Today our education reporter had a bunch of data from New York State she was trying to match to schools in New York City. But the school codes used by the two governments look radically different.
For example, PS 15 on the Lower East Side is known to the state as 310100010015; the city calls it 01M015.I once made a nifty formula to make the conversion(!), but a more straightforward and official approach involves the Excel spreadsheet found here. It lists all of the city schools, along with their addresses, various codes, and more. For a data cruncher, that's a secret decoder ring.What made me smile was that the only reason I knew this document even existed was because of a little prototype I tried during the first swine flu outbreak. That experiment wasn't robust enough to make it beyond this blog, but it taught me a lot ... including where to find this ring!
(tip via Nate Westheimer @innonate)
Making collaborative maps is easier than ever. But maybe not quite easy enough.One of the projects I'm working on at the moment is a super-duper-simple tool to help public radio and television stations (and pretty much anyone else) collect and map local information from their audience.We're in the design phase right now, and we've mocked it up for feedback. The video is below.Whaddya think? Let us know!
Simple: Non-geeks can absorb it within a few secondsAnd I'll add one more:
Unexpected: It fills a gap in our knowledge
Concrete: It takes advantage of our senses and understandings
Credible: It is journalistically sound, from a trusted source, without bias
Emotional: It hits you in the chest, you feel the data
Story: It tells one
Relevant: It is timely, current and usefulGot examples that ring all seven bells? Maybe even four? Share them in the comments here or email me: john (at) designAgitator.com.-----The map detail above is from my favorite example at the moment, which is on Slate. Jump over there, take a look, and then run it through the checklist:
Simple? Once you know that blue is jobs gained and red is jobs lost, you're set. Just press play.Rings my bell.
Unexpected? Seriously so. The speed of change is amazing.
Concrete? The familiar map orients me at a glance; I respond quickly to the circle sizes, colors and densities.
Credible? Bureau of Labor Statistics, Slate.
Emotional? Oh yeah. I saw someone actually shiver while watching it.
Story? Definitely.
Relevant? Yup.