Data Is Plural

... is a weekly newsletter of useful/curious datasets.

2017.08.23 edition

Malarial mosquitoes, UK “People with Significant Control,” energy efficiency incentives, NEH grants, and the World Color Survey.

A century of malarial mosquitoes. A team of researchers has compiled “the largest ever geo-coded database of anophelines in Africa.” (Anophelines are the only kind of mosquito that transmits malaria.) The database covers 1898 to 2016 and includes more than 13,400 observations of mosquitoes in specific locations. For each observation, the dataset lists the country, administrative region(s), and latitude/longitude, as well as the time period, the species identified, the sampling method, and the source of the information. [h/t Michael Chew]

Who really controls UK companies? Last year, the British government began requiring companies to identify all the people who exert power over them. The resulting “People with Significant Control” database contains each person’s name, country of residence, nationality, and “nature of control” — e.g., ownership of large numbers of shares, voting rights, or the ability to appoint/remove directors. [h/t Enigma Public]

Carbon-conscious energy policies. The Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, “is the most comprehensive source of information on incentives and policies that support renewables and energy efficiency in the United States.” The database, which was founded in 1995 and is funded by the Department of Energy, includes tax rebates, solar energy buybacks, building standards, and more. You can download the data in several formats, or browse and search it online. [h/t Carol Brotman White]

NEH grants and grant-evaluators. The congressionally-established National Endowment for the Humanities publishes a dataset of all of the grants it has awarded since the late 1960s. On the same page, you can download a file describing the organization’s 25,000+ “evaluators” — “knowledgeable persons outside NEH who are asked for their judgments about the quality and significance” of proposed projects. [h/t Brett Bobley + Max Kemman]

The World Color Survey. The 1970s, a team of linguistic investigators canvassed the globe, armed with boxes of color chips. They sought out a couple dozen native speakers of 110 unwritten languages, and asked: What do you call these colors? The results are available online. Related: This Vox video provides context.