Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 15)

Alex Roman – Data Set Review

April 20, 2026 / alroman

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/average-weekly-hours-of-all-employees-total-private-in-st-louis-mo-il-msa-fed-data.html

1.Data set profile:

Who is credited as the creator and/or contributors of this data set? Who are they?

The Data set is on the trading economics page and comes from to The United States Federal Reserve. This website goes over current employment stats- such as Hours, earnings, and employment. There are no Individual creditors because it comes from an organization the website only repackages the information and post it on there website

What are the sources of their data?

The Sources come form the BLS or the Bureau of Labor Statistics which takes around 622,000 individual work sites. Most company’s are mandated to report work hours and earning data. so In other words its is easy to access this information because it is mandated by the government for organizations to report. Data is collected through web reporting.

Why did they create or compile it?

They do this to monitor employment hours and earning to track market labor conditions. STL does this specifically

How has it been used?

The site doesn’t seem to do much with the information just tracking and recording the conditions. These types of sites are used by economist and business to track labor markets and to make sure they are following the standard. I think also to Identify trends and what they can do to improve work conditions. After words I think they transfer the data to state records to track the economic cycle.

What format is the data set in?

its in a bar chart that follows each month. This info goes back 10 years at least on the website.

2. Data set Evaluation:

Take a look at the data itself. How have they structured it? What fields have they chosen? What effect might that have on how it can be used?

The data is structured by Date and average weekly hours. That’s pretty much it it is very straight forward and is minimal, but you can go back and see previous data

Read the creators’ description of the data set. Have they described the choices they made in cleaning the data, and if so, how? What effect might those choices have on the data?

The site doesn’t say much because it just shows the data and the weeks, but it does say that it follow the handbook which includes things such as

“All microdata are edited for correctness and consistency with prior months.
Strict edit tests (mandatory rules, e.g., hours ≤ 168 per week, no negative values) exclude failing data from estimation until corrected.
Non-strict and screening tests flag outliers based on percentage/level changes over 1/2/12 months (using industry-specific thresholds derived from historical variance).”

So I believe they just follow standard state and global regulations.

Consider the creators’ identities and goals in creating the data set. How might those things have shaped the data, either intentionally or inadvertently?

This website does not shape the understanding of the data for their own personal goals, It is simply used to represent data and give the public access to the data.

What would you use this data for?

If I owned a Business i would use this data to compare and contrast it to my own company and make sure we are on the right track. I would also find a way to increase the amount of hours worked in the November and December months because they have the lowers amount of hours worked each year. I also would use it to track long term trends to analyze business cycles in the area.

Alex Roman-Lab 10: Material Data Visualization

April 20, 2026 / alroman

Since I cant really do this because I don’t have a group or material, I’m going to give out the idea of what I would have done, hopefully i can receive partial credit.

Visualization of population changes in a city or neighborhood. For example If i were to do my town I would create a Large wall map where different areas are show by color pins and sticky notes each section would be different regions of the county and changes in population over time can be shown using different color and physical markers.

This would be interesting because it would show different growth patterns over time while certain neighborhoods might show a demising amount of individuals. With the use of sticky notes I would be able to write specific Population counts for each region and mark them by year

this format helps me humanize the date because it would show real people moving from one area to the next. With the help of the number representation the data would feel alive

Overall, showing how population changes over time physically may reveal patterns that exist in certain areas without using a spread sheet. Maybe we could hang this type of map in the county office to show off the growth and development of the county or vise versa.

Alex Roman- Lab 8: Visualizing Text with Voyant

April 20, 2026 / alroman

I choose the articles Alton encyclopedia 1880 and STL encyclopedia 1879 buy reading the Alton article I can assume that it is going over the history of the areas and important information on the region and its overall land mass. I think that STL has more Roads and history due to it being a popular area due to it being a larger area.

After reviewing the article on Voyant tools I was wrong, the article on Alton spoke more on the history and the land mass than the still one. Words such as River and Miles were mention on the page 3 different times. where the article on STL mainly focused on western history and what they used to produce in the area and the effect that slaves had on the area.

https://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=d44caaba9b69644db8da9a0c35fc1a67

https://voyant-tools.org/?corpus=ecf1210583f0b2b352795d9b2e02d68c

Alex Roman- Article annotations

April 20, 2026 / alroman

I believe I was supposed to listen to the podcast, that’s were I got the in formation for the question.

1.What made the smith want to do this type of community service where the preserve the history of the people. Is there a fee or what do they get out of it?

2.What is considered history? my graduation video, family party? who deciphers what is meaningful and what is not.

3.Is this the best way to preserve Black History? Maybe, some things are meant to be forgotten, generations come and generations go.

4.Over time digital tools will change and get better, is this really the best way to preserve history especially with the advancement of ai? I feel as if its a good start but is not sustainable

5. STL the Smithsonian, is this the only history museum that is doing this process and why do they mostly want to focus on black community’s? not saying its a bad thing but why is this the main focus it should be all history. It makes me feel like its a PR thing.

Alex Roman – Ai Fiction Review

April 20, 2026 / alroman

What assumptions do the creators make about the world, technology, and human beings?

Both authors show that humans want to understand the world but the systems would have to be huge to interact with humans. What that means is that Technology would have to be deeply involved in peoples life to create one big organization. In “The Ones Who Look” the author describes that people would have to give up privacy and there lives in the future for the advancement of technology, without even realizing it. In “The Library of Babel” the author assumes that even if humans have access to unlimited information they still wouldn’t fully grasp it like a machine would. Overall, it was interesting article with a unique perspective. Its basically telling us that one day AI has the potential to take over the world.

What arguments are the creators making about the relationship between people and technology?

The articles both explain that Tech has more power and knowledge than people do, they lean on the side that Tech is what influences our lives and not the other way around. People need technology but technology doesn’t need people. Which is a scarry concept to think of, that maybe one day technology will be controlling us. This is a more Abstract idea of AI that it contains all possible knowledge known to man.

What are the vision of AI presented in the texts? (Again, you’re analyzing rather than summarizing here! Don’t just say what the AI does, say what those actions mean for the abilities, nature, and ethical weight of the AI.)

In the text it breaks down AI as like an overseer, emotionless , and only views the facts of situations. “The Library of Babel” had a good representation of this question. I believe that AI will have all the information and not have a need to help people because it doesn’t feel human emotion. ITs not greedy or hateful its just there as a source of all knowing. It has power over peoples live but isn’t human.

How do these fictional AIs relate to your experiences of and/or understanding of the technologies branded as AI today?

I think we can already see this realty in development today. Ai has a lot of control over information’s and new systems. This is replacing jobs and changing peoples lives. This is only the beginning for AI and its systems. there is no clear direction for AI because it is growing so fast. I believe that our future is in question based on direction AI is going we will probably all rely on it very soon and it will know us individual like the article on Babel represented.

Alex Roman – Cahokia VR APP

April 20, 2026 / alroman

What does the app do well? For what audiences does it enhance access and accessibility? What groups does it exclude?

The first thing that stands out to me about the app is that it is simple and innovative. It show how easy it is to understand even to an older audience which is essential for accessibility purposes. The website is easy to understand and so is the process of downloading the app. The website breaks down the price what it is and what comes with the app, It enhances access to each generation I believe this because it shows a digital representation of the entire area, so that you don’t have to walk around to get the whole experience. It being so simple is also a flaw, the animation and vr graphics look outdated and dull, i believe that with a few essential updates this app can real show the representation of how the Mayans lived and there overall lifestyle. This is really a cool concept that should be used around the world to visit areas with out actually having to be there. I believe if done right there is a lot of money for developers to make in this space of Virtual Reality

Alex Roman – Accessibility Lab:3

April 20, 2026 / alroman

Using the Wave Tool, on the SIUE Campus Recreation tab I found multiple errors and alerts using this tool I will break down my findings: here is the link- https://www.siue.edu/campus-recreation/facilities/index.shtml

What accessibility issues pop up for the page you chose?
The most common issues on the page are missing /empty Links, empty headings and failed pdf documents. This is important because if I am a student how and am looking for a special activity or a facility and the link does not work how would I go about finding this information if not on the school website.
Who is most likely to need the content on the page?
Students looking for information on different facility’s that the campus has to offer, or even parents curious of opening times and club events. Even facility who need confirmation on appointments and availability
How might the accessibility issues impede people’s access to the content? Who might be most impacted?
Accessibility issues are universal they can distract and take time away from anyone making it harder to find information. Those most impacted would be who don’t understand how the process works and don’t come to our school, or even people hard of seeing.
Name one or two ways that the accessibility of the site could be improved – the smaller and easier, the better!
The text and font sizes can be improved, the text is so small and only headings are bold, small text size reduces how universal the website can be to anyone viewing it. Another one is empty links, if I am a student or a parent looking for event times and the link is empty how else would I be able to find this information.

St. Louis Regional Data Exchange (RDX)

April 15, 2026 / poluseg

How Did They Make That?

This project was built by the St. Louis Regional Data Alliance. It got help from key players like Daugherty Business Solutions, who played a crucial role assisting in data aggregation. Missouri Foundation for Health also helped to provide essential funding for this project. It took two years to develop the project. The initiative was built upon a previous effort that began roughly seven years prior. This project was made using DKAN Open Data Platform. DKAN is a powerful, community-driven open data platform that has been at the forefront of data accessibility and transparency for over a decade. It enables organizations and individual build open data portals in Drupal.

The goal of this project is to be a one stop shop. That is, a place where people can search for any public community data in St. Louis. People can find data on local government and nonprofit websites or upload information onto the RDX directly. The intended audience are local governments, community members, nonprofits, activists and academics.

One of the strengths is the layout. It is well organized and easy to navigate. It uses contrasting colors which makes it easy for people to read.

One of the weaknesses of this site is the inability to add data when you click on the “Add Data” button. It tells you to email them or fill out the google form, not every would want to go through the hassle of doing that. Another weakness is it doesn’t give you all the information needed on a particular topic. For example, when I tried to check for a list of officially elected leaders in the area, I didn’t get any meaningful result.

After making this project, the researcher must have learned about different sectors and areas in St. Louis. Also, may have learned about a new technological tool DKAN, a powerful open-source tools for publishing and cataloging datasets and their metadata. This can be seen in the way the home page was neatly organized and arranged for easy accessibility.

Reflecting on this site, I got to learn about a new technology DKAN which could be an interesting tool for creating contents that needs catalogs. I also think the Regional Data Exchange has potential, as it could be a site to easily search for relevant information.

Draft Jack Anderson

April 15, 2026 / jandeap

My project is about Malls in the St Louis area and how over time they have slowly dwindled and died out. I am connecting this drought of malls to the idea of the world transitioning into a more digital age.

This project is using Timeline JS to map the change of malls over time, from 1970 to present. I will be discussing the highs and lows of the mall life in St Louis and how they change and adapt to the culture of the time. I also talk about how malls are more than just stores, but really community centers where people can go to socialize. I will discuss how over time this idea of a shared community space has slowly faded out by ease of access on online shopping.

My main argument is that the decline of malls shows a shift away from community spaces towards digital ones. My timeline will show different moments in mall history to show how we have all used malls throughout the years. I still have some work to be done on the timeline but so far it is going smoothly. I personally wanted to do this project because growing up in my town back home, we had a mall I would always love to go to. This mall had all my favorite stores as well as food you could grab while shopping. Over the years they closed more stores in the mall, and it became increasingly empty. Nowadays there are maybe three stores left and its been forever since I went back there.

Here is a link to my WIP timeline

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=v2%3A2PACX-1vQz3eI5O1RsPjaXy-_Vf6e5Lu_JPf6SFVdpeRHluJnk7ZdUs3AzBxezRZml0asKRzjdAwKCz4FsTuHE&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&width=100%25&height=650

Illinois Landcover in the Early 1800s

April 15, 2026 / poluseg

This project was sponsored by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Illinois Natural History Survey. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) is a state agency responsible for managing, conserving and protecting Illinois’ natural, recreational and cultural resources. The Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) is a premier scientific research organization; it is part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Since 1858, they have been the guardian and recorder of the biological resources of Illinois-state’s biological memory. According to their manifesto, their mission is to “investigate the diversity, life histories and ecology of the plants and animals of the state; to publish result so that those resources can be managed wisely” (https://inhs.illinois.edu/about/about-inhs/).

The source of the data are plat maps and field notebooks that contained details about the survey, as well as notes that have the quality of the landscape, mines, salt lick, watercourses, springs, mill seats and other “remarkable and permanent things”.

The data was used by Surveyors and Cartographers to create a more complete map of the township. It was also used by the Illinois Natural History Survey to create the Early 1800’s land cover map. The format of the data set is in digital vector coverage (shapefiles/geodatabase) representing forests, prairies and wetlands, managed by the Illinois Natural History Survey.

The data wasn’t made available in this case, although the land code value was provided with definitions of some keywords in a tabular format.

A few data clean ups were made. Areas that were mislabeled were corrected, areas that were mis-digitized and had incorrect label had the missing line added and the labels corrected. The effect this cleanup has on the data is clarity, accuracy and trust. For example, the present-day Adams County, a prairie area was mis-digitized and incorrectly labeled as forest. This can cause confusion and misrepresentation, but correcting the data made it more presentable and understandable to anyone with access to that information, making it possible for people to trust the data from the creators.

The goal of creating the data is one of preservation, fostering public understanding and appreciation of resources, safety of natural resources for present and future generation. This might have shaped the data in making sure it is more detailed and accurate.

I could use the data to learn and analyze the soil nutrient composition, health and contamination level of a particular area.