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It's been a busy few months for the Innovation Lab team. We hosted US-based data and philanthropy expert Andrew Means, ran our first of a series of not-for-profit data science tutorials, and hosted three meetups for data scientists working in the social sector at our new North Melbourne co-working space, Our Community House.
As part of our mission to amplify the impact of the social sector, we’ve been working with two Melbourne-based not-for-profit organisations, Berry Street and TaskForce to help them capture and utilise data more effectively and make improvements for greater impact.
Continue reading for more on what we've been up to.
Tutorial: Data science for NFPs
Last month, we hosted the inaugural Data Science for NFPs tutorial at Our Community House, The What & Why of Data Science for Not-for-Profits.
We answered some commonly-asked questions about data science, such as What’s data science actually about? How can it multiply impact in the social sector? How can I evaluate my organisation’s readiness?
In our next tutorial, Getting Started with Data Science, we’ll recap some of the key learnings from the first tutorial, discuss a data science paradox and explore how to ask the right questions to assist in gathering high-quality data.
Melbourne Meetup: Data for Social Good
Excited about what data science can do to accelerate social change?
If you’re involved in data or machine learning, AI, analytics or visualisation and have a desire to strengthen our society, come along to one of our monthly Data for Social Good Meetups, held at Our Community House. Come with something to share, or simply pitch in to the chat and get to know like-minded folk.
The last meetup included a discussion about the way AI is used in China and the implications surrounding ethics and data privacy when looking to the global AI landscape. We also learned about available opportunities for data scientists and other people working in tech through the Australian Volunteers Program, an Australian Government initiative that supports skilled Australians to volunteer overseas.
At a previous meetup, we heard from US-based data and philanthropy expert and special guest Andrew Means as he shared a macro perspective of the worldwide data-for-good movement and described some case studies.
The next meetup will include a discussion and demo by OC Innovation lab data scientist Dr Paola Oliva-Altamirano about CLASSIEfier – a project designed to reduce the need for human intervention in the classification of grant records. Register here.
Current Projects: What we've been up to
The Innovation Lab team are working with two Melbourne-based not-for-profit organisations, Berry Street and TaskForce to help them capture and utilise data more effectively and make improvements for greater impact.
Berry Street
Berry Street is one of Australia’s larger child and family services organisations. The organisation wants to explore how its data might be used more effectively to support the work it does and help achieve and track against its Strategic Plan.
The project will assist Berry Street to identify which outcomes, indicators and measures are being tracked, issues that may exist in the data being captured, and how effective the organisation's client information platform is in helping report against their outcomes framework.
TaskForce
TaskForce Community Agency is a not-for-profit based in South East Melbourne that provides wraparound support, including counselling, education and transition to work programs, for young people, adults and families facing serious disadvantage.
TaskForce wants to explore and analyse its extensive data sets to make better strategic decisions and optimise service provision and cross-referrals. The Innovation Lab is working in partnership with TaskForce to generate a clearer picture of client journeys and to identify and describe ‘typical’ personas that are representative of TaskForce’s broader client base.
TaskForce Head of Strategy Mike Davis discusses the project here.
Our aims
As well as helping Berry Street and TaskForce to obtain actionable insights about their data, the Innovation Lab is keen to see if we can develop some tools that can be reused by other not-for-profit organisations. Updates will be posted on the Innovation Lab website and via this newsletter.
Reflections
Director of Data Intelligence at Our Community, Sarah Barker reflects on lessons learned this year as the focus has shifted from building up Our Community’s own data science capability to working out how to support other organisations to become more data driven.
Sarah describes the process as a lot of work, iterative, at times accidental, and ultimately transformative.
Check out Sarah’s blog post for more.
Andrew Means Week
US-based data and philanthropy expert Andrew Means visited Our Community House as our special guest in May.
Andrew worked alongside the Innovation Lab team to help us identify effective ways of working with not-for-profit organisations to help improve data literacy and increase social impact.
Andrew is the founder of Big Elephant Studios, a technology and data consulting firm for not-for-profits, and the former associate director at the Centre for Data Science & Public Policy at the University of Chicago.
AI and Deep Learning from Braneshop
Braneshop are co-located with us at Our Community House. They are passionate about helping people and companies adopt AI. They’re hosting two upcoming workshops on AI and deep learning in Melbourne.
AI For Leadership is tailored to executives, startup founders, government, and leadership teams that are looking to understand and adopt AI. In this one-day intensive session, they will cover everything that you need to know in order to build AI into your organisation. Purchase tickets here.
Braneshop's 6 Week Technical Deep Learning Workshop is a six-week hands-on deep learning workshop for those wanting to break into the AI industry. Over 6 weeks, with 3 contact hours per week, you will get to grips with deep learning through Python, TensorFlow and Google Colaboratory. Walk away with a showreel of completed projects to show future employers. Purchase tickets here.
Hot topics: What we've been reading/listening to
Don’t worry about AI taking over the world one day. Worry about how it is used today.
That’s all from us for now. Stayed tuned for the next edition. In the meantime, if you’d like to keep up to date with upcoming events, visit our events page.
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Our Community House
552 Victoria Street, North Melbourne, VIC 3051
The Our Community Innovation Lab receives support from Equity Trustees, with thanks to the Ella & Mitchell Brazier Fund, Charles Lamond Forrest Estate, James Raymond Hartley Charitable Trust, Charles Frederick William Taylor Estate and Truby & Florence Williams Charitable Trust.
