A review of The Guardian’s interactive NHS at 70: how well do you know the health service
An example of interactivity in the field of data journalism is the Guardian’s NHS at 70: how well do you know the health service published on 2nd July 2018. This is because of its use of quantifiable data to provide information to users concerning the changes to the NHS in the past 70 years. This example uses both a timeline and quiz format. The feature presents data gathered from NHS and archival sources to its audience.
The premise of this interactive feature is that users are tasked, in response to a question, with estimating the amount a particular aspect of the health service has increased or decreased since its creation in 1948. They do this by drawing a line on a line graph and when 2018 is reached the feature would reveal the correct answer and provide further details below.
There are altogether five interactive line graphs for users to make their estimations. For example the first is entitled ‘How has the number of beds in the NHS changed?’ The line graph reveals that there were 500,000 beds in 1948. Once users complete their line, the Guardian reveals the correct answer (there is now around 168,000 beds in 2018) and additionally reveals the average guess most readers made. Following this further information pops up beneath the graph providing reasons under the sub heading ‘The number of beds has dropped by almost 70% since 1951’.
Positively, the feature encourages engagement through making the user consider the answer and having their expectations subverted in the revelation of the correct answer. Although this promotes active participation, its emphasis on blind guessing determines an incorrect answer as an almost certainty. The average user does not either have access or knowledge of current or historical NHS data figures. Through guessing users are not being tested therefore the interactive feature’s quiz format is secondary to the information it provides.
It will be argued that the feature could be improved by focusing on what information the audience does know. As a comparison between the past and present, the feature could include a more personalised aspect in the form of a drill down story. The national statistics is of great importance to the narrative however an element could be included in which the user could actively look at the data for their local hospital or how the NHS has changed in their county or region of the UK. This however would change a simple interactive feature into a far larger enterprise which would take considerable more research from its data journalists.
