Following on from last year’s launch in Huddersfield, we saw another great turnout for our second Y&H networking event in Leeds on 2nd February 2015. The morning began with Stuart Cameron-Strickland (Leeds City Council) and Will Ridge (Leeds Intelligence Hub) sharing their work on integrated data analysis using the CareTrak model:
Their presentation included a live demo of the system and was followed by a lively Q&A.
Next up was a focus on effective presentation and visualisation of data, inspired by the new LARIA Research Impact Awards category, ‘Most engaging presentation of local area research’. Malachi Rangecroft (Leeds City Council) introduced this session with a look at what data visualisation is, highlighted some good (and not so good…!) examples and shared a useful ‘aide memoire’:
- Session 2: Data visualisation – effective presentation of local area research (You may need to try a different browser if you have problems loading this)
We then broke into smaller groups for more detailed discussions around the examples people had brought along and some of the practical issues, challenges and successes locally. There was a real buzz in the room with lots of info sharing, including:
- Visual.ONS (see also blogpost on the launch of this site)
- 100 years of the census
- Information is Beautiful
- The Guardian – data visualisation examples
- The Guardian – worst ever infographic?
- Graphic Detail – charts, maps and infographics (The Economist)
- The Best Stats You’ve Ever Seen (Hans Rosling TED Talk)
- Government Digital Service – Infographics Guide
- Norfolk Council JSNA infographics
- The Kings Fund quarterly monitoring reports
- Kirklees Council – Our Budget Challenge
- The data viz design process – 7 steps for beginners
- Is data visualisation just style over substance?
Finally, we spent the last session discussing ideas for how we could support the first LARIA Local Area Research fortnight (16-29 March 2015):
I’m hoping that colleagues across our region will be able to play a part – however big or small – in helping to raise the profile of local area research, its value and its impact.
Once again, we’ve had really positive feedback about the Y&H event – people have found the sessions useful and there certainly seems to be the appetite to keep going. I’ll keep you posted about future dates, and if anyone would like to share something, either at an event or via the website, then please do let me know!
Alison Monkhouse – Kirklees Council, LARIA Y&H Co-Ordinator
(Photo Credit: The Carriageworks, Leeds)