United Nations Global Pulse
Excel, Adobe Illustrator
HTML, CSS, jQuery
My Role in This Project
Position:
Design & Development
Design:
Data Visualization, User Interface Design, User Experience
Data:
Processing and Cleaning: Excel
Engineering:
Front-end: HTML5, CSS, jQuery
In 2011, United Nations Global Pulse partnered with visualizing.org and launched the "Visualizing the Voices of Vulnerable Populations in Times of Global Crisis" data visualization challenge. The challenge was a testing ground for a global experiment in making real-time data actionable. This design was submited and awarded first place in the competition, an invitation to the United Nations Headquarters for a high-level UN Global Pulse presentation to UN Member States and a $2000 prize, courtesy of GE.
About the data
The dataset was the result of a large-scale mobile phone based survey in various parts of the world. It was conducted in order to gain a preliminary understanding of how people cope with, and describe in their own words, the ongoing impacts of the global economic crisis. The survey asked two multiple choice and three open-ended questions focusing on economic perceptions.
The results of the study presented a diverse and challenging data set. It was successfully cleaned, processed and presented in this interactive visualization.
The first question
In the past year, how has the economic situation in your country changed? (contextualized with World Bank's economic indicators)
The second question
In the past year, meeting your household needs has been: easier, same, more difficult, very difficult
The three open ended questions
What has been the greatest change you had to make to meet your household needs this past year?
How has your quality of life changed over the past year?
In one word, how do you feel about your future?
The data summary
aggregates the results. It relies on word frequencies to uncover the most common themes and emotions.