INFO 3130

Data and the State: How Governments See People and Places

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

In order to regulate and govern, states must marshall data: the whos, whats, and wheres of a nation get rendered in records and statistics, at least approximately, and they tell us a lot about identity and values. In this course we will use Census data as a jumping-off point for an investigation of data practices of governance. Students will learn tools for geospatial data science in Python/Geopandas and will learn principles of mapping. Readings include selections from geography, anthropology, science and technology studies, and urban sociology.

Distribution Requirements (MQR-HE, SBA-HE)

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025SP

Outcomes

• Write code to curate, clean, analyze, and visualize spatial data.
• Gain an understanding of historical processes of classification and regulation.
• Implement a descriptive or predictive analysis using appropriate data and statistical and/or computational methods.
• Clearly communicate your process and results as a data narrative through visualizations, context, textual description, and oral presentation.
• Identify the limitations and potential biases in the data, data-generating processes, and tools and methods in addressing a research topic.

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