Neighbourhood stories take the Big Data challenge

The entry from the team called Till Dodo triumphed in the Big Data challenge, which marked the culmination of Big Data Week in Leeds.

The team, which comprised Elaine Clough,a data architect, Bill Edwards, a voluntary worker, enterprise architect John Edwards and data scientist Robin Stafford, used data from the NHS to tell stories about their neighbourhood.

Their presentation, which competed with others around the world, was held at the Health and Social Care Information Centre in Leeds. The presentation triumphed after impressing the judges, which included Antonio Acuna, the head of data.org.gov.uk, at the Cabinet Office, with its clarity and level of understanding.

According to the presentation, which was based on official data, Leeds is 220th out of 351 local authorities for life expectancy. Life expectancy in Leeds is 77.7 years for men, and 82 for women, compared with a UK average of 78.3 for men, and 82.3 for women.

Responding to the survey, Coun Lisa Mulherin, Leeds City Council’s executive member for health and wellbeing, said yesterday: “The life expectancy figures for Leeds are an average across the district as a whole. They mask a significant difference in life expectancy between the best-off and worst-off parts of the city.

“As a council we are committed to working with our health and other partners to improve health outcomes for all, but also to close the gap in life expectancy between those living in the most affluent and most deprived communities.

“We will do this by working together to ensure that everyone has the best start in life and by supporting people to choose healthy lifestyles as well as improving health care services.”

Big Data Week took place in 25 cities across the world.

Organisers of Big Data Week in Leeds believe the city is “uniquely placed” to take advantage of an industry estimated to add £216bn to the UK economy and create 58,000 jobs by 2017.