yuljo_project3_process


 * Dataset**

Since there is no real Lego based data set related personally to people on the internet I had to create my own set of data from the ideas presented in my Castle Building website. I derived this set of data which includes:

UserName Photos Parent/Child Creation Location Date Comments Tags Number of Pieces


 * Visualization**

I started off with 3 different ideas of visualizing the dataset:

World Map (for location)
 * Lego pieces could be stacked on locations so the user can click on the piece and the photo/information shows up
 * can be zoomed into, large amount of data can be visible and then focused

2D Grid (for a broad overview)
 * lets the user explore through the creations without any data constraints

Bar Graph (for the number of pieces)
 * Allows you to see the relation between the complexity of the creation and the number of pieces

After a few explorations with this visualizations, I concluded a few things about each one:

World Map 2D Grid Bar Graph
 * can show time through a scale
 * self explanatory - people know their way around a world map generally
 * no relation to anything except for randomness
 * axed
 * interesting way to see bigger creations or smaller ones if you want to

I then decided since the grid wasn't working that I should incorporate the tag dataset somehow. Each tag gets its own cloud which contains creations with that tag. If the creation has another tag, it draws the two tag clouds together to overlap to contain that creation and does so until all the tags are covered. I think this may be very difficult to program but I think it's an effective way of showing the concentration of tags. If one clicks on the tag cloud, that cloud separates so the user can investigate within a single cloud.

One thing I also tried was multi-coloured bricks in the World Map view but couldn't find how they relate to any of the data (which Edward Tufte is very much against). I decided against them and then broke down the colour scheme of the overall infographic to red and blue which recalls the original Castle Building website. I used red for the navigation and blue for the content to ensure that the two were kept separate.