The Critical Role of Use Cases in Creating 21st Census Curated Data Enterprise (CDE) Infrastructure and Capabilities

The proposed Curated Data Enterprise (CDE) opens new opportunities for measurement associated with changing economic and social conditions that have not been achieved historically. For example, measuring the effects of hurricanes, the Gig economy, and the lack of affordable housing requires real-time and geographically detailed data to address questions asked by policymakers, media, analysts, researchers, planners, advocates, and the public. The CDE is thus intentionally focused on the purpose and uses of the Census Bureau’s data and will identify and anticipate the challenges of discovering, integrating, and using data in unexpected new ways. Use Cases are building blocks to develop the CDE. There are two kinds of Use Cases: (1) Art of the Possible and (2) Demonstration Use Cases. Art of the Possible Use Cases explores topics and related research questions that address pressing social needs identified by stakeholders. This type of Use Case explores the current state of the topic, discovers data sources, identifies gaps and issues associated with existing data, and proposes the feasibility of conducting a demonstration Use Case. The demonstration use case builds a statistical product and identifies the capabilities needed to develop and deploy the CDE.

Wu E, Shipp S, Lancaster V, Salvo J, Montalvo C. The Critical Role of Use Cases in Creating 21st Census Curated Data Enterprise (CDE) Infrastructure and Capabilities. FCSM 2023. 2023 October; College Park, MD. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18130/4dx3-aa75.