The Last Indicator
To conclude all the take aways from Developing Meaning Indicators, I have decided to finish off with one last Medium article before we all head towards Reading Week. For me, it has been a long journey discovering and re-learning the through these 12 weeks.
As with time, it comes and go very easily if we do not keep track of it. The picture above shows an hour glass, representing the measurement of time. Looking back into history, time itself was measured in the form of calendars by societies such as Ancient Athenian, Babylonian, Chinese, Egyptian, and Islamic. By far, most of these measurements were made in days, lunation and solar year. As I look back into these 12 weeks of DMI, I realised that time is something that is often forgotten. Not in terms of a practical sense where we keep track of the days towards finals, but the intricacies of the experiences and lessons that I have gone through. I guess this is the best time to reflect and measure up the time that I have spent in DMI.
Alas, all good things must come to an end. This semester has been filled with numerous highs and lows in this module and I hope that I will be able to sum up the entire experience within this Medium article. This might take a little long but do bare with me (amidst all the upcoming submissions and intense mugging for the next few days).
So let’s go back to the start of the semester…
The Beginning
Having started one week late because of winter school in Korea, I had to catch up with the rest. As you have noticed by now, I use “12 weeks” rather than 13 due to my late arrival. Being ‘Kiasu’ in getting things started, I went head in to the assignments for class.
My first article was titled “A first look at happiness and the data behind it” and I wanted to explore the basic correlation between happiness and dystopian residual. What I found is that Singapore was an abnormally in terms of the dystopian residual and happiness. You can read my analysis on the World Happiness Report which lack conclusive evidence in substantiating Singapore’s position on the rankings.
Through this detective work, I found that it is easier to look for irregularities when we are trying to prove whether an indicator works for most scenarios. For Singapore, we seem to be a position of contradiction due to unique achievements as a nation-state that peaks at all forms of indicators except for the dystopian residual.
How do I balance a comprehensive visualisation but keep it simple at time to convey my message across?
However, in the same article, I went on to quote Dieter Rams, “simplicity is best”. As an industrial designer that I look up to for inspiration in design, I often find it a dilemma throughout DMI. How do I balance a comprehensive visualisation but keep it simple at time to convey my message across? To this day, I still find it a challenge to be able to balance the best of both worlds. Nevertheless, I have made attempts to achieve the goal of balancing simple designs while ensuring that the integrity of the indicator is not compromised at the same time.
Another goal I had for myself is to be consistent in my work. Personally, I value consistent work more than “one off hits” as I believe it is a measurement of both grit and determination. Also, I was partly inspired by the TED Talk by Angela Lee on the correlation between grit and success. As such, I wanted to model my progress after consecutive successes rather than “spikes” in my work.
I even went on to create a tutorial on design to share my take on the subject in week 6. While preparing for the tutorial, I discovered that good design and visualisations come hand in hand. In order to have an effective display of information, key considerations in the design phase is required for crafting out a good visualisation.
With this knowledge and understanding, I decided to put myself to the test to see how far I can go in DMI.
The Environment of DMI
Within the class, I see it as a progressive form of education. Initially when I attended the first lesson, I admit that I was quite skeptical about the whole process due to the novel nature of the class.
However, after having a few consultations with Dr Charles, I discovered that DMI is not about the individual achievements within class. DMI is about bringing our learning to the next level by being exposed to the uncontrolled environment of external feedback. In some sense, it is an amplification of our learning as there is no definite upper threshold to our capacity towards learning. How much we want to learn is dependent on the amount of effort that we put into our individual assignments. Moreover, the free range nature of the module allowed me as a student to explore topics that are beyond the constrain of the syllabus.
DMI is about bringing our learning to the next level by being exposed to the uncontrolled environment of external feedback
Also, the usage of Slack is rather decentralised which means that informal conversions become very easy when we are trying to communicate with one another or share our own data. This has helped scaled up the pace of learning between one another. Coupled with the tutorials by our peers, it has given us lots of avenues to learn.
“Achievements”
From the name of the module itself, DMI represents the different forms which we could measure our own progress. I will attempt to breakdown each component and my takeaways from each of the achievements.
All in, from Medium articles to Reddit posts, I was involved in 23 different visualisations. Of which, I have made 17 of them. Personally, I have posted 14 of them on Reddit. Most of which were posted on Reddit and met with mixed reviews. I had lots of negative feedback at the beginning. Instead of taking it personal, I went on to read through each of them to aid in my learning.
As for Reddit itself, I did not actually made a hit for any of my post in terms of upvotes. However, I found the comments viable in terms of feedback. Altogether, I have 1099 comments on Reddit. It was met with mixed reviews. Some of which were trolls, while others were insightful and had allowed me to learn from my mistakes. These comments range from the colour of choice, to the reliability of data cited, to even the axis which I had failed to label for one of my visualisation. Though it was embarrassing for me to make these minor mistakes, I found it useful when I was able to gather feedback that was not restricted to the classroom setting. Despite being kind of messy at the beginning, I managed to discern between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ comments. Particularly, I had the most takeaways from the comments section my my reddit visualisation on EpiPen. In it , I was able to gather insights on the pharmaceutical industry and the various red tapes involved in making a drug which previously I was unaware of.
Despite having only one tutorial and one post tutorial email, I believe that the effectiveness of the tutorial should not only be measured in terms of the frequency. Another take on it would be the active engagement with participants. The tutorial I conducted happened in two parts. First, basic design skills where participants learn about certain DOs and DONTs on design. Second, a Photoshop exercise which allowed people to get a hands on. As compared to an online tutorial, the engagement level was one that allowed participants to ask questions and clarify their doubts during the course of the tutorial. All of which I found useful in terms of the effectiveness as the usage of software should be done in an active manner.
Beyond that, feedback is another form of engagement which I made an active effort to tap in. On Slack, it is a good platform to chat with others on their ideas while sharing relevant articles and data across domains.
As for medium posts, with the inclusion of this article, I was involved in 13 publications. Of which, I have written 10 of them. However, I must profess the best articles were those that were done in the collaborations as it had allowed me to learn from others the most. From the collaboration on the World Happiness Report to Transportation 4.0, I found that there are many people to learn from in DMI. For these individuals that I have learnt from, I will be covering their strengths and attributes which I have found to have enriched my learning experience on a later section. Being in a class with a large diversity of majors has allowed me to grow beyond my own social circle in pharmacy.
In the core, this represents the values of what USP encapsulate. Despite having all these achievements throughout DMI, to me, what is more meaningful is being able to draw connections to the other domains within the academic sphere of knowledge and the values that it imparts.
CCCE
According to the USP website, courageous is the ability to be “willing to consider differing points of view, unafraid to face challenges and to act upon ideas.” In some sense, I have experienced some of this essence within the class itself. From the active class participation to the numerous posts over the various platforms, I find that there are lots of opportunities to share our thoughts and ideas in an active manner.
For the USP values — curious, critical, courageous and engaged, these were guiding principles that shaped the way I perceived my learning. They can be summed up in the following.
Curious: Being curious about the learning process. It was a challenge for me at the beginning as I was a week late for lesson and had to catch up with the rest. However, every few weeks, there was always a new topic which caught my curiosity in one way or another. By stepping into each topic with a new set of lens, I was able to tap into my curiosity to indulge in the different topics. This pursue of intellectual interests was something which I felt throughout the journey in DMI.
Critical: Having a critical mindset to evaluate every dataset. Given the large amount of data that we have generated from DMI, it was familiar from my studies in pharmacy where I have to absorb information quickly but yet new in terms of the experience. While being intellectual rigorous in terms of learning, there were instances such as the mid-term reflection which gave me time to re-evaluate the things I have done before.
Courageous: Mustering up the courage to try out something new and innovative. In DMI, there are definitely way too many platforms to try out. Nevertheless, I see it as an opportunity to try out new things in presenting my data and visualisation. Take for example Reddit, which can be daunting at first given the reach, but is rewarding in terms of crowd feedback. This gave me constructive feedback that allowed me to consider differing points of view.
Engaged: Connecting with a wider audience. This is quite similar to my point on courageous as it comes hand in hand with reaching out to people. Besides attending class, there are so many ways to learn. From Slack to Reddit, these are the various points of engagement which was useful to my learning and discovering the ‘best’ way to develop a meaningful indicator.
This might sound rather patronising, but in all the USP modules I have taken so far, I often fall back to CCCE to integrate my learning. Also, it is a rather simple way to summarise my takeaway in a non-quantitative manner when I draw links to CCCE.
Taking in Criticism
Another lesson I had from DMI itself is to be able to take in constructive criticism. As a science student, the conventional way of receiving feedback is through formal channels such as peer sharing, lectures and scientific journals. While there are merits to this form of feedback, there are alternate forms of feedback too.
Just like the diagram above, the basis of learning comes from having some sort of “effector” which we could measure here. The control center is the regulatory body which will make adjustments according to the information flow. Going back to the learning process, the control center represents the individual that takes in criticism and make adjustments accordingly. However, within DMI, there’s more to the conventional means of receiving feedback. Namely, it is through informal interaction with peers and feedback from reddit.
On the graph above, we can see the changes of population for each of the residency type. It is a combined effort between Daniel and I for our assignment on immigration. In it, we wanted to reflect the changes in the trend as it was a clear indicator of the effects of external factors on Singapore.
For the Singapore Citizens, there is a steady trend hovering at 1% yearly. However, if we were to observe the Non-Residents and Permanent Residents, we can see peaks and troughs. This is mainly attributed to the changes in Singapore’s immigration and external factors which we will be covering.
Going to the comment for the post, despite being short, shimmynywimminy did brought up a good point on having the number to give a clear indication of the trend itself. Having to compare side by side would allow people to have a look at the absolute numbers versus the percentage change over time. This was something Daniel and I initially assumed to be an unimportant point. However, based on the comment, it is a clear indication that people were invested in absolute numbers as well.
Though this is one of the many feedbacks I had, it was worth the time to look through all of them one by one. It definitely took a lot of time to run through them. However, this process can be expedited by looking at the upvotes on each comment. In some sense, the community itself will be able to regulate the quality of the comment as it is a reflection of the group’s view.
In the next section, I will be making special mention to peers who have contributed to my learning in one way or another.
Modelling others
Besides Reddit, there were also quite a few classmates which I stood out for me. There is no correlation to their activity in class as this is just based on my interactions with them. These are some of their strengths and attributes which I have modelled after.
Ming Kiat — Never give up trying. Despite the insane number of spams on Reddit, I admire Ming Kiat’s resilience and ‘never say die’ attitude towards learning. Moreover, he was able to get some very successful Reddit posts. (despite the backlash, I guess we are all here to learn right?)
Wei Qi — I enjoyed your medium articles and insights that you shared in your writting. You once shared with me that you enjoyed writing and I could tell your passion through your medium articles.
Zach — Your tutorial on “Critical Thinking 101” is one of the best tutorial for DMI. It gave me a new take that critical thinking is a systemic process which can be broken down into steps.
Kathy — Looking through your final post on DMI, I realised that there are many intangible benefits that we can takeaway. Particularly, having a positive attitude is something I often overlook and I found it relevant in pacing ourselves in DMI.
Raivat — Anyone can learn as long as they put in the effort. From the numerous tutorials that you have posted on programming, it open a new perspective for me that anyone can pick up a new skill if they are willing to.
Darren — Massive engagement on Slack and active encourage. Don’t exactly know how you did it but you are always active on Slack to comment and provide your feedback which I found valuable to the class.
Daniel — Having worked with you on immigration, I have learnt valuable skills on taking time to look through the data to find important information. I thought that the way you analyse data was effective in telling a clearer story about the trends of Singapore’s immigration rate.
Xin Yi — The first hit on Reddit which paved the way for the rest to create more meaningful Reddit visualisations. Your post on food proved that we all could stand a chance to be a ‘hit’ on Dataisbeautiful and has inspired people to take Reddit seriously.
Apologies if I did not mention any of you here. There’s only so much I can write but there are definitely more people who deserves credit as well. It is within this variety that made the learning enriching. Special mention to everyone who made a difference in DMI!
Learning points
Going back to my achievements, I see less merits in just laying out the quantitative measurement of the things that I have done in DMI. We should also consider the other forms of merit within the class as well. To me, learning effective learning is one that takes place beyond the classroom. Personally, the way I process the information in class is introspective in nature. On numerous occasions, I would look back at my progress within class and contemplate about the experience I went through. Here are some of the things which I felt worth sharing.
Design is in the message: Design is a deliberate process of choosing the things to include and omit in the visualisation. A part of working in this class is having an effective indicator to convey our intending message. A someone who takes photos, I make it a point to keep my visualisation simple yet objective.
Abnormalities tells more more about the indicator than the trend: This was something I first encountered when working on the World Happiness Report. I will not dwell on the details again but sometimes the trends can be misleading especially if we were to take it for face value. The abnormalities can show us the limitation of the indicator and the things that it has missed out.
Learning from others is more effective than learning it yourself: Throughout DMI, I had the opportunity to learn from many ‘teachers’. All of which were my classmates and rather than googling from the internet for answers, asking others for help can be more effective. For example, I was having some difficulties in coming out with my visualisation on Tableau. However, knowing that Darren is a pro at a Tableau, I asked him for help and he taught me quickly. In retrospect, other forms of tutorial such as those done on #tutorial on slack made it easy for me to scroll through the desired skill I wanted to learn without having the trouble to go around looking for it all over the internet.
Progress is measured over a period of time: The mid-term results that Dr Charles Burke showed us was rather comprehensive. As I have discussed in my post on the mid-terms result, it changed my perspective on m performance as it pointed out the things which I had neglected in the first six weeks. By using the results as a measurement across time, it gave a holistic learning for DMI as I was able to keep track of the things which I was lacking.
Data has to be driven by both subjectivity and objectivity: Just like in the data of the Midterm results, the number of count for each activity acts as the objective data we are collecting. Objectivity is the grounding of the data that gives it support and legitimacy. While for subjectivity, it acts as the light house to guide the direction of the data.
Teamwork makes the dream work: I had three collaborations in DMI and I enjoyed the process of working with others. It allowed me to share my ideas and learn the working style of others. Of all, the most recent collaboration with Darren, Darryl and Gale was the most challenging due to the limitation with the time we had and the amount of work we wanted to achieve. However, what I realised is that it gave me the opportunity to pick up communication and collaborative skills.
Analytical skills: Above all, I believe the main point of DMI is to develop meaning indicators that could be useful to us in the future. For the field of pharmacy, it was relevant for me. From analysis of analytes to the pharmacokinetics of the drugs, the pharmaceutical industry is filled with scientific reports and research which is an enormous amount of data. Though this, I was able to apply design methodology which I believe would be of use for the pharmaceutical industry whenever there is a large amount of data to be processed.
Relevance in Pharmacy
Drawing back to my major, Pharmacy, DMI has allowed me to explore topics which I am interested in. As many of us would know, patents and trade secrets are some of the ways which pharmaceutical companies use in order to keep their competitive edge over their competitors. In some cases, when profits are prioritised over the price which patients can afford the drugs, it becomes a real challenge for consumers to keep up.
Despite efforts to control prices, there have been little progress for these specific drugs. Thankfully in Singapore, many of these costly drugs are either subsidised or have cheaper alternatives. These prices are regulated by the Health Science Authority (HSA) and they provide subsidies for patients with these conditions.
In contrast to countries such as US, despite having insurance coverage, more than often, the prices of drugs and healthcare services are not standardised across the board. Coupled together with the fact that the average consumer little purchasing power when it comes to health, where the individual would want to go for the best healthcare service, it would cause prices of health products and services to increase.
With the existence of regulations by the FDA and the interest of companies to innovate, it becomes an ethical situation of the accessibility of drugs for those who really need the treatment to survive. Patents can become a barrier when it comes to pricing of drugs. And what exactly is too much here?
These are some of the thoughts I have when it comes to the pharmaceutical industry but I do believe that at the core, patient care should come first and by being able to analyse all these data, it has given me more insight on balancing the pricing on drugs.
What’s next?
12 weeks is a really long period of time. It can be represented as 3 months, 90 days, 2160 hours and 129 600 seconds. To put it simply, there are many ways which we can display time itself depending on the situation. Just like in DMI, there are many different ways to present data that is catered to our target audience. To sum up most of my learning, I would say that the design of the indicator depends on the audience who will be receiving the data.
In this journey, I have learnt and discovered many ways of presenting data. Occasionally, there would be some stumble along the way but it was ok as it is all in the process of learning and growing as a critical thinker.
In the end, I believe that learning is a continuous journey and we are still scratching the surface in terms of the amount of data that is left to analysed and present in a meaningful indicator.
In university, four years is not a lot of time considering the fact that we will probably spend majority of our lives in the work force upon graduation. Learning is a lifelong process. It is only through constant improvement and feedback that we will be able to progress.
Thanks everyone for tuning in and see you around school!