The Local Information Needs of New Yorkers
Based on a poll conducted late last year, the report outlines the gaps New Yorkers feel between the local information they view as important to their lives and what’s available to them each day. It also explores their specific information needs around education, and their engagement in local civic life.
The insights in the report are rooted in a survey of 1,428 New York City residents done by EMBOLD research, a non-partisan, non-political data science and research company. It asked respondents for their views of the importance of and their satisfaction with local topics like economic opportunity, transportation, and education. And it asked about education topics, media habits, and civic engagement.
The report has also been used to anchor two gatherings of New York City civic information providers, one in person last year and one virtual this week. Both included leaders from news organizations, libraries, universities, think tanks and government, including: The City, Documented, Epicenter NYC, WNYC, 5Boro, The Bell, The Independent Budget Office, Press Pass NYC, CUNY’s Newmark Journalism School, Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library, and Queens Public Library.
The topline results of the survey it is based on are here, and the crosstabs of that survey are here. The full survey and an overview of the methodology are here.
The Civic Information Needs Census is an opportunity to formalize coalitions of local civic information practitioners by providing a shared data set they can all work from, so that they can ultimately understand whether each of their efforts is successful. Learn more and see the research from the other efforts here.