our-changing-world - Group 1

[nrao944]

DSCI532-peer-review

1. Open an issue with the name of your group and app Use this template:

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To complete by the group

• Name of the app: Our Changing World
• Link to the repo in milestone2: https://github.com/UBC-MDS/our_changing_world/tree/v1.0.0
• Link to the proposal.md file where it is the description of the persona and scenario: https://github.com/UBC-MDS/our_changing_world/blob/main/docs/proposal.md

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2. Review the group that is one number ahead of your group's number. For example, if you are group 5, review group 6. If you are group 30, review group 1. Paste your answers in the issue of the group assigned.

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To complete by the group reviewing:

Persona

• Provide 3 pieces of constructive feedback that could help the app to be better suited to the scenario it was designed for
• Provide 3 pieces of constructive feedback that could help the app to be better suited to the user(persona) it was designed for

Frontend / layout

• Is the text (plot labels / titles / subtitles) easy to read?
• Are the plots selected appropiated for the data? Can you think of other alternatives or improvements for the plots regarding interactivity/reactivity or plot selection?
• Was the dashboard organized in a way that was easy to read (columns / rows) or you would suggest a change in this sense?
• Would you prefer including tabs / navbars to improve the navigation or you think it is better to visualize everything in one screen by the nature of the content?
• Are the plots or other images described properly for the persona described?

Backend

• Are the options that you can select in the widgets working fine or have you found some cases where it is not working?
• If there are interactive plots: are the labels clear and easy to understand?

Documentation

• Was the documentation easy to understand from the README.md how to use the app? How could the documentation be improved?
• Was the app intuitive to use without reading the documentation? What information could be good to include?

Indicate something you would like to include in your own app after reviewing this one

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[zzhzoe]

Persona

• Provide 3 pieces of constructive feedback that could help the app to be better suited to the scenario it was designed for

1. In the scenario, Salma wants to conduct comparison analysis of multiple dimension of countries around the world. Nevertheless, the dashboard only enables her to explore on dimension at a time, for instance, population or life expectancy. If the dashboard can somehow display information regarding these dimensions simultaneously, she can better conduct her analysis.

2. Additionally, since Salma is trying to incorporate information from your dashboard with her own data, there is a lot of information to grasp. Thus, it is important to make the more critical data accessible and visible. For instance, the actual data of the selected dimension (population, life expectancy, etc)can be displayed directly, instead of only through interactive component on the world graph. Instead, the world map can display some secondary information such as the world ranking. By reorganizing the dashboard this way, the more useful information is easier to access.

3. Lastly, since Salma is also doing analysis on a continent level, it would be helpful to have actual data points that Salma can identify on the continental world trend graph. Currently, the graph shows the overall trend, but there is no actual data information that she can use for her project.

• Provide 3 pieces of constructive feedback that could help the app to be better suited to the user(persona) it was designed for

1. In your description, the target user base of your app includes governments, international organizations, researchers, and policymakers and the goal is to help them gain useful insights on state of the world. It would be more helpful to highlight and maybe improve the "trend" component of the dashboard so that the takeaway here is clear.

2. Since the app is targeted to offer practical information, especially when it comes to policy makers, the information they need can be very specific. Thus, it seems too broad to only include information based on 5-year intervals and not on a yearly basis.

3. We think the interactions of the graphs are lacking here. If users of this app want to obtain insights about world changes and world trend, they need to be able to visualize and see the connection of different components of changes in the world. Merely providing pieces of information on each component is not sufficient and can not serve as a useful tool for the targeted users.

Frontend / layout

• Is the text (plot labels / titles / subtitles) easy to read? Yes, overall the text of the graphs are easy to read. One exception is for the world ranking graph, since the graph is extra long in length, it is hard to see the x-axis label at first glance.

• Are the plots selected appropriate for the data? Can you think of other alternatives or improvements for the plots regarding interactivity/reactivity or plot selection? The graphs selected are appropriate for the data and provides useful information regarding changes of the world over the years. One improvement we can think of is the lack of interaction between the graphs. We would suggest adding interaction between the world map graph and the world trend graph where if one selects a country on the map, then the trend map will show the changes over the years accordingly.

• Was the dashboard organized in a way that was easy to read (columns / rows) or you would suggest a change in this sense? The dashboard is designed in an aesthetically pleasing way, which we applaud the effort for. One potential change that can be implemented is the way the world ranking graph is presented. Currently, it seems a bit out of the place compared with the other graphs, and is harder for the users to scroll down and read.

• Would you prefer including tabs / navbars to improve the navigation or you think it is better to visualize everything in one screen by the nature of the content? We think it would be better to include tabs/navbars to improve the navigation. Since there are different dimensions and components of information in your dashboard and the information you are trying to convey. Adding tabs/navbars can help users pinpoint the information they need more efficiently.

• Are the plots or other images described properly for the persona described? Yes.

Backend

• Are the options that you can select in the widgets working fine or have you found some cases where it is not working? Yes, they are working fine.

• If there are interactive plots: are the labels clear and easy to understand? The world map graph lacks a clear title label and labels for the colors. (The colors are labeled in the world trend graph below but it would be nice to have them there too) Other than that the interactive plots are easy to understand.

Documentation

• Was the documentation easy to understand from the README.md how to use the app? How could the documentation be improved? The documentation from the README.md is clear in laying out the information that the dashboard contains. The documentation can be improved if it also describes what kind of interaction users can engage in with individual graphs, such as locating data points.

• Was the app intuitive to use without reading the documentation? What information could be good to include? Yes, even without reading the documentation, the app is intuitive and easy to use. Like we mentioned above, more interaction/filters can be helpful to improve user experience and provide more information.

Indicate something you would like to include in your own app after reviewing this one After reviewing this app, we would like to add more color components to our app. Colors are used in a smart way here by both providing information and also making the dashboard overall more visually pleasing. We would like to learn from this and improve our app.