"View this data set" format is forcing weird behavior in Highlights Posts - Should make template more flexible

[Raseman]

Some (most?) highlights posts are about more than one data set. Since the option now is to put one link to "view this data set," some of these posts are picking the "best" data set to link to without context. Instead, there should be a way to link to one or more data sets and the link text should be the name of the data set or a landing page with data sets.

[philipashlock]

I think this is mostly an issue of copy editing. The context for what is being linked to should be provided by the title and description of the highlighted dataset. I don't see anything wrong with allowing the primary link to be more creative and descriptive than just "view this data set", but the limiting structure is also meant to enforce the focused purpose of the highlights section.

I was under the impression that Highlights were meant to highlight a specific dataset. Just like you said, "picking the best"

I guess highlights could be something more generic or free form, but then we probably shouldn't call it a highlight.

[Raseman]

If we don't change the standard, or keep the "link to one place only" as Phil suggests, we need to make sure every highlights post links to a landing page that makes sense in context. For example, The "Higher Education Datasets" post below links to a specific subset of the IPEDs data that is referred to in the post - a user would naturally assume that that's all the IPEDs data there is (although there is much more, I believe).

Higher Education Datasets

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDs) includes information from every college, university, and technical and vocational institution that participates in the federal student financial aid programs. Datasets include year-over-year enrollments, program completions, graduation rates, faculty and staff, finances, institutional prices, and student financial aid.

Examples of this data in action are:

Alltuition https://www.alltuition.com/ makes college more affordable by matching prospective students with the grants, scholarships, and loans they qualify for based on their demographic data.

Simple Tuition http://www.simpletuition.com/ uses higher education data to match students with the most affordable college loans and repayment options. View this Datasethttps://explore.data.gov/Education/Post-Secondary-Universe-Survey-2010-Directory-info/uc4u-xdrd

---

Sophie Raseman +1 (203) 500-7090 raseman@gmail.com

On Fri, Jan 3, 2014 at 5:05 PM, Philip Ashlock notifications@github.comwrote:

I think this is mostly an issue of copy editing. The context for what is being linked to should be provided by the title and description of the the highlight. I don't see anything wrong with allowing the primary link to be more creative and descriptive than just "view this data set", but the limiting structure is also meant to enforce the focused purpose of the highlights section.

I was under the impression that Highlights were meant to highlight a specific dataset. Just like you said, "picking the best"

I guess highlights could be something more generic or free form, but then we probably shouldn't call it a highlight.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/GSA/data.gov/issues/261#issuecomment-31566915 .

[JeanneHolm]

Additional suggestions have come in to allow the ability for a "Highlight" to have more than one "View this Dataset" link. For example, this comes up when the highlight points to a dataset and a related API, or when there are two or more datasets used to create an analysis or map that is highlighted.

[kvuppala]

@JeanneHolm @philipashlock What other options should be provided in the admin side? We can provide a selection option to choose while adding the content.

List that i can think of: "View this Dataset" "Download the Data" "View this API"

what else?

[JeanneHolm]

@dsmorgan77 @Raseman may have additional ideas.

Some that have come up lately, "View this feature" (can be used for an article or other item that needs to be highlighted) and "View this App" would likely be helpful too. However, "Feature" could apply to both as needed.

[dialsunny]

We can possibly provide following options to choose from: View this Dataset Download the Data View this API View this feature

I'm thinking we should have a user select one option at-most. Otherwise, we might have to consider UI options( if >1 links were allowed for 1 highlight).

If multiple links are relevant then there should be 1 page explaining all options and we can link to that 1 page from highlight.

[dsmorgan77]

I don't really have a strong preference here. The highlight I have on the safety community points to a group of datasets, so I guess the link really ought to read "View these datasets." I think the point of the highlights section is to show datasets - not apps, not features, etc. The distinction between dataset and API is too fine a distinction - you're getting the data when you click that link - it's a matter of how you're getting the data.

The question I have is what we should be using for the destination on this button. My thought was that we'd be linking to a single catalog entry or a catalog search (not elsewhere in the topic area - like to blogs, apps, etc.).

Sophie's particular example of the highlight in the Education community is an example of poor copy editing and a bad link. The link really should point to a catalog search that's filtered on IPED and Department of Education.

If the intended action is to direct people to high-value data in the catalog, the action for the button could simply be "Get the data" and then we instruct people on how to use the highlights section. If you want to highlight an app, the text should be linked in the highlight. Heck, you could even put an image for the app's icon in the highlight and make it clickable. But I think that's separate from the intended action here - which is to drive people to the data.

[rebeccawilliams]

Revisiting this issue.

I think "View the data" might be more precise copy for the button and then perhaps providing better documentation for those drafting highlights and how they can link to multiple datasets if they so wish.

@Raseman does @dsmorgan77's shortcut above solve for what you wanted to show?