About

State Stats is an online pathfinder to transportation statistical, annual, and performance reports. It was created as the consequence of a national meeting of Transportation Librarians in June 2009. Hosted by the Midwest Transportation Knowledge Network it offers a central collaborative location to find state performance data. Its content is provided by the community posting their material in a transparent manner.

The Idea

The idea behind State Stats is simple. Most transportation agencies publish their accountability and performance reports on-line. The catch is, while this improves accessibility, it tends to make them hard to find. External "noise" makes search engines less effective. State Stats documents these reports and synthesizes them.

Tools of the Trade

Two elements drive State Stats: Drupal and collaboration. Drupal powers the pathfinder and lets users contribute information about publications (should they choose). Washington State DOT's "Gray Notebook" and Iowa's "Performance Reports" are a few examples of the publications cataloged. Collaboration and transparency allows data to be synthesized.