This week was challenging because I had to come up with a way to creatively display all the data I had gathered on diabetes. The Center for Disease Control has data up to 2010 when it concerns diabetes, and I had spent the previous few weeks mining to get it. I'm at an impasse with the local data, and I'm waiting on a consult when it comes to how I'll display the obesity v. diabetes graphic, but overall I feel like I have learned a lot and really put my graphic design abilities on display. Next week I'm going to put the finish touches on this graphic deal with any of the edits I have to make, and continue searching for local data. It's frustrating that all this searching isn't paying off. I'd like nothing more but to have the data so I can go ahead and progress with the assignment, but everywhere I look just takes me somewhere else. Who knows if I'll actually find it, but I'm going to keep trying up until the end. Until next week. |
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What do you do when you realize that the data you need isn't out there?
I've resided myself in the fact that the data I need isn't out there and that raises a bunch of other questions. Why isn't it there? Is anyone doing anything for studying the data? Will there be a time where the data will exist? I can't understand why local data is so hard to find, but that won't stop me from progressing with the project. I've come up with five potential data graphics. 1. Will focus on the rate of diabetes nationally along with hot spots. 2. Will focus on the prevalence of diabetes throughout Wisconsin. 3. Will be a comparison between diabetes and obesity. 4. WIll possibly be a combination of diabetes and the poverty level and 5. Will track diabetes through out the years. The proposed info graphics are going to be a challenge to me because I have limited experience working on the graphics. I can use InDesign proficiently and I'm looking forward to testing my InDesign capabilities. This semester has brought about a series of challenges and with each one it looks like it the final goal gets pushed further and further away, but I feel confident that once I start working on the project itself everting will fall into place. So I know what it feels like to be a miner...
This search to find the local data has proved to be more difficult than I imagined. Various contacts have sent me back to the City of Milwaukee Health Department, each time sending me home empty handed. Someone has to have this data the challenge is finding out who that is. I'm all but set to meet with members of the Neighborhood News Service to seek approval for my initial ideas. I believe that what I have set up will be perfect for what Andrea Waxman, the journalist, is seeking. I think that if I can get approval for these ideas I can finally start my project. Unfortunately everywhere I look it seems like I am coming up short on the local data. I've tried sources at various hospitals throughout Wisconsin. I've tried nonprofits. I've even tried large national corporations, but no one seems to have this data. What is even weirder is the fact that there isn't anyone that knows who I can talk to. How is this data not easily available? Shouldn't it be out there? Week two of the O'Brien Fellowship brought me more challenges than I ever thought could happen.
I have been assigned to make a series of data graphics on the prevalence of diabetes throughout the city, state and nation. Throughout this week I've mostly been doing the less than glamorous task of data mining. The Center for Disease Control has had some phenomenal data tables, and I see myself using them frequently to determine the national and state wide prevalence. Unfortunately there data only goes up to 2010 and there is nothing in the terms of the rate of city wide diabetes. The American Diabetes Association unfortunately didn't have any data that I considered pertinent to the project. However, it could be very helpful to my colleagues. Data mining is just as tedious as it sounds, but I'm hopeful that this week I'll find more information concerning the local rate of diabetes. If anyone has any leads, feel free to connect with me over social media concerning them or email at eric.oliver(at)mu.edu. |