Peer review by Peewee Marten

[konratp]

• Peer review by: Peewee Marten

• Names of team members that participated in this review: Anshuman Pal, Konrat Pekkip

• Describe the goal of the project.

The group proposes a shiny app that visualizes the progression of the Russo-Ukrainian war that started in 2022. The group is committed to this project as they have strong pacifist beliefs, and hope that the project contributes to a better understanding of how the war plays out. In addition to creating the shiny app, the group also toys around with the idea of creating a piece of generative art, though this plan is kept rather vague.

• Describe the data used or collected, if any. If the proposal does not include the use of a specific dataset, comment on whether the project would be strengthened by the inclusion of a dataset.

The data they use was collected from Yuri Zhukov at the University of Michigan. The dataset contains specific information about troop movements and related military actions, and appears very up-to-date. The group draws this information from several .csv files that each contain different variables.

• Describe the approaches, tools, and methods that will be used.

The group is very specific about how they want to visualize military data over geospatial information in Russia/Ukraine. They are planning on creating maps, bar charts, and line charts, and provide great detail on how exactly they’re planning to execute this plan.

• Is there anything that is unclear from the proposal?

To me the proposal seems quite comprehensive. It not only provides a detailed view on why and how the group approaches the issue, but also covers limitations to the project. The only thing I’d flesh out more is the weekly plan of action. Especially for such a vast project, I think it’s important to have a good idea what needs to get done when.

• Provide constructive feedback on how the team might be able to improve their project.

Overall the group seems committed to the idea, which is great! The greatly detailed introduction helps the reader understand the relevance of the issue, though it really is quite self-explanatory. We’re very much looking forward to seeing the final product. That being said, we fear the group might be planning more than they can eventually take on – The data seems rather complex, and we think just the map part might be enough of a visualization. Also, we recommend building out the plan of action more, as per the previous point. Finally, we also encourage to keep the critical view on the reliability of the data. You do a great job outlining the limitations of the project in the proposal, so we hope this carries over to the final product.

• What aspect of this project are you most interested in and would like to see highlighted in the presentation.

We’re very interested in exploring the gains and losses of territory over time for both Russia and Ukraine. We think this is an interesting and highly relevant use of their time, and feel inclined to actually engage with the shiny app.

• Provide constructive feedback on any issues with file and/or code organization.

The repository is organized in a way that makes sense, though I’m not sure if the shiny app might require further subdivions/folders to contain code in.

• (Optional) Any further comments or feedback?

Good luck, not just with the project but also with relaying it to Dr. Zhukov!

[wdxbh]

Thank you for your constructive reviews! Good luck with your project! Closed after revisions.