Terrorism in the US

[julialedur]

Please complete all of the following sections, or the ghost of Joseph Pulitzer will spookily dance around your issue! A completed version of this template can be found at https://github.com/jsoma/data-studio-projects/issues/1

Summary

I want to analyze terrorist attacks in the US. The dataset I'm working on has data from 1970 to 2016. I'm going to look at location (city and state), weapons used in each decade, number of deaths per decade, targeted groups and how many attacks were successful.

My data came from the Global Terrorism Database.

Details

Possible headline(s):

Data set(s): http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/contact/

Code repository: https://github.com/julialedur/data-studio/tree/master/code/02-terrorism-us

Possible problems/fears/questions:

I want to scatter plot the number of deaths per month in all decades, making each dot represent a different attack. To do that, I have to combine my year, month and day columns and create a new one with the formatted date. I am not sure how to do that.

I also have to learn how to do a gridplot and a circle timeline (see drawings below).

Because the data set is so huge, another challenge I encountered was defining the angle to my story. I narrowed the dataframe down to only the United States and I plan to analyze change on the variables over time.

Work so far

Checklist

This checklist must be completed before you submit your draft.

• [x] I have already spent time with my data set, opening it, exploring it, etc
• [ ] I have created a "DIARY.md" file to save links and list all of the terrible, no good problems I come across
• [x] My issue links to my data set(s)
• [x] My issue links to my code repository
• [x] My issue explains what I'd like to explore in the data set
• [x] My issue includes images - either inspiration or what I've done so far

[jsoma]

• I feel like you could pull some style cues from The Marshall Project - https://www.themarshallproject.org/ - they do a lot with dark colors + something warm/lighter like reds and purples.
• Graphing occurrances of something per year is usually a line graph and sometimes a bar graph. I'd go for one of those over a scatterplot
• I cannot believe that NYC has had over 400 terrorist attacks since 1970! I think this is definitely going to be a piece where you should throw the big numbers at the reader initially, then explore some of their preconceived notions (for example: 9/11 and the WTC bombing was all that happened here, or how the majority don't have fatalities, or, I don't know, I still don't get how there were so many.
• In going with the last remark, I think you should use terrorist attacks or plots that people know about as anchors, and then spin your actual story around them. Giving us a graph that shows 400 planned attacks in NYC stimulates our appetite, but doesn't sate our hunger!

[julialedur]

Update

Any changes in direction or topic?

Just a little bit in style. But I'll definitely follow Soma's advice and change the angle on the next version to spin the story around the terrorist attacks that people know, or maybe focus on the fact that NYC has the biggest number of attacks in the US since 1970.

Problems/Questions

I figured out how to make a treemap. But still couldn't put a grid on top of it to make squares. I also did the proportional symbols chart, to show change in the use of weapons over time.

Checklist

• [x] I have included my visuals
• [x] I have filled out the sections above
• [ ] I have been updating my DIARY.md with details about my process
• [x] I have uploaded/updated any Jupyter Notebooks or other datasets into my code repository

[playfairbot]

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[mattrehbein]

Great topic and I really like the variety of your graphics. I agree with Soma breaking down those big numbers at the start is key. I assume that first metric with the 400 attacks in NYC is showing successful attacks rather than including attempted, yes? Maybe you could start focusing the list with a subsequent chart of only attacks that resulted in fatalities? If that doesn't cull it too much, maybe set a bar for number of deaths, i.e. 'terror attacks in U.S. resulting in 10 or more deaths.'

Also because of how attacks are usually covered in media or whatever reason, I think of terror against countries or attacks perpetrated in cities, so the by state metric is not terribly meaningful to me.

Really like the graphic on the categories of what was targeted. I think that same graphic approach might make the weapons numbers better, too: I'd be more interested in seeing which weapons were used the most full stop, not by month.

Great, great work so far!!

[julialedur]

Update

Made this fun gif that shows the locations of the attacks in each decade:

[julialedur]

Update

Made an waffle chart on the success of the attacks in the US:

[castorsia]

I loved your topic, the actual scale of terror attacks in the US, throughout time, especially in the 70's, where there were thousands of bombs going on each year, is a story lost to history. Good job unearthing it!

For that I would like to see the following:

• An explainer for the overwhelming use of explosives in the 70's, maybe with annotations explaining the wave of left wing violence.
• Maybe having in the same chart small sketches of pistol/dynamite etc, in order to make it even more rich?
• I'd like for the annotation in the 'Number of deaths per year' to have a slightly brighter colour.

Great work!

[julialedur]

Update

I also updated the targeted groups map, but I'm not so sure if it makes sense to use it in the story now:

Any changes in direction or topic?

Yes, I followed Soma's advice to focus on the huge number of attacks that took place in NYC. I digged into that and make a couple more graphs. Now I'm not sure if it makes sense to use the other graphs I had that plotted numbers for the entire country (targeted groups and weapons).

I also followed Matt's advice and decided to get rid of the state graph, it really wasn't appealing. I ditched the success graph too, and used a treemap to graph the number of fatalities in NYC instead.

I tried making a line graph for the deaths per year, but it looked visually terrible, so I decided to stick to the scatter plot.

Problems/Questions

My biggest struggle was to figure out what was the story and what were the variables that needed to be plotted. I still need to do more research on the topic, though.

Checklist

• [x] I have included my visuals
• [x] I have filled out the sections above
• [ ] I have been updating my DIARY.md with details about my process
• [x] I have uploaded/updated any Jupyter Notebooks or other datasets into my code repository

[kevinlitman-navarro]

• Your style is so good, I really like the bracket on your titles

• For 'number of deaths per year,' is each dot the sum of the deaths for every terrorist attack in a year, or is each dot a terrorist attack? If it's the latter, then I would change the title to reflect that. Like 'death toll from terrorist attacks on US soil' but snappier. If it's the former, then is there a way to make it clear that you are labeling a year and providing context on the major attack that year? Because as it is it seems like the entire dot is that one attack.

• Waffle charts are cool, but I'm not sure this one is doing that much work. I think you might be better served giving us that information as an annotation in a different chart. Like, what if you added a subtitle telling us the percentage of the attacks that are fatal in the line graph, and maybe point to a few years where the attacks had high fatality rate?

• I think the last chart is fascinating, but I'm curious about how you're sorting the attacks into categories. It seems like there is overlap between categories, and are you basing it off where the attack occurred, or like the stated motivation of the attackers? If you can explain how you're doing this with an annotation, or make the groupings super clear (like maybe only do locations, and say so in the title), then I think this one is really valuable.

[malbasi]

The style is on point. The colors fit the tone of the data and are well coordinated. I have a few nit-picky things that I would have liked to see though.

The brackets around the title are a great design element, but they aren't prominent enough. Maybe make the line a bit thicker next time.

The waffle chart is a good way to display this info, but it drives me nuts that it's not a square. I would have preferred a more rectangular but symmetrical chart to a perfect square with a bite out of it.

Great work!

[julialedur]

Final

Project visuals/text

When the topic is terrorism in New York City, the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is the 9/11 attacks. It makes sense since they were the deadliest in America’s history, with 1,380 victims. However, the number of attacks targeting the city is surprising. According to data from the Global Terrorism Database, from 1970 to 2016, exactly 448 attacks have taken place in New York, the most targeted city in the US by terrorists by far. The second in the rank is San Juan, in Puerto Rico, with 115 attacks.

Attacks in the 70s

The majority of the attacks have happened in 1970 and protesting the Vietnam war was their main motivation. The year of 1976 also stands out when it comes to the number of attacks. In this case, there is not a clear pattern in the motives, but the majority of attacks was either claimed by FALN (Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional) members who were protesting the presence of Puerto Rican delegation at the Democratic National Convention or protestors opposing to the involvement of banks that participated in the Arab League boycott of Israel.

Undoubtedly, 2001 is the year with the highest terror death toll in US history, due to the 9/11 attacks and the Anthrax attacks. Nevertheless, 1970 has had 10 times more terrorist attacks than 2001, but none of them have resulted in deaths. In fact, 8.1% of attacks in NYC have not had fatalities. So, although the number of attacks in the last few years is considerably lower than in the 70s, the number of deaths and victims has been increasing, as shown in the first graph.

Details

Headline: New York is the most targeted US city by terrorists

Published website version: https://julialedur.github.io/terrorism/

Code repository: https://github.com/julialedur/data-studio/tree/master/code/02-terrorism-us

Final data set(s): Global Terrorism Database

What did you find to be the most difficult part of this project?

I found the most difficult part to be narrowing down the data set (it is huge!) and finding an interesting angle for a story.

Are you satisfied with what you produced? Is there anything you would like to change or improve?

For my second project, I am pretty satisfied. I still want to add a graph for the weapons used in attacks in NYC over the five decades. I'll also need to update my project since, a week after I completed it, new data from 2017 was published on the Global Terrorism Database.

Checklist

• [x] I have included my visuals
• [x] I have posted my project to my project website
• [ ] I have been updating my DIARY.md with details about my process
• [x] I have uploaded/updated any Jupyter Notebooks or other datasets into my code repository