UIC Love Data Week promotes data management, sees UIC winner of data visualization competition
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This month, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR) and University Library participated in Love Data Week, an international celebration of data. Groups across UIC hosted a range of events, including training on UIC’s institutional repository INDIGO; stories from researchers using existing datasets to make discoveries; and a hands-on dataset bingo game.
As part of this series, the University of Illinois System hosted its inaugural data visualization competition, which was judged blindly by one representative from each university and the U of I System. Rhea Dsouza, an HR analyst at UIC, was recognized as the winner of this first-ever competition for her Tableau dashboard, “The Rise of AI.” Her dashboard outlines the rise of AI jobs, as well as the industries and salaries most impacted by automation adoption.
“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to participate in Love Data Week and the data visualization competition,” said Dsouza. “This experience challenged me to think more critically about how to communicate complex information in a clear and meaningful way. It was inspiring to see the creativity and innovation across all the submissions, and I’m honored that my dashboard was selected. I appreciate the support from the UIC data community in creating spaces that encourage data storytelling and collaboration.”
In addition to the data visualization competition, participants joined together to share current goals and future data management planning.
“Our community benefits from having a strong network of constituents working together,” said Thomas Warfield, executive director of UIC’s Office of Institutional Research, and Dimuthu Tilakaratne, chief data and analytics officer of the U of I System, in a joint statement. “We hoped that by bringing together our data communities, we could learn from one another, build new connections and support each other going forward. The feedback we’ve received so far has validated that goal, and we look forward to continuing to support our data communities.”
This year’s Love Data Week focused on data’s journey from collection through storage and preservation. The Office of Research Data Initiatives and Information (ORDI2) within OVCR provides the UIC research community with data management resources, and during Love Data Week, shared insights on the Data Departure Checklist, a robust and customizable worksheet with prompts to encourage successful planning for transition of data.
“It was delightful to have multiple groups across campus and the system who support and engage with research data share in the celebration of Love Data Week,” said Abigail Goben, data policy advisor at UIC. “We hope participants were inspired and we’re looking forward to planning for next year!”
Learn more about the data management resources available to UIC researchers and stay tuned for Love Data Week 2027!