The ability to leverage contextual data from a variety of sources is imperative. As a young association, we seek innovative ways to ascertain key insights within the industries we serve. The goal of this project is to perform data mining and analysis on public forums and social media exchanges to identify the most common issues facing the industry. This information will be used to inform the services and information provided by our organization.

To achieve the project goal, the students will need to complete the following tasks:

1. Review public forums provided by the organization that are used by food truck operators.
2. Transfer entries (including date of post, content of post, and whether it was from a food truck/business operator) from the forums into a spreadsheet following the standard format provided by the organization.
3. Assign boolean values to each entry, identifying whether or not the post contains usable information or if an issue, question, or complaint is identified in the post.
4. Assign a category from a predefined list onto each entry, and then assign it to a sub-category.
5. Identify additional data that can possibly be gathered, such as geolocation information
6. Verify the accuracy of the data categorization and value assignment before submitting spreadsheet
7. Perform analysis on the data now formatted, identifying trends in the data; such as largest issues facing the industry, seasonal patterns of complaints, etc.

The company will offer the following support:

1. Regular weekly check-in meetings with the team to ensure students are comfortable with tasks and have the necessary resources or information to succeed.
2. Project Lead/Supervisor will be available for contact on weekdays and will be able to answer any questions and clarify any issue, additionally options will be provided for additional one-on-one meetings if students require it.
3. A standardized data entry format and a predefined list of categories and subcategories to ensure consistency in data entry.
4. Access to predefined public forums and any other relevant resources necessary for completing the project.
5. Clear communication channels for students to raise any concerns or ask questions throughout the project.