Project Report - ecoledesdonnees/dataviz-card-game GitHub Wiki

Last update: 08/06/2016

Organisation: Open Knowledge France

Project name: Dataviz Card Game

Narrative: The Dataviz Card Game project aims to build a set of cards that can be used as a learning and facilitation tool to introduce civil society organizations to data visualization.

Audience:

civil society organizations who have collected data as part of their activity but are unable to communicate it.
anyone interested in teaching dataviz without computers
anyone interested in learning dataviz

Goals of the project:

Facilitate teaching of data visualization by bypassing technological barriers;
Create a teaching tool that is adaptable to the various audiences that the School of Data trainers may work with;
Create a teaching tool that allow and encourage self-exploration and learning, beyond the time-limited data workshops;
Provide trainers with documentation and tutorials to adapt the game to their audience and their needs;
Increase the efficiency of data visualization training for beginners.

Expected deliverables:

one finalised physical card game
a website hosting the digital assets needed to reproduce the physical game
documentation facilitating the understanding, use and modification of the project
a contribution mechanism for the community of trainers

Location: The project is developed in France but is being tested around the world.

Key dates:

2015: The idea of the game appears thanks to the datavizcatalogue
2015: In order to test the idea of the game during a workshop, a first prototype is made using Illustrator and icons lifted from the datavizcatalogue website, printed using A4 paper on a home printer and cut with scissors. Following this first workshop, the cards are improved and take their current appearance.
2015: A Trello is created to formalize the development of the game, along with a prototype of a spreadsheet facilitating the creation of new story cards.
April 2016: The project team applies for the School of Data Member Support fund and is selected.
June 2016: creation of new logo, design guideline and redesign of all cards.

Team:
Sylvia Fredriksson, coordination, design
Pierre-Alain Leboucher, coordination, design, facilitation
Cédric Lombion, research, facilitation, translation
Samuel Huron, research, translation
Samuel Goëta, training, translation

Budget: $8500 USD

Challenges:

Animating a community around the game
Using the feedback of the community to iterate on the game
Coordinating within the team of volunteers

Process:

The idea of the card game appeared due to two factors: our discovery of the datavizcatalogue and our experience running workshops with computers which strengthened our belief that computers should be used only when absolutely necessary.
We defined the core aspects of the game: there would dataviz cards with the the dataviz icon on the front, and the corresponding categories in the back (comparison, proportion, trend…). Alternative: The card could have been made with only the dataviz icon on the front and nothing on the back. The choice of having the categories icon on the back was made to extend the number of different potential games playable with a single set of cards. But it could make some games too easy, so it’s not a sure choice.
Additionally we created 2 sets of 9 thematic « story » cards which would be used to challenge people to find the dataviz cards matching a a specific request (I want the proportion of men and women who are allergic to peanuts). The story card is composed of a « task » (proportion) and of data dimensions (men and women). They can be adapted to any dataset but no data is necessary to create them. The number of story cards per set and the choice of the wording (I want) are arbitrary choices. The idea is to test and iterate.
We asked permission to the owner of the datavizcatalogue to use his illustrations as part of the prototype, and to test the prototype in workshops. We made it explicit that we would create our own illustrations for the final version.
We created a quick prototype of the card game using inspiration from board games: the original card size was chosen using the card templates provided by a website specialized in card games.
We loaded the card templates and created a file with only the front of the cards, another with only the back, another set with the story cards.
We then printed the first prototype using a home printer, and cut them using scissors before testing the prototype in a workshop.
The game consisting of people trying to find the dataviz cards matching a request requires someone reading the cards. The workshop helped us learn that if we wanted anyone to be able to read the cards and insist on the right words (tasks and dimensions), then we needed to highlight those words on the design of the cards. So we reprinted the story cards with the highlights.
We created a Trello board to formalize the process of working on the game, with lists for rule ideas etc.
We started researching the topics of gasification and data visualization tasks to strengthen the theoretical grounding of the game. To that end, we got in touch with a researcher that we met by chance in a workshop and who is working on a physical datavisualisation kit.
We designed a spreadsheet to see if, using SQL and a table associating each dataviz to its function, we could automatically generate a list of the dataviz associated with a set of task and dimensions.
With the help of the School of Data Member Support grant, we documented clearly the goals of the project and the steps needed to achieve them, along with the budget. Also, we grew the initial project team of 1 to include 2 designers and a researcher. We also started the research for a developer.
The coordinator then wrote the constraints (no database, use of Github…) and usage scenarios for the game's website. Beyond downloading the game, we want to encourage people to create their own story cards and share with us when they used the game in a workshop.
After writing the usage scenarios and formalizing them into a brief for the developer, we started sketching wireframes of the website on Illustrator.
At the same time, the designers began thinking about card formats (how we can make it easy for people to print the dataviz cards using their home printer?) and started the redesign of the all the dataviz icons, starting with the most common ones. It was decided to first work on a basic games with the most used dataviz in order to iterate from there.
In the meantime, the coordinator started documenting the project and the associated workshops. Documenting the workshop helped clarify what they wanted their audience to learn, and helped improve the game by suggesting the idea of creating story cards related to data presentation and others related to data exploration.
To be continued.

Tools and Data:

To create the prototype cards: Illustrator, printer, scissors
To create the final cards: Illustrator, professional printer
No specific dataset was used for the story cards, as you only need to have an idea of the data dimensions.
To create the design of the website: Illustrator