has been made of the micro-data underlying the European Labour Force Survey (LFS) for recent years. European Commission, Research Directorate General “This project aims to create a database on measures of economic growth, productivity, employment creation, capital formation and technological change at the industry level for all European Union member states from 1970 onwards.
   This work will provide an important input to policy evaluation, in particular for the assessment of the goals concerning competitiveness and economic growth potential as established by the Lisbon and Barcelona summit goals. The database should facilitate the sustainable production of high quality statistics using the methodologies of national accounts and input-output analysis.
   The input measures will include various categories of capital, labour, energy, material and service inputs. Productivity measures will be developed, in particular with growth accounting techniques. Several measures on knowledge creation will also be constructed. Substantial methodological and data research on these measures will be carried out to improve international comparability. There will be ample attention for the development of a flexible database structure, and for the progressive implementation of the database in official statistics over the course of the project. The database will be used for analytical and policy-related purposes, in particular by studying the relationship between skill formation, technological progress and innovation on the one hand, and productivity, on the other.
   To facilitate this type of analysis a link will also be sought with existing micro (firm level) databases. The balance in academic, statistical and policy input in this project is realised by the participation of 14 organisations from across the EU, representing a mix of academic institutions and national economic policy research institutes and with the support from various statistical offices and the OECD.”
   17 Expert Health Data Programming, Inc. (EHDP) http://www.ehdp.com/vitalnet/datasets.htm Health Data – Vitalnet Data Warehouse & Query System
   18 Figshare http://figshare.com/ figshare allows researchers to publish all of their research outputs in seconds in an easily citable, sharable and discoverable manner. All file formats can be published, including videos and datasets that are often demoted to the supplemental materials section in current publishing models. figshare gives users unlimited public space and 1GB of private storage space for free. Digital Science
   19 Florida Department of Health http://www.floridacharts.com/charts/default.aspx This site is your one-stop-site for Florida public health statistics and community health data
   20 Freebase http://www.freebase.com/ Freebase data is free to use under an open license. You can: Query Freebase using our Search,Topic, or MQL APIs or Download our weekly data dumps The Freebase API is a collection of HTTP APIs that provide read and write access to the data stored in Freebase. The different APIs support different use cases and allow access to the same Freebase data in different ways. Google
   21 Geo Data http://geo.data.gov/geoportal/catalog/main/home.page Geospatial data and services “Evolution from Geospatial One-Stop/Geodata.gov to geo.data.gov
   As part of continuing efforts to increase awareness of and access to geospatial data and services, Data.gov has integrated the Geospatial One-Stop (GOS) portal and catalog, and added some improvements to both the user interface as well as the underlying infrastructure.”
   22 Google Public Data http://www.google.com/publicdata/directory This chart correlates life expectancy and number of children per woman for each country in the world.
   23 International Disaster Database http://www.emdat.be/ EM-DAT provides an objective basis for vulnerability assessment and rational decision-making in disaster situations. In addition to providing information on the human impact of disasters, such as the number of people killed, injured or affected, EM-DAT provides disaster-related economic damage estimates and disaster-specific international aid contributions. EM-DAT contains essential core data on the occurrence and effects of over 18,000 mass disasters in the world from 1900 to present. The database is compiled from various sources, including UN agencies, non-governmental organisations, insurance companies, research institutes and press agencies.
   24 International Telecommunication Union http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ICTEYE/Indicators/Indicators.aspx A rich collection of telecommunication/ICT data for about 200 economies worldwide is included in this section of the ICT Eye. This includes: 1) statistics on telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and access and 2) statistics on access to and use of ICTs by households and individuals. These statistics are widely used globally in research, presentations and analyses and are used to back up ICT sections in inter-governmental publications such as the UNDP Human Development Report, the World Bank World Development Indicators and the United Nations Statistical Yearbook. National Government of respective country
   25 Large Health Data Sets http://www.ehdp.com/vitalnet/datasets.htm Contains links of many Health Data sets Expert Health Data Programming Link
   26 Linked Data http://linkeddata.org/ Linked Data is about using the Web to connect related data that wasn’t previously linked, or using the Web to lower the barriers to linking data currently linked using other methods.
   27 Machine Learning Repository http://archive.ics.uci.edu/ml/ The UCI Machine Learning Repository is a collection of databases, domain theories, and data generators that are used by the machine learning community for the empirical analysis of machine learning algorithms.  Classified into different types: Default task, Attribute type, Data type, Area, Format type. UC Irvine
   28 MSDN Blogs http://blogs.msdn.com/b/shishirs/archive/2012/03/17/some-excellent-open-data-sources.aspx
   29 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/ NOAA is an agency whose reach goes from: daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce, NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product. NOAA’s dedicated scientists use cutting-edge research and high-tech instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and other decision makers with reliable information they need when they need it. “The World’s largest collection of freely available oceanographic data
   Water temperatures dating back to the late 1700’s and measuring thousands of meters deep
   A “”State of the Ocean Climate”” from NODC’s Ocean Climate Lab and Satellite Team’s scientific analyses
   Scientific journals, rare books, historical photo collections and maps through the NOAA Central Library, a division of NODC
   Data management expertise including metadata training through NODC’s National Coastal Data Development Center”
   30 Public Data Sets on AWS http://aws.amazon.com/datasets Public Data Sets on AWS provides a centralized repository of public data sets that can be seamlessly integrated into AWS cloud-based applications. AWS is hosting the public data sets at no charge for the community, users pay only for the compute and storage they use for their own applications. Users can produce or use prebuilt server images with tools and applications to analyze the data sets. Users can also discuss best practices and solutions in the dedicated Public Data Sets forum. Users can also leverage the entire AWS ecosystem and easily collaborate with other AWS users. Amazon
   31 Quora http://www.quora.com/Data/Where-can-I-find-large-datasets-open-to-the-public Website that has a list of open data sets Quora is a question-and-answer website created, edited and organized by its community of users. The query “Where can I get large datasets open to the public” generates an answer wiki (see the attached link) with a list of cross-disciplinary data repositories, data collections and data search engines; Single datasets and data repositories.
   32 Readwrite http://readwrite.com/2008/04/09/where_to_find_open_data_on_the
   33 Research Data Exchange https://www.its-rde.net The Research Data Exchange (RDE) is developed as a transportation data sharing system that promotes sharing of both archived and real-time data from multiple sources (including vehicle probes) and multiple modes. This new data sharing capability will better support the needs of ITS researchers and developers while reducing costs and encouraging innovation. The primary purpose of the DCM (Data Capture and Management) Research Data Exchange is to provide a variety of data-related services that support the development, testing, and demonstration of multi-modal transportation mobility applications being pursued under the USDOT ITS Dynamic Mobility Applications (DMA) Program and other connected vehicle research activities.
   34 Singapore Data Gov http://data.gov.sg/ “data.gov.sg is the first-stop portal to search and access publicly-available data published by the Singapore Government. Launched in June 2011, data.gov.sg brings together over 5000 datasets from 50 government ministries and agencies.
   The aims of the portal are to :
   Provide convenient access to publicly-available data published by the government
   Create value by catalysing application development
   Facilitate analysis and research” Government data and metadata, data.gov.sg also offers a listing of applications developed using government data, as well as a resource page for developers Singapore Govt.
   35 UNESCO Institute for Statistics http://www.uis.unesco.org/Pages/default.aspx The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the statistical branch of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The Institute produces the data and methodologies to monitor trends at national and international levels. It delivers comparative data for countries at all stages of development to provide a global perspective on education, science and technology, culture, and communication. Welcome to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) – the primary source for cross-nationally comparable statistics on education, science and technology, culture, and communication for more than 200 countries and territories. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
   36 United Nations Open Data Set http://data.un.org/
   37 United States Government Database https://explore.data.gov/ A primary goal of Data.gov is to improve access to Federal data and expand creative use of those data beyond the walls of government by encouraging innovative ideas (e.g., web applications). Data.gov strives to make government more transparent and is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. The openness derived from Data.gov will strengthen our Nation’s democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
   38 United States National Library of Medicine http://www.nlm.nih.gov/
   39 University of Arkansas Walton College http://enterprise.waltoncollege.uark.edu/
   40 World Bank http://data.worldbank.org/ The Data Catalog provides download access to over 8,000indicators from World Bank data sets. Several ways of usage: Download, Grab a Widget, Access data through Web API, Data Bank and Data Catalogue The world Bank Group “The Data Catalog provides download access to over 2,000 indicators from World Bank data sets. Topic areas include: Agriculture & Rural Development, Health, Aid Effectiveness, Infrastructure, Climate Change, Labor & Social Protection, Economic Policy & External Debt, Poverty, Education, Private Sector, Energy & Mining, Public Sector, Environment, Science & Technology, Financial Sector, Social Development, Gender, and Urban Development

   Data is available by:
   • Country – profiles for over 200 countries and economies
   • Topic – key indicators for a variety of topics
   • Indicators – over 1,200 indicators
   • Includes a section on how to use World bank’s data
   The World Bank Group consists of five organizations:
   • The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) lends to governments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries.
   • The International Development Association (IDA) provides interest-free loans—called credits— and grants to governments of the poorest countries.
   • The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments.
   • The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) was created in 1988 as a member of the World Bank Group to promote foreign direct investment into developing countries to support economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve people’s lives. MIGA fulfills this mandate by offering political risk insurance (guarantees) to investors and lenders.
   • The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) provides international facilities for conciliation and arbitration of investment disputes.”
   41 World Bank http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/0,,contentMDK:20388241~menuPK:665266~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64165026~theSitePK:469382,00.html High quality national and international statistics, and global statistical programs. World Bank
   42 Factual http://www.factual.com/ Factual is a location platform that uses a real-time data stack to provide data on a global scale.
   43 US Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/data/ The US Bureau of Labor Statistics provides users with access to time series data, tables, maps, and calculators. US Govt.
   44 Data360 http://www.data360.org/index.aspx Created to extract critical information from otherwise tedious or over-complicated newspapers and magazines, Data360 provides readers with free, data-driven visual reports on a variety of different topics.
   45 US Bureau of Economic Analysis http://www.bea.gov/ The Bureau of Economic Analysis is a source for US economic accounts data. US Govt.
   46 IBM Many Eyes http://www-958.ibm.com/software/analytics/manyeyes/ Many Eyes is an experimental website that allows users to access data sets and visualizations, as well as create and upload their own. IBM
   47 OECD http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx This page provides access to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s core data.
   48 The Kaiser Family Foundation – Global Health Facts http://kff.org/globaldata/ “By navigating to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s website, readers can find information and data about:
   HIV/AIDS
   Malaria
   Other Diseases, Conditions, and Risk Indicators
   Programs, Funding, and Financing
   Health Workforce and Capacity
   Demography and Population
   Income and The Economy
   Tuberculosis ”
   49 USASpending.gov http://usaspending.gov/ First launched in 2007, USAspending.gov provides the public with data about Federal spending of tax dollars. Readers can look at data about contracts, grants, loans, and other types of spending. US Govt.
   50 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – GHG Data http://unfccc.int/ghg_data/items/3800.php The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change aims to control greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere in order to prevent climate change. An important step in doing so is to provide estimates of greenhouse gas emissions and removals – the following website provides links containing such information. UN
   51 fedstats,gov http://www.fedstats.gov/ Fedstats provides access to statistical data on various topics, as well as statistical profiles of states, counties, cities and districts, links to statistical agencies, and more. US Govt.
   52 recovery.gov http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/default.aspx Recovery.gov allows the American public to see how Recovery funds are being spent. This includes spending related to contracts, grants and loans, as well as the distribution of Recovery entitlements and tax benefits. US Govt.
   53 Government of Canada – Open Data Pilot http://www.data.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En&n=F9B7A1E3-1 The Open Data Portal makes data in areas including health, environment, agriculture, and natural resources freely and openly available to the public. Govt of Canada
   54 US Department of Energy 0 Fuel Economy Data http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/download.shtml This is a source for fuel economy data generated from testing done by the Environmental Protection Agency and by vehicle manufacturers. US Govt.
   55 City -Data http://www.city-data.com/ “City Data contains comprehensive profiles of US cities. Some of the information that can be found on the website includes:
   Maps
   Geographical data
   Crime data
   Air pollution data
   Unemployment data
   Mortgage data
   Business profiles
   City photos
   Graphs of real estate trends and more.
   ”
   56 visualizing.org http://www.visualizing.org/ Visualizing.org is an online community where users can discuss and share data visualizations, utilize or upload data sets, create data channels, participate in challenges, and more.

2. More from Ville Peltola from IBM Finland:

   http://orange.com/en/D4D/the-projects

   one hundred research projects to benefit populations

   From anticipating epidemics to reacting during times of crisis, optimizing the use of certain infrastructures or designing new services to meet the needs of populations… Discover the winning projects and the chosen scientific contributions.

   The variety of projects that have been submitted is a testimony to the many use of mobile communication data, and to the diversity of the expertise of the teams that have been assembled to answer to the challenge.

   Below are some examples of themes that were explored and which reflects the many dimensions in which we could use Big Data to address the needs of the population and improve public policies. Some research was met with success, some with more difficulties. Sometimes because of a lack of complementary data (where to find quality and detailed enough data about the spread of meningitis?) sometimes because of the complexity to find correlations and causal relations with the subject of analysis. Finally sometime also because of the constraints we imposed ourselves on the anonymisation of the datasets, greatly reducing it’s level of details.

3. By the Numbers – Data Highlights from Full Planet, Empty Plates
   http://www.earthpolicy.org/books/fpep/fpep_data

   http://www.earth-policy.org/data_highlights/2012/highlights32

   Earth Policy Release
   Data Highlight
   October 17, 2012

   More than 150 data sets accompany Lester R. Brown’s latest book, Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity. These tables and graphs help to explain the precarious situation in which humanity finds itself, as the world leaves an era of food surpluses and enters one of food scarcity. Here are some highlights from the collection.

   Food Prices Rising

   Between 2007 and mid-2008, world grain and soybean prices more than doubled. Record food price inflation led to food-related riots and unrest in some 60 countries. Prices eased somewhat due to the Great Recession, but even then remained well above historical levels. In late 2010 into early 2011, prices spiked again to a new record high, helping fuel the Arab Spring. As farmers struggle to keep up with soaring demand for grain and soybeans, this ratcheting upward of food prices ensures that many of the 219,000 new guests at the global dinner table each night are facing empty plates.

   In decades past, when food prices spiked, the world could return idled U.S. cropland back into production or draw down grain stocks. But now these two safety cushions are gone: the U.S. cropland set-asides have been phased out, and over the last decade world grain reserves have averaged a dangerously low 74 days of consumption.

   The world’s farmers are now essentially in a situation where a record grain harvest is needed each year just to keep up with the rise in demand. Close to 80 million people are added to the world population each year. Meanwhile, some 3 billion people with rising incomes are looking to “move up the food chain” and consume more grain-intensive livestock and poultry products. Additionally, some countries, especially the United States, recently have begun turning massive amounts of grain into fuel for cars—feeding cars instead of people. In the United States, the world’s leading corn producer and exporter, more corn is now sent to ethanol distilleries! than is used in livestock and poultry feed.

   Unfortunately several negative trends are also converging on the supply side of the food equation. These include water tables falling as a result of overpumping for irrigation, the loss of fertile topsoil due to overplowing, and weather patterns becoming less predictable as the planet warms. Recent heat waves and droughts, such as in Russia in 2010 and in the United States in 2012, give the world a preview of how climate change can devastate crops.

   Another limit on future grain production is emerging as some of the more agriculturally advanced countries appear to have hit a “glass ceiling” for grain yields. For example, Western Europe’s three leading wheat producers—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—have not increased wheat yields for over a decade. Japan’s rice yields plateaued in the late 1990s at just below 5 tons per hectare. In China, the world’s number one rice producer, rice yields are now approaching those in Japan and may not be able to surpass them.

   The Global Land Rush

   When grain prices took off in 2007-08, some grain exporters such as Russia and Viet Nam restricted or even banned exports in hopes of keeping their domestic food prices from spiraling out of control. A number of grain importing countries, no longer confident that they could rely on the international market, attempted to buy or lease large tracts of land abroad on which to grow food for themselves. Led by investors from countries like South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and India, the bulk of land acquisition has occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. Ethiopia and the Sudans, where millions depend on international food aid, are principal targets.

   The global land rush is not limited to investors seeking to farm abroad for food security. Others are interested in producing biofuels to meet U.S. or European Union renewable fuel goals, or in producing industrial crops such as timber, rubber, or sugar. Land is also seen as a lucrative investment opportunity by university endowments, investment banks, and pension funds.

   Preventing a Food Breakdown

   The world can overcome the challenges facing agriculture, but not with business-as-usual approaches to food, population, and energy. It will take something like a wartime mobilization to meet four key goals: stabilize climate, restore the earth’s natural support systems, stabilize population, and eradicate poverty. The good news is that in many ways these goals reinforce one another. For example, the shift to smaller families helps bring people out of poverty, and vice-versa. The education of all children, boys and girls alike, is needed to eradicate poverty and stabilize population, and ultimately will play a role in helping the world achieve lasting food security.

   Click the image below to visit the EPI SlideShare page and scroll through some of the key graphs. Additional figures and tables are posted along with the first chapter of Full Planet, Empty Plates on the Earth Policy Institute website, http://www.earth-policy.org.

   # # #

   Feel free to pass this information along to friends, family members, and colleagues!

   Media Contact: Reah Janise Kauffman (202) 496-9290 ext. 12 | rjk@earthpolicy.org
   Research Contact: Janet Larsen (202) 496-9290 ext. 14 | jlarsen@earthpolicy.org
   Earth Policy Institute
   1350 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 403, Washington, DC 20036
   Follow us on:

4. From Ville Peltola, IBM Finland —

   http://datacatalogs.org
   http://opendatahandbook.org
   http://commons.codeforamerica.org/apps
   http://commons.codeforamerica.org/engagement-commons

5. From Peter Williams:

   Emdat – http://www.emdat.be/ (Disaster data)
   ESA – http://www.esa.int (Major source of remote sensed data on crops, floods, urban extents and a great deal else)

   Regards

   Peter Williams
   IBM Distinguished Engineer
   Chief Technology Officer, Big Green Innovations, IBM

6. Dianne, here are 6400 datasets specific to the State of Illinois that may be useful to others(published on September 25th, 2012):

   https://data.illinois.gov/

   On September 18, Governor Quinn signed a new executive order to further increase transparency and accountability in government by establishing a new state Open Operating Standard. The order encourages state agencies and local governments across Illinois to increase the amount of raw data they share with each other, businesses, academic institutions, and the general public. The State of Illinois Open Data site, Data.Illinois.Gov is a searchable clearinghouse of information from state agencies that is helping inform residents about the operation of state government and encouraging the creative use of state information, including the development of applications for mobile devices that can be built around the data. The site, which was launched in June 2011, now contains more than 6,400 data sets.

   Thanks so much for consolidating a great list!

   Valinda

   Valinda Scarbro Kennedy
   IBM Academic Initiative
   Relationship Manager
   vscarbro@us.ibm.com

   IBM Academic Initiative website
   http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/university/academicinitiative

   IBM Academic Initiative Midwest Monthly Topic Updates
   https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/groups/service/html/communityview?communityUuid=eb089338-35cd-44f1-a7fd-f8a4a0ffb833

7. More from Dianne Fodell

   Dear team, I’ve merged my list of big data sources with those from Patrick Pahl – trying to grow the list. Please send me any other lists that are open and available for use in education. Most faculty who are teaching big data and analytics are asking for data sources. I hope this is useful. Thanks. Dianne

   The World Bank Open Data: http://data.worldbank.org/
   US Government dataset: Data.gov
   Geodata.gov
   NOAA.gov
   Census.gov

   Linked Open Data: http://linkeddata.org/
   American Community Survey http://www.census.gov/acs/www/
   National Library of Medicine (A small portion is ok to use – other data requires permission)
   American Fact Finder http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
   United Nations site (must cite UNData as the source) http://www.un.org/en/ UN Statistics Division not ok to use without written permission
   http://www.uis.unesco.org/Pages/default.aspx
   http://www.quora.com/Data/Where-can-I-get-large-datasets-open-to-the-public
   http://www.ehdp.com/vitalnet/datasets.htm

   European Central Bank (need to cite information as originating from ECB)

   Eurostat ec.europa.eu/eurostat

   EU Growth and Productivity Accounts http://www.euklems.net/

   Urban data: http://www.cityforward.org

   COGNOS Data Cubes available for sharing by joining a University Faculty Consortium for Analytics Education run by Prof. Greg Richards, U Ottawa – join http://www.AnalyticsConnection.org

   Walmart Transaction Data – Anonymous
   http://enterprise.waltoncollege.uark.edu/IBM.asp

   Dianne Fodell

   IBM University Programs
   fodell@us.ibm.com

8. And once you have the data, nice to have tools and training…

   Big Data University:
   http://bigdatauniversity.com

   Academic Initiatives (for faculty)
   http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/university/bao/index.html

   Developer Works (for practitioners)
   http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/analytics/

   Analytics Zone:
   https://www.analyticszone.com/homepage/web/displayHomePage.action

9. Inspiring TED Talk about Data… gapminder.org
   http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen.html

10. Ten Building Blocks of an Open Data Initiative

    http://www.opendataimpacts.net/2012/08/ten-building-blocks-of-an-open-data-initiative/

11. Bizstats.com

    Free business statistics
    http://www.bizstats.com/

12. Nationmaster.com

    Three sector model
    http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/lab_lab_for_by_occ-labor-force-by-occupation

13. OECD National Statistics
    http://www.oecd.org/statistics/

    Country Statistical Snapshots
    http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/country-statistical-profiles-key-tables-from-oecd_20752288

14. Also, lots of interesting data available:

    http://www.kaggle.com

15. Ross Dawson’s Blog

    National data about their future plans…

    http://rossdawsonblog.com/weblog/archives/2011/11/how-governments-research-and-communicate-about-the-future.html

    Examples of government futures groups include:
    Egypt: Center for Futures Studies
    France: Centre d’Analyse Stratégique
    India: Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council
    Indonesia: Badan Perencanaan dan Pembangunan Nasional
    Mexico: 2030 Vision
    Singapore: Futures Group
    Sweden: Institute for Futures Studies

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