Final Project - Part 1
12 Nov 2019Outline
In my data visualization final project, I will appeal to people to adopt instead of buying through the visualization of status quo of animal adoption. According to the story structure in the Good Charts book, I will divide my story into three parts: setup, conflict, and resolution.
Setup: Many cats and dogs were sent to shelters every year for difference reasons.
Conflict: People are more inclined to use other methods than adoption to get pets. Pets in shelters has different outcomes. Some of those pets were euthanized.
Resolution: Euthanized rate was declined in recent years due to the increase of adoption rate.
The data shows that many animals are admitted to shelters every year. When the audience sees it, the mood will be calm, because I am just telling the truth. However, in today’s society, many people still choose to buy breeding pets. Audience might feel a little sad since although many pets are sent to shelters every year, there are still people who choose to buy pets. Some pets are euthanized for various reasons. At this point, the audience will feel very sad, and some animals will lose their lives because of people’s lack of attention to adoption. Nevertheless, according to the historical data, we can find that the euthanized rate has declined a lot due to increase of adoption rate. At this point, the audience will feel delighted and know adoption is the best way to get a new pet. At the end of the story, I will give some suggestions about how to contribute to animal adoption. If you cannot adopt an animal due to several reasons, you can choose to donate. Or, at lease, respect and don’t hurt or discard any animals. The anticipated call to action is adoption instead of buying.
Sketches
Data
I found data from ASPCA’s official website showing the number of animals that were sent to the U.S. shelters nationwide every year. And also, the detailed number of cats and dogs were revealed. In addition, the number of euthanized animals were shown on the source as well. I prepared to use those data to describe the status quo of animal shelters in U.S. I planned to give an example of why animals would be sent to the shelter using the data provided by Animal Humane Society.
From the data provided by ASPCA, I could know the common source of pets in U.S. The data describing the pet source was in conflict with the previous data. I could say that although many pets were accepted into shelters every year, the first choice when people kept pets was not adoption. This difference made it harder for animals in shelters to have good outcomes.
According to the data from Shelter Animals Count, the proportion of animals euthanized each year decreases as the proportion of adoption increases. I planned to use this data to show that adoption was a beneficial measure for animals in shelters, and to appeal to people to adopt animals.
Data source links:
[1]”Pet Statistics”, ASPCA. [Online]. Available: https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics. [Accessed: 15- Nov- 2019].
[2]”Shelter Animals Count | Explore the Data | Timeline”, Shelteranimalscount.org, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://shelteranimalscount.org/data/Explore-the-Data/explore-the-data-timeline. [Accessed: 15- Nov- 2019].
[3]”Lifesaving statistics”, Animal Humane Society, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.animalhumanesociety.org/about/lifesaving-statistics. [Accessed: 15- Nov- 2019].
Method and medium
I planned to do this project using Shorthand.
I will put a photo of the cute and poor dog on the homepage to get the attention of the audience using the “Text Over Media” section. Then I will start my story with the status quo of the American animal shelter using “Scrollmation” section and show some pictures of shelter animals using “Reveal” section. In the “Scrollmation”, I will add three visualizations showing the whole group and the groups divided by different intake sources and species. After letting the audience know that so many animals are sent to the shelter every year, I will show them the current source of pets of the American people in order to generate a contrast, so that the audience will begin to think. I will use the “Reveal” section to change the picture from shelter animals to domestic pets to show the contrast. Then I will use the “Scrollmation” again to show the data of pet sources, but this time, the visualization will be at the left side.
Finally, I will appeal to audience for adoption instead of buying by showing the increase of adoption rate can actually deduce the euthanized rate in animal shelters. Using the “Reveal” section, I will show the adoption and euthanized rate in full-screen and add highlight different part of the visualization to enable user to focus on each part. I will also express my understanding of those who are temporarily unable to adopt animals and explain that they can support animals in shelters in other ways, such as donations. I will add a “Media” section and embed some link to the animal shelters’ website to guide them take actions.