Identify its data types
ControlPanelLa contains “Open data” which is data that is accessible, discoverable and usable by the public. It is also free from restrictions and is released in a format that can be retrieved, downloaded, searched, shared and put to use. ControlPanelLA included data detailing billions of dollars spent by the City in various transactions, including 600 expenditure accounts. The annual expenditure figures for the City of Los Angeles includes close to 290,000 disbursements paid out for a total of about 5 billion dollars.
What constitutes a record in this data set?
In computer data processing, a record is a collection of data items arranged for processing by a program. Multiple records are contained in a file or data set. The data set I selected was for Purchasing-what we buy. This was one of the featured data sets in the site that displayed the City of Los Angeles’ revenues and spending and makes them accessible, searchable and downloadable by the public. Users can search for tens of thousands of payments made by the City of Los Angeles to external vendors by department, vendor name, or expenditure type.
Use Wallack and Srinivasan’s definition to identify the dataset’s ontology.
Ontologies may or may not classify things, but they organize information and concepts into a structured system. Wallack and Srinivasan stress that ontologies are the use of classification and description systems that “act as objects” and “negotiate boundaries between groups.” They also state that they function as “mental maps of surroundings.” ControlPanelLA is set up with featured data base options.
What we buy-Purchasing ,contained these colorful photographs along with dollar figures with annual amounts. This was a nice break down of very specific items graphically arranged for visual effect.
From whose point of view does this ontology make the most sense? (who will find this data most useful and illuminating?) The target audience of this information is the general public. Everyone who pays taxes or lives in Los Angeles has an interest in knowing how the tax revenue is spent in the City. ControlPanelLA, provides the public with unprecedented, user‐friendly, one‐stop access to LA’s financial data.
What can this dataset tell you about the phenomenon it claims to describe? What gets left out?
The information and features of ControlPanelLA includes CheckbookLA, (which is a virtual City “checkbook”) that enables users to search payments to external vendors by department, vendor name, or expenditure type. There are search tools which allow for multiple ways to explore and view the data line‐by‐line, or in the form of charts, graphs and other visualizations and Developer tools. It also contains interactive options for users to create their own apps, and to save or to share them on the site with others.
The data provided on ControlPanelLA includes information about expenditures dating back to July 2011, ‐ when the City launched its current Financial Management System. ControlPanel LA – It is a source for data and information about the City of L.A.’s revenues, expenditures, payroll, purchasing, accounts, assets, services. The question of what is left out is a different perspective, other than the City of Los Angeles. These are the city’s expenditures and records displayed from their point of view.
Imagine you are starting over with data-collection and describe a completely different ontology, from someone else’s point of view.
This information contains billions of dollars in expenditures by the City of Los Angeles and it is a databased that they present and control. There are budget decisions, processes for selecting vendors and analysis of the appropriateness of these expenditures that is not addressed. A different ontology might incorporate a different perspective for example that of a tax watchdog group.