The University of Minnesota has led the world in creating innovative population data infrastructure. As a direct consequence of these innovations, the world’s supply of accessible population data has already grown by a factor of 10. By 2018, demographic researchers will have access to over two billion records of freely accessible microdata from over 100 countries, dating from 1703 to the present. Another two to four billion records will become available through restricted-access data enclaves. Steven Ruggles, architect of the Minnesota system, takes us on a journey through the history of data processing technology since 1850, from tally-marks on “Spread-Sheets” in the early nineteenth century to modern computing. He outlines the Minnesota revolution in population data infrastructure and discusses the research potential of these new resources, focusing particularly on new opportunities for spatiotemporal analysis.
Crowned the “King of Quant” by Wired Magazine, Ruggles brings population data to life in an engaging and diverting lecture.