Possible implications to census data from Disclosure Avoidance System

The new Disclosure Avoidance System (DAS) being used for the 2020 US Census counts could have implications for all users of census data.  First, from the National Conference of State Legislatures, see this informative overview: https://www.ncsl.org/research/redistricting/differential-privacy-for-census-data-explained.aspx.   To dig deeper, see this US Census Bureau story map and this dashboard as well as this NY Times article.

From a GIS perspective, here is an essay about spatial analysis and differential privacy from Lauren Scott Griffin: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ec6d9711a3364d3db5c18fc9061e312f

And for a map-based set of examples, compare places on this Esri dashboard: https://arcgis-content.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/04451f90e7b049f39aa6647a41b986ac

Why should you care?  This is all extremely relevant to the central theme of this blog–be critical of the data.  Know what methods are used to gather the data, and the models or algorithms employed to generate the results, and be a more informed data consumer.

–Joseph Kerski