MicahRCM
commented
2 years ago Hey @jinfei1125, it looks like the open-ended questions, e.g., "does anybody really need so much wealth" were seen as a little unclear. We should probably either double-down on the questions and add some clarity as to how we are going to answer them (like with wealth indices, possible purchases, world-impact donations, etc.) or remove the question. I am personally still leaning toward keeping the questions and trying to answer them. I don't see these as "research questions" at all, but more so as impact/social justice questions. What do you think?
Peer review by: Flayed Hoiho
Names of team members that participated in this review: Mira Joseph, Mia Resa, Emerson Weinbrecht
Describe the goal of the project. To create a website to explore and visualize the issue of global wealth and income inequality.
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. Superb Bilby will use a dataset from the Forbes Billionaire's List which includes information about billionaire's net worth, age, industry, gender and location. They will also use The Wealth Mobility Dataset which examines wealth along socioeconomic metrics (like race) and breaks down income levels to 5 quantiles (0%-20%, 20%-40%, 40%-60, 60%-80%, 80%-100%)
Describe the approaches, tools, and methods that will be used. Superb Bilby aims to make three visualizations, including a choropleth map, a quintiles static visualization, and a complete interactive visualization. There will also be an animated time series visualization.
Is there anything that is unclear from the proposal? It might be interesting to hear a bit more about the plan for the visualizations/analysis-- what variables will go into building these, and what kind of information will the final visualizations convey? I'm also curious how the visualizations may complement each other and construct a cohesive narrative.
Provide constructive feedback on how the team might be able to improve their project. I wonder whether some of the research questions about wealth inequality could be made more specific. I like the question "How many of our world’s poorest would it take to match the wealth of our world’s richest?" because it seems answerable and concrete; I also liked the exploratory nature of "What are some ways we can begin to conceptualize how much money the wealthiest humans actually have?". I wonder, however, if some of the other questions might be too open-ended. For example, "What can the wealth of a billionaire accomplish?" could lead to a myriad of answers, as billionaires could spend their money in so many ways. Similarly, the question "Does anybody really need so much wealth?" might get into issues of philosophy and ethics, which might go beyond the scope of data visualizations. Perhaps having data about lifestyle expenses/the cost of living at a certain standard may make this more answerable.
The geolocation questions are also interesting, though I'm curious if you're mapping homes, about whether some billionaires have multiple homes, and if that might make the visualization more confusing.
What aspect of this project are you most interested in and would like to see highlighted in the presentation. I'm really interested in seeing a map of billionaires and a geographic breakdown of where they live, as well as the quintile static visualization. I think I'm more interested in exploring wealth inequality in the state that it is now, than trying to figure out how it should be. Even though it is generally true that "the uber wealthy of society are worshiped for their resilience and innovation, when in reality they should be scorned for their greed and malice," I wonder whether this statement might be a bit too prescriptive for the scope of this data visualization project.
Provide constructive feedback on any issues with file and/or code organization. I think the organization of the repo is clear and easy to navigate!
(Optional) Any further comments or feedback?