Pandemic data and stories at the South Side Science Fair
The US Covid Atlas participated in the first annual South Side Science Festival at University of Chicago last Saturday, hosting a demonstration featuring the Atlas’ spatial data visualization techniques and collecting pandemic stories for the Atlas Stories oral history project.
The Festival was a huge success with hundreds of participants engaged in science-related activities and demonstrations at the University of Chicago’s south side campus. We had the opportunity to talk to kids, teens, and adults alike, introducing concepts of data science, spatial data and statistics, and how the Atlas uses exploratory data analysis and visualization to understand the impact of the pandemic. We highlighted our efforts to humanize data with Atlas Stories oral history project, collecting individual stories behind the data and statistics of the pandemic. Personal narratives and stories are featured on the US Covid Atlas map, tagged by county, and integrated with our map of COVID-19 data and community health indicators.
We spoke with dozens of people at the festival about their pandemic experiences and collected several stories. Check them out at uscovidatlas.org/map and click on the “Atlas Stories” button.
Thanks to the organizers of the South Side Science Festival at University of Chicago for hosting the event, and to Aresha Martinez-Cardoso, Dylan Halpern, and Susan Paykin for representing the US Covid Atlas team.
What is your pandemic experience?
We invite you to share your story and help build a more holistic archive of the pandemic. Choose from multiple formats — video, audio, photo, or written story — and be featured on the US Covid Atlas map. We seek stories, experiences, and perspectives from diverse communities from across the country. Learn more at stories.uscovidatlas.org/submit.
Photos courtesy of the author.
