For the past few decades, the term “data” has been mistakenly used as a synonymous term for information. Instead, data should be thought of as a “unit” of information. However, data in its raw form is nothing but seemingly random stuff. This could vary from numbers, responses, or electrical impulses in a binary computer system. No one knows what the data is specifically used for until it's processed into something with context, which becomes information. A core concept like this is what I have to keep in mind in my career in information systems.

This year, heading into a Master's program in information technology was a realization of a core belief I had since the beginning of my college education – that data has a large influence on the decision-making and opinions of every single person on this planet. That decision-making has affected every entity, from businesses and government entities to the personal lives of everyone. Data has also shaped my opinions and other beliefs through several instances of research during my college education.

During college, my undergraduate study was in geographical information systems, which had emphasis on spatial analysis and data. Since then, I completed several class projects that allowed me to research into various topics in regards to geography. In one of my first class projects, I was looking at the instances of crime that occurred in Washington, D.C. and see if there was an increase in crime nearby any of the WMATA metro rail stations. This class project was inspired from the concerns of the Purple Line construction through the College Park campus. This specific construction project was something I supported at the time because I was a frequent traveler to Washington D.C. via the metro rail system and would like the convenience of having a metro rail station at the campus, rather than riding a shuttle to another station. However, at the same time, the concerns that other people bring up had me question them. This is what prompted me to investigate for this class project.

Working off of official crime data from the Washington D.C. website, I was able to map the crime data, with the metro station locations. From my initial analysis just by looking at the mapped data, it seemed that there was no real correlation. After using some of the spatial analysis tools, I noticed that there was a slightly higher concentration of crime near the metro stations in D.C. By the end of this project, I was surprised at the result, and was a bit more worried about campus safety. At the same time, this project motivated me to do similar work for other projects as well.

That same motivation still drives me today. Now that technologies are able to allow data visualization and dynamic mapping, this type of work has been more important than ever in making the most critical decisions for any organization. This I believe that data has the influence to change the future, one decision at a time.