Datamapper: a #MozillaNewsLab final project Design document

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. II. III. IV. V. VI. Vision Goals Non-goals Why now? User story Features Vision 1) Analytics Engine a. Back-end b. Front-end 2) User-friendly mapping framework VII. Challenges and unknowns VIII. Initial development path IX. Definition of success MAIN DOCUMENT I. Vision Datamapper is a curated open-source platform to help journalists geographically analyze local political & economic data,and then to easily create online maps to bring the story behind that data to life II. Goals y y Allow any journalist on any beat to take a raw data set and turn it into a beautiful visualization Simplify data analytics and mapping -- Eliminatethe effort required by eachwriterto aggregate the data points organized by Census tract, zip code, local political boundary, or political district to turn them into something that a readermight understand, like cities or congressional districts Simplify visualization -- Removethe need foranadvanced knowledge of data visualizationframeworks, GIS, KML, Flash/Flex, or any number of other acronyms

III. Non-goals y Compete with or attempt to replace established newsroom Flash-based mapping frameworks

Go beyond basic glance-over maps to provide zooming or extensive interactivity

IV. Why now? While text, photo, and video have translated well online, charts and maps have not, leaving online storytelling weaker compared to traditional print journalism. However, modern web standards (HTML5, jQuery, and SVG)and database and collaboration technologies can enable such storytelling once again. V. User story (A day in the life) Before Datamapper:

After:

The writer then embeds the map in with the story A richer article is born! And, we all win.

VI. Features Vision 1) Analytics Engine Create a curated, open-source database of linked Census tracts, zip codes, local city and town boundaries, and political districts -- the analytics engine that would empower visualizations, similar to the way the Music Genome Project powers Pandora

a. Back-end - Tools for collaborating among mappers around the world

b. Front-end simple interface for journalists

2) User-friendly Mapping Framework Based on modern web standards: HTML5, jQuery, and SVG. Expect to use d3 or Polymaps, but can integrate with others

VII. Challenges and unknowns y Must refine core need: interview journalists (large & small papers) and bloggers o Is the idea over-engineered? Under-engineered? o Extensive data visualization frameworks seem to be well established in large newsrooms. Initial priority appears to be the analytical backend. However, simplifying map creation with d3 or Polymaps for, say, state-level data may offer a quicker win Can tap into any institutional resources at the newspapers? Or, are they too stretched and must leverage other infrastructure instead? o Can leverage some of the pool of existing mapping data from news organizations like The New York Times and experts from around the world like Prof. Andrew Beveridge at Queens College? How easy can a community of like-minded open-source collaborators be created?: target Hacks/Hackers and prominent data viz experts for feedback

How much effort would be required to cover 40-50% of the use cases?: Speak with developer team leads

VIII. Initial development path Ideally, develop initial platform in time for map apps focused on election 2012 1) Compile existing standard sets of codes (Congressional districts, FIPS, etc.) to refer to locations 2) Introduce time-stamped versions of the datasets: 10006 in 2007 may cover a different area than in 2008 3) Work with news visualization experts to resolve areas of ambiguity (Economic data for zipcodes that go beyond city boundaries) 4) Develop a set of tools to enable database updates to be made collaboratively by local journalism organizations & citizens 5) Enable the database to be extended to regions beyond the U.S. IX. Definition of success 1) 95% user satisfaction 2) Adoption in 25 of the top 50 online newsrooms 3) Vibrant open-source community and healthy pace of open source development

APPENDIX Sample Article

Sample Data Inputs 1) Educational test scores

2) Department of Defense (2008): military casualties by state

3) Campaign finance reform: OpenSecrets.org

Sample Map Outputs 1) Unemployment by State (NPR Aug 2011)

2) Urban renewal: Strategies for St. Louis Inner City (ICIC 2000)

3) Gay marriage: Gay Unmarried Partners (Social Explorer) (American Community Survey 2005-09)

4) Hunger and crisis