New York City in Data

Project 3

Introduction

Data is all around us and can help us understand new aspects about our environment. Using the New York City open data, you will select a dataset to work with. New York collects data ranging from parking violations to squirrel census. On its own, the data is a set of numbers that are difficult to comprehend without a visualization. Look through your chosen data and consider how you can tell a story through different subsets of it — you do not need to include all of it. Consider the relationship between the form, the story, and the data itself. How does the data’s container help encourage an understanding of the data not possible without it? Feel free to add in mixed media content to help tell this story, and avoid using traditional data visualizations such as bar graphs and pie charts.

Objectives

• To reinterpret external sources of data into narrative experiences
• To develop an editorial perspective to content that is not your own
• To develop a working relationship with external content and code
• To connect and use structured content from an API (Application Programming Interface)

Main areas of inquiry

• What stories are missing in plain data?
• How do graphics and visuals support/influence the way data is understood?
• How can a visualization reflect the content of the data meaningfully?
• Experiment with non traditional bar graphs and charts
• How can a design reflect sensitive content?

Requirements

• You should use local a data source relevant to the city of New York
• You must use multiple views to convey this experience
• Must be responsive and function on a mobile screen

Project

Part 1: Look through the New York City data on opendata.cityofnewyork.us and select one data to work with. Sign up for an API Token.

Part 2: Explore possible narrative components to the data based on how you filter it and categorize it. Will you work with the full set of data, or just a segment? How does the story of the data change based on the form? How often is the dataset updated?

Part 3. Design a visualization format that uses a) analog, b) typographic, and/or c) abstract components.

Part 4: Design a website for this data set featuring your visualization. Consider adding interaction and additional content.

Considerations

• Who is the audience? What mindset should the user be in when he/she uses the site? (Be specific)
• How does the user know what to do based on the design?
• Does the type of content give form to your site?
• How can you tell a story through a curated set of text, visuals, interactive experiences?
• Does the design of the site somehow respond to new content?
• Rather than being a neutral vessel, how can the design that you use to organize your collection change when the collection itself changes? For example, do colors on the site change in response to the kind or amount of content posted to the site?

Due 05/09

Reference

Check out the are.na channel