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visualizing debt

critique by design

final project I

final project II

final project III

final project deliverable

The final data story

My final deliverable from Shorthand on Promoting Equitable Tree Canopy in Chicago, Illinois can be viewed below:

Changes made since Part II/Final design decisions

Identified changes for Part III during Part II

Based on the three user interviews, there were five essential changes that I wanted to implement final deliverable:

1. Keep text on information concise - especially in the benefits section, try to highlight only the health benefits since people already know the environmental and economic impacts of trees
2. For the map visualization, make sure to add a legend or sentence that specifies the difference between colors and also add something that highlights where Illinois is on the map since that is the area of focus.
3. Find if there were any studies or surveys that have been done in the two neighborhoods (Lake View Chicago, and West Side of Chicago) to demonstrate the medical/health differences to really emphasize the impact of trees and draw further conclusions about the correlation with trees and health
4. Two interviewees (B & C), thought I should potentially move the visualization on the racial/ethnic breakdown of Chicago to the section about redlining, but interviewee A thought leaving it where it is provides a nice initial Snapchat of Chicago to the audience.
5. Add a section or few sentences as to why this issue matters to me personally and why I decided to choose it as a topic.

Additionally, from Interviewee A, I considered adding an element that puts the funding from the USDA into perspective of per capita per population of Illinois, and from the critique covered in class (10/03), I considered moving information around such as the history of Chicago redlining in the 1930s and side-by-side neighborhood comparison to the beginning of the story. I also decided to only use unsplashed images to not risk any copyright issues. I cited all of the images (besides unsplashed) and the information I used in APA format which can be found at the end of the Shorthand under references, and the data sources can be found at the bottom of all the visualizations. Finally, I went through my final deliverable to make sure there were no grammatical errors, ensure the text font is consistent throughout (used Lato), and frame all transition sections (green colored “slides”) as questions to maintain consistency.

Implementation of final design decisions

How I implemented the five essential changes are described below:

1. Keep text on information concise: In the overview section, I decided just to describe why the issue matters to me personally, rather than putting it into the broad perspective of Chicago and already providing definitions of tree canopy and tree equity because it brings in the human element and empathy aspect of the story. In the benefits section, instead of talking about all the benefits of trees, I decided to narrow in my focus to only the health benefits since it is something we do not really think about. Also to make the text not seem so chunky, I decided to color/bold certain words so that the most important takeaways stand out to the audience.
2. Map visualization: I added a legend in the upper left-hand corner to help the audience understand what the different colors of green represent. I was unable to highlight specifically where Illinois is due to limitations in the format of the plot used in Flourish, but I identified that Illinois is abbreviated as IL to help the viewer.
3. Find studies or surveys that have been done in the two neighborhoods (Lake View Chicago, and West Side of Chicago): I was unable to find a study that was specific to Chicago, but I was able to find a study that shows the connection with the number of trees and the overall health and wellbeing of people. I added that resource to the reality section, so that if the audience wants to learn more, they can read about it in the external resource provided.
4. Move the visualization on the racial/ethnic breakdown: I decided to leave the visualization where it is because it gives a comprehensive overview of the population breakdown of Chicago Illinois. To help the audience, I added a button that links to an additional resource - Best Neighborhood - Race, Diversity, and Ethnicity in Chicago, IL, that enables the audience to learn more about where specific races and ethnicities are living in Chicago if they are interested. Hopefully using that resource will allow them to make the connection between the racial and ethnic population breakdown and redlining in Chicago in the 1930s.
5. Add a section to why this issue matters to me personally: I added this in the overview to bring in the human element and empathy aspect of the story and demonstrate to the audience that I am passionate about this topic.

Additional changes:

• I added an element that puts the funding from the USDA into perspective of per capita per population of Illinois: To do this, I simply added a sentence and changed the color and bolded the text that specified the per capita amount. To calculate the per capita amount, I divided the budget allocated from the USDA (13,875,000) by the total current population of Illinois (12,671,469) to get $1.09 per person (13,875,000/12,671,469 = $1.09 ~ approximately). Interviewee A was right about how having this really emphasizes the impact.
• I decided to move the information around such as the history of Chicago redlining in the 1930s and side-by-side neighborhood comparison to the beginning of the story since to make the “light switch to on” in the audience’s mind as they learn more about my story (provided as feedback from the in-class critique - 10/03).
• I moved the definitions of tree canopy and tree equity to its own section so it is clear and easily accessible to the audience if they need to refer back to the definitions.
• I decided to keep the map where it is instead of moving it to the end (provided as feedback from the in-class critique - 10/03) because it makes the story flow well, but if people are interested in learning about tree canopy or tree equity in a different city or state of choice, I added a button at the end that links additional resource that provides the breakdown of the metrics nationally.
• I only used unplashed images to not risk any copyright issues. At first, I was really discouraged, that I could not include the Chicago redlining map circa 1930s due to copyright, but instead I just added a button in which the viewer can click on to take them to an external site to see the redlining map. Also, at first I was also really discouraged that I could not use actual pictures of the neighborhoods in the reality section to show the differences, but then I just instead found images that portrayed what these neighborhoods might look like and put a small note at the bottom of the section to let the audience know these are not real images of Chicago, but instead representations.
• I removed “from a population and public health perspective” because initially, I wanted to focus more on the health aspect of it, but the story and the data turned out to be more generally about tree canopy and tree equity in Chicago, rather than to solely focus on benefits of them.
• Lastly, I looked at the feedback from Professor Goranson from Part II, and implemented the following changes he suggested: remove the Our Roots Chicago logo from the title and call to action section, include the national average per captia spending for urban and forestry development, and instead of buttons, I added hyperlinks where it was possible (redlining section and racial/ethnic population breakdown) besides the reality section because there was not a good place to put hyperlink. This was all great feedback!

Overall, the feedback I got from my user interviews and the critique covered in class (10/03) was all crucial in helping me produce my final deliverable which I am very proud of!

The audience

After the three interviews and the additional critique during class (10/03), the audience for my final data story are residents of Chicago, those who are environmentally conscious (can be from anywhere), and those with a passion for public policy. After conducting the interviews, I was able to feel the sense of genuine engagement and interest from Interviewee A, a past resident of Chicago, and Interviewee B, a student who is environmentally conscious as compared to Interviewee C, who was indifferent about the issue. Although I knew I wanted the main target audience to be those from Chicago, Interviewee B, and my classmates who are from public policy programs expressed their genuine interest in the topic because of their environmental awareness and because when I brought up the policy from the 1930s of discrimination redlining in Chicago, they said “a light clicked/turned on in their mind” that made them realize why this issue matters. To make the story work for my target audience, I resorted the slides to have the problem addressed in the beginning rather than the end so that they really could get a sense of the history and policy of the issue. For example, before I had the redlining context and reality context slides more towards the end of the presentation, but I decided to move them to the beginning after the overview and benefits to really bring to attention the issue at hand and have the “light click” earlier in the audience’s mind. Additionally, in the redlining section, I added a button that the audience can click on to learn more about the Chicago Tribune’s study and how redlining has impacted tree canopy and tree equity in Chicago. Finally, instead of just providing references for Chicago at the end, I provided an additional resource that will allow them to look at tree equity and tree canopy for the city or state of their choice.

References

References are already included in the Shorthand under the resources section in APA format. They are listed here again for convenience. Additionally, all data sources were cited via Flourish and can be viewed at the bottom of each of the visualizations.

1. Hunter, K. (2022, September 14). Under an Urban Canopy: Chicago’s tree ambassadors teach residents about the crucial role trees play in health and health equity. Chicago Health. https://chicagohealthonline.com/chicago-tree-ambassadors/
2. N.A. (2023). Economics of Urban Forestry in the United States. Arbor Day Foundation. https://www.arborday.org/urban-forestry-economic/
3. N.A. (2023). Methodology: Tree Equity Score. American Forests: Tree Equity Score. https://www.treeequityscore.org/methodology
4. N.A. (2022). Our Roots Chicago Equitably Expanding Chicago’s Tree Canopy. City of Chicago. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/our-roots-chicago/home.html
5. N.A. (2023). Tree Canopy Definition. Law Insider. https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/tree-canopy
6. Travers, J. (2021, September 3). Tree equity. The Ecologist Informed by Nature. https://theecologist.org/2021/sep/03/tree-equity

Final thoughts

I really enjoyed working on this final project because it is an issue that I am passionate about and have done research on in the past. Because I had the context for the issue from my previous research, most of my time was spent finding data, creating visualizations, and then creating a storyline that was easily understandable and intuitive for the audience to understand. I believe I had a sufficient amount of time, but if I were to continue this project, I would like to look more into if there are any metrics from the Our Roots Chicago initiative that show the value and impact they have made so far with their implementation of the program. Additionally, I was only able to find a study that showed how trees are connected with overall health and well-being, but if I had more time, I would have tried to find a study that was specific to Chicago and actually compared health status among the populations of different neighborhoods. I think my favorite part of the whole project was conducting a user research protocol because it was not only helpful in gaining insightful feedback, but I also enjoyed seeing the reactions of my interviewees as they went through my storyline. When I first introduced the topic to them, they did not really know what equitable tree canopy was, and I was worried they were going to not be engaged and feel not interested in the topic. As I let them scroll through the shorthand, I liked hearing their reactions, such as “wow”, “I did not know that”, and “that is interesting”, and then at the end, Interviewee A, who was a past resident of Chicago, said that she is definitely going to pay more attention to the trees in the neighborhoods whenever she comes back to Chicago to visit. The user interviews really helped me gain valuable feedback and expanded my perspective on how people from different backgrounds might view the story. As I was making the changes from the user interviews for the final deliverable, I was able to understand why they gave that piece of feedback and its importance. Finally, I liked using shorthand, although it took a while to figure out at first, since it is a tool to add to my “tool kit” that I can use for future presentations. Overall, since I am interested in a career in data analytics, data science, and consulting, I know this entire project process and development will be invaluable in my future career.