Data Project 1. About an (unusual) thing you are passionate about

1. Overview

• Data project 1 is to be completed on your own.

• Project goal: Data project 1 is meant to provide a platform for you to utilize your data skills in a context where you have some freedom to specify structure (unlike the labs). A successful project will have fellow students thinking “This is interesting and compelling!” Therefore, it will pay to think hard and creatively about options and if you are unsure, perhaps collect feedback from other students.

• Theme: The goal is to develop a “data product” (e.g. link 1, link 2) that can paint a picture based in something fairly unusual that you are passionate about, and it should be a topic that falls outside of your work and professional life (Data project 2 will allow you to pursue more professional topics). This could be anything and it could be minor: such as best Fortnite strategies, the price of yarn, Dungeons & Dragons, valuing yachts, the best cereal to milk ratio, superior Pickleball courts in the Dallas area, or a sales figure analysis of the complete works of Rick Riordan. The Introductory section should explain why it is near and dear to your heart. It should be clearly non-professional though and if your “passion” lies in coffee shops, best restaurants in Philadelphia, or music playlists, you may want to choose something a little more off the beaten track!

• Of course, the challenge is that you need to find the overlap about something that is unique and that you are passionate about and an available data set. As you are thinking about potential topics, you should simultaneously be doing research on data sets as well. If you are unsure about whether a project you have in mind is a good candidate, please do not hesitate to ask!

• You are highly encouraged to pursue rich and creative data sources. There are many freely available on the web. Moreover, data from sources like Facebook, Yelp, and other companies can often be harvested for analysis. In this class, we have covered web scraping and have survey some visualization technologies and you are also welcome and encouraged to use methods that we have not covered in class.

2. Project Requirements

• A typical project involves the web scraping tools we covered in class, some data cleaning performed using Tableau Prep or Excel, the use of Tableau for visualizing the data, and Wix or Weebly for presenting the visualizations and story. There are samples below.

• Using multiple data sources is encouraged; many of the best projects come from combining data sources in unexpected ways. Again, you are encouraged to pursue rich and creative data sources. Many data sources are freely available on the web, and in addition to the web scraping technologies we have covered in class, you are welcome to use methods that we have not yet covered in class.

• Your output can include as many visualizations as you need to tell your story.

• Keep in mind that you will be asked to briefly describe this project in class and projects may be shared online with other students in the class.

3. Deliverables

• The deliverable is a link to a web site where your project can be viewed. You are not expected to “code” a web site. See the next bullet point.

• Building a web site: There are many free services that make it easy to "build" a web site in the same way you might build a Word document (no web programming required). Two preferred services are:
  • Weebly
  • Wix
  • Google Sites
    • Please note that Google Sites require permissions to be set correctly to allow outside visitors. It is your responsibility to make sure these permissions are set correctly. There will be a minor but automatic point deduction if we cannot access your site and have to ask you to change permissions. To be sure, it is a good idea to ask your mother/brother/cousin/friend from home if, given the link, they can access the web site you have created.

• Other options are:
  • Squarespace
    • If you want to use Squarespace, please note that free trials expire after fourteen days, which is not appropriate for this submission. However, if you happen to be a Squarespace customer and so are not subject to this constraint, feel free to use it to host this project.

• Along with your data product, you should include the following information on your web site:
  • Who you are and why this topic is very important to you
  • What data sources you are using

4. Grading Criteria

The project is worth 75 pts total, divided in the following way:

• Presenting your project in class (5 pts)

• Uniqueness of the idea and a compelling explanation of why you are passionate about it (10 points)

• Creativity of the analysis, the data, and use and presentation of the data (20 pts)

• Utility of the data product, how useful the data product is to the target audience (20 pts)

• Web site aesthetics, clarity, and functionality (20 pts)

5. Sample projects from earlier years:

These are some examples of projects from a year in which we had a completely different theme (that was based more on things local to Penn and Philly). They are meant only to provide an idea of scope and style, not theme, topic, or approach!

• Philly Hiking Adventures

• Penn Quaker Football

• The Perfect Ski Trip

• Sweet Tooth

• Philly Minority & Women Owned Restaurants

• The Sound of Philly

6. Learning objectives

1. Gain experience with data skills and with working with large data sets.

2. Appreciate the vast number of possibilities that arise when combining different data sources.