Based on the 2020 NYC census, every neighborhood in the city has its characteristics. We can differ economically, demographically, culturally, and urbanistically, but let the data show us that we can find similar emotions and experiences regardless of our neighborhood. I want to clarify that I am aware that every individual experiences and processes emotion and situations differently than others, but it is through the action of sharing, and realizing that we experience similar emotions, that we can empathize and connect with others.
Process
I created a survey to collect data about common issues and emotions that NYC residents experience. I realized, after user testing, that the visualization had to be broken down into various parts to ensure a clear message. To tell the story, my visualization is divided into three sections.
Section I
Section I consists of a map of NYC. This is the introduction to the project. It locates the audience in a specific place, and it says that what comes next is about people who live in NYC. Each borough has a colored pin. The pins show the location of 19 respondents in their respective neighborhoods. When the audience clicks on one pin, a tooltip pops up with a short description of the respondent. The tooltip shows information that is not presented in the final diagram.
Section II
Section II visualizes the information in pie charts. My intention is to showcase the different responses in percentages. Therefore, the audience will be able to identify the quantitative aspect of the information.
Section III
The final visualization shows how people from the different boroughs connect through similar emotions or situations that occur while living in NYC. I selected eleven data points that represent emotions and situations. To create my diagram I used the characteristics of a chord diagram and a non-ribbon chord.
Eleven black nodes represent the data points. The data points are centered in the diagram. Selecting a data point will highlight the connections to the NYC residents. The residents are grouped in colored nodes according to their neighborhood. Residents can be filtered by gender, helping find more specific information. To avoid a cluttered chart, I locate the resident nodes above and under the eleven data sets.
Reflection
The majority of the questions in the survey are very personal and sensitive. Since my intention is not to expose personal data, the survey is completely anonymous.
An anonymous survey allows the audience to focus on the connection through experiences and emotions. How many people felt isolated, and how many people struggled to find friends, or where do they live? This leaves a bigger question, why isolation, depression, and loneliness are common emotions in NYC, and what can we do as a community to help each other?