Indicators as a Structural Framework for Social Change

In the Greater Boston citistate, known in the 19th century as the “Athens of America,” it should be easy, in the Information Age, to locate good local data about things that matter. The data do exist, of course, but they are exceedingly difficult to find in a timely and useful format, even for experts. And as difficult as it is to good local data, it is harder still to “connect the dots” to arrive at the shared understanding required for true collaboration. The latter poses a particular hurdle in Metro Boston, where, it is said, we lack “the collaborative gene.”