Jessica Salinas

FA 21 | INFO 658

Concept

For this project, I used Tableau Public to create an interactive map tool. My plan was to provide public school district data for parents to learn more about the geographical locations of nearby public schools. A more complete realization of this concept would also include links or embedded data from NYC MySchools, which provides detailed information about a number of useful factors a parent or guardian might consider when selecting a new school environment for a child such as performance scores, average class size, and so on. Something else that would be extremely useful from a user perspective would be the opportunity to annotate, “favorite” memorable schools and/or districts, and otherwise interact more deeply with the data in similar fashion. 

The interaction style is one of providing an overview with the option for user retrieval of details on demand. This experience would be reader-driven and exploratory, presenting information that could be found elsewhere in an alternative format and hopefully serving to increase the user’s awareness on the subject matter. My main concern was to achieve maximum clarity as this type of tool is meant to promote access and transparency to a broad swath of users who should not require expertise to comprehend what is being conveyed. The easier to perceive and navigate, the more empowering and reassuring the interactive map should be for the intended audience. 

Process

I took the New York City School District dataset and imported it into Tableau. I used the geographical data from the dataset to have the boundaries of the districts and individual schools become visible on a map. Using the formatting tools in Tableau, I reduced the appearance of the rest of the map, aiming for a lower data-ink ratio than the default settings offered. (The extraneous, surrounding land and water would not aid the user’s understanding of the ins and outs of NYC Public Schools.)

I also customized the color scheme of the districts to emphasize their boundaries. I opted for a pleasant assortment of fairly muted shades from across the color spectrum, aiming for a relatively neutral and unassuming palette that also conveys their discreteness. To maintain a low data-ink ratio I opted not to add borders as the color blocking gets the message across, in my opinion. I added a simple caption with the instruction to hover over the map to learn more.

Reflection

My adeptness with the data manipulation in Tableau is still somewhat strained; this is definitely an iterative process, and I will remain vigilant as I continue learning. Something I could not work out in time was the ability to edit the labeling of the individual schools to not read as “count of …” Naturally, that would be amended as it is certainly not ideal. I would likewise rename “School Dist” to School District or perhaps even something more clear.