Check out a video series called The Science of Innovation, created by the US Patent and Trademark Office, the National Science Foundation, and NBC Learn.

The site currently has eleven videos exploring various processes of innovation in these areas:

• Smart Concrete
• Self-driving Cars
• Electronic Tattoos
• Fuel Cell Efficiency
• Biometrics
• Biofuels
• Anti-Counterfeiting Devices
• Synthetic Diamonds
• Bionic Limbs
• Innovation
• 3D Printing

Probably the most graphically stunning is A Handsome Atlas  from Brooklyn Brainery, with colorful and imaginative visualizations of 19th century U.S. census data.

Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks has taken data from the US Census Bureau’s 2007 through 2011 American Community Survey to map  income data on income and rent. Data can be displayed by street address, zip code, census tract number, or city, and comparisons to state medians are also shown.

Gapminder bills itself as  “a non-profit venture – a modern “museum” on the Internet – promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.”  Its data page contains visualizations on 513 socioeconomic indicators by country. The same data is also available to download to spreadsheets. The rest of the site is also worth checking out, particularly the Joy of Stats documentary.

For the first time, the public may access the data that made up 134 reports on Boston’s neighborhoods, planning districts, the 2010 Census, and the 2005-2009 American Community Survey.  

The 2010 Census includes information on population, sex, age, race, housing occupancy and household type; the American Community Survey features more detailed characteristics such as place of birth, employment status, and languages spoken at home.  For example, to find Brighton’s median household income, enter “Brighton median household income” into the search bar on the Boston Data Portal, then click “Brighton, neighborhood data: American Community Survey 2005-2009″.  After downloading the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, click the “Economic” tab;  Brighton’s “Median Household Income”  is listed first.

Students, researchers, and others seeking economic, demographic, and housing information about Boston’s neighborhoods now have data at their fingertips.

The release of the data is part of Mayor Menino’s strategy for open government and transparency.  The BRA Research Division will make the data for future reports available via the Boston Data Portal.