Three Lessons We Learned from Our Community Advisory Board
What stakeholders really want from a data dashboard
Last Fall the US COVID Atlas convened a Community Advisory Board (CAB) of researchers, health leaders, and advocates to lend their expertise and feedback on our team’s work. We recently met with our CAB for our quarterly check-in to chat about our ongoing work and upcoming goals.
Launching Community Reports and Data Loading
The focus of our CAB meeting this quarter was on two new features being built into the Atlas — the customizable Community Reports and data loading tools. The purpose of these features is to allow Atlas users to generate and save more personalized data and insights using the Atlas, beyond the tools that are already built into the platform.
- The data loading tool, which is already live on the site, allows users to load and visualize their own geospatial data. Data stays native to users’ machines but users will still be able to use the powerful metrics and other variables already in the Atlas
- The custom Community Report builder, coming soon, would allow users to create and format ready-to-print reports that feature maps, tables, and graphs of COVID data across geographic areas of interest. Check out a preview of our reports feature below and learn more about the tool on our blog post.
Three Lessons from our CAB
After spending some time demoing the report builder and data loading tools and giving our CAB a chance to create their own reports , the CAB shared a ton of great feedback related to the technical features, data and variable availability, and potential uses. Here’s what we heard:
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Lesson 1: Use Design to Reel Users In, Focus on the Details to Keep Them Invested
Data dashboards like the Atlas are cool tools but design can make or break both a novice and expert users’ experience. We heard from the CAB that the design of the report builder, and initial ease of use was one of the most attractive features of the tool. Slick graphics and an easy-to-follow interface meant the report builder could be used by someone who wasn’t super savvy with data tools, as well as a busy user who needs to extract information quickly (like a journalist). At the same time, our CAB shared some important details missing from the tool. First, users need more guidance guiding users on the features that can be customized. In addition, the CAB asked us to add more information on the data and variable availability so users can really trust and understand what they’re building. For our next steps, we’re doing more work to help build tutorials that help new users learn about the different features available in the Atlas reports, and more data documentation built into the reports.
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Lesson 2: Demonstrate the Power of Geospatial Tools
The Atlas and many of our tools rely on a the power of geospatial data and metrics to create the visuals and metrics that you see on the site. What is geospatial data you ask — data that has locational information connected to it such as an address, city or ZIP code. In our case the US COVID Atlas displays geospatial data at the county level including COVID-19 variables (testing, cases, deaths, vaccinations) and county health and social variables. We use geospatial data tools to create the color coded choropleth maps that bin similar counties together.
As we allows users to customize the data using the COVID ATLAS, the CAB explained that we need to do a lot more to show people what geospatial data is and how it can be used. For example, when we asked the CAB about loading their own data into the Atlas, it was clear that they didn’t have the know-how or tools to be able to convert their data to a geospatial format or what insights geospatial data could help generate. In addition, when playing with the report feature, variables that were intuitive and clear to us were harder for new users to wrap their heads around.
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Lesson 3: Center Equity at the Forefront
One of the touchstones of our work in the Atlas is using data tools to highlight the pervasive social and racial inequalities in COVID-19 cases and deaths, and link structural and social determinants of health to these inequities. With these goals in mind, our CAB pushed us to consider ways to build this framework into the reports and data uploading features. For example, while the report allows users to generate a table of SDOH variables, the CAB wanted us to think about ways to explicitly map the relationships between something like, county level poverty and COVID-19 mortality. One CAB user poignantly asked, “how do I create the structural racism report using your data?”. While the first phases of the Atlas prioritized data curation it’s clear that the next phase needs to more explicitly think about linking data and generating insights that will inform COVID-19 inequities.
Moving Forward
The COVID Atlas is part of a larger data-equity network through our funders at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The lessons we learn about building out this platform for multiple stakeholders help us not only improve the Atlas, but other data literacy and data sharing tools for the future.
We’re indebted to our CAB for critically engaging with our work, and sharing their time. We especially want to send a special shoutout to two members who will be rolling off the board, Jamelle Watson-Daniels and Jay Bhatt, and extend a warm welcome to Michelle Levander who will be joining the group.
