Added new page 'About Delphi Epidata & Covidcast'.

config.toml

@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ relativeURLs = false
 [[menu.main]]
     parent = "epidemic-signals"
     name = "About Delphi Epidata & COVIDcast"
-    url = "/epidemic-signals/"
+    url = "/epidemic-signals/about-delphi-epidata-covidcast"
     weight = 2
 [[menu.main]]
     parent = "epidemic-signals"

content/epidemic-signals/_index.md

@@ -39,19 +39,8 @@ in the United States. It has several parts.
   submitted to the [COVID-19 Forecast Hub](https://covid19forecasthub.org/),
   serving as the basis for the [CDC's official forecast
   communications](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/forecasting-us.html).
-
-## See Also
-
-- [Delphi Epidata dashboard]({{< relref "covidcast" >}})
-- [CTIS dashboard]({{< relref "covidcast/survey-results" >}})
-- [Export data tool]({{< relref "covidcast/export" >}})
-- [API documentation](https://cmu-delphi.github.io/delphi-epidata/api/covidcast.html)
-- [R package](https://cmu-delphi.github.io/covidcast/covidcastR/)
-- [Python package](https://cmu-delphi.github.io/covidcast/covidcast-py/html/)
-- [GitHub repo](https://www.github.com/cmu-delphi/covidcast/) (see also
-  [related repos](https://github.com/cmu-delphi/covidcast/#related-repos))
 
-## Research Articles
+## To Learn More
 
 A summary of some key parts of COVIDcast can be found in the December 2021 *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*
 Special Feature: [Beyond cases and deaths: The benefits of auxiliary data

content/epidemic-signals/about-delphi-epidata-covidcast.md

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+---
+title: About Delphi Epidata (including COVIDcast)
+linkTitle: About Delphi Epidata (including COVIDcast)
+layout: single
+
+---
+
+Delphi Epidata is a database platform, repository, and API for epidemiological signals (also called "indicators"). It was launched in 2016 and significantly revamped during the pandemic. Delphi Epidata was purpose-designed for hosting signals for epidemic and pandemic detection, tracking and forecasting. It has built-in support for data versioning, calendar reporting effects, anomaly and trend detection, backfill projection, privacy-based censoring, and geographic, temporal and demographic breakdown and aggregation. The Delphi Epidata repository contains over 500 different current or historical signals, tracking flu, COVID-19, denge, norovirus and other pathogens, and covering all rungs of the [severity pyramid]({{< relref "epidemic-signals#severity-pyramid" >}}).
+
+We procure data streams that reflect epidemic and pandemic activity from a wide variety of sources -- including unique industry partnerships and scraping of publicly available data -- and extract from them in real-time disease-related signals at the finest possible geographic, demographic and temporal granularity.
+
+The COVID-19 related portion of Delphi Epidata is also known as **COVIDcast**, and constitute what we believe may be the largest public repository of real-time, geographically-detailed indicators of COVID-19 activity in the U.S.
+
+We make all our signals freely available in real-time to the greatest extent allowable, using a [public API](https://cmu-delphi.github.io/delphi-epidata/) which is updated with new data daily. We also provide:
+ - a [signal discovery](https://delphi.cmu.edu/signals/) tool, to explore what epi-signals are available in Delphi Epidata and elsewhere in the community
+ - a general [signal visualization](https://delphi.cmu.edu/epivis/) tool
+ - a [signal dashboard]({{< relref "/covidcast" >}}) and a "classic" [map-based version]({{< relref "/covidcast/classic" >}}) to visualize a core set of COVID-19 and flu indicators
+ - a [COVID-19 signal export]({{< relref "/covidcast/export" >}}) app, a [dashboard builder]({{< relref "/covidcast/dashboard" >}}), and more
+ - [R](https://cmu-delphi.github.io/epidatr/) and [Python](https://github.com/cmu-delphi/epidatpy) packages to extract signals from the Epidata repository, and R packages to further [process them](https://cmu-delphi.github.io/epiprocess/) and to create [epidemic forecasting models](https://cmu-delphi.github.io/epipredict/) ([learn more](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XfnxQAzR8TcqpguIcFcn9XwG6vvpTyWP6S79cevVqhY/edit#slide=id.g2e3520ca017_0_70) about the packages)
+
+Some of the underlying data from which these signals are extracted would not exist or be publicly available without Delphi’s efforts. These include a massive national daily survey called the [COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey (CTIS)]({{< relref "ctis" >}}) that we have deployed in partnership with Facebook, which has been taken by over 25 million Americans during 2020-2022; and aggregated counts extracted from an enormous database of de-identified medical insurance claims, covering more than 35% of the U.S. population, made possible through health system partners including Change Healthcare.