The Amazing Race: MIT

Zach Collins, Divya Goel, Meghan Kokoski, Tricia Shi

For our participatory data game, we envisioned a Bluetooth – enabled mobile game that aims to demonstrate the impact that individual transportation decisions have on the environment. The Bluetooth aspect allows you to connect your results to the other MIT players, and show how transportation decisions, when considered collectively, have an even more significant impact.

The data shows that personal cars, even when taken for a short distance, can emit a large amount of carbon, and that even public transportation produces carbon emissions. If walking and biking produce no per-use carbon emissions, then why doesn’t everyone chose these two options? Then answer is that these options come with the tradeoff of time. We wanted users to consider the tradeoffs of taking different forms of transportation because often it is not realistic to walk everywhere. These are implemented as constraints: a time cost, monetary cost, and carbon cost. The version we created for the sketch gives you these constraints (90 mins, $50, and 40 carbon credits) on an individual level. However, our goal for an expanded version would give a set of constraints for a group of people playing together, in order to emphasize the impact of collective decisions and incorporate concepts such as carpooling.

Our target audience for our game is MIT students. We selected tasks that would be common for a MIT student, as this will allow the results to resonate with our audience. As they select which mode of transportation, students are able to select what they would personally do. Because it is a mobile game, we would not need to set up a physical space for students to play, but rather we would just advertise the game to students through emails, and flyers around campus. We also think that we could get students playing the game with a booth in Lobby 10.

The first time a user plays the game, they are given only the time and money constraints. The emissions factor is brought in later on, so that students are able to see the difference in time and carbon production of their choices when making them under different pressures. We hope that once the results are shown, students will be more conscience of their transportation decisions. The collective totals will serve to demonstrate to students that transportation decisions are not isolated and if everyone considers the environment, then the effects can make a real difference.

link to app mock up: https://marvelapp.com/5b96b9b/screen/27337169

Meghan’s Data Log for 2/12/17

  • ID swipe for dining hall
  • Sent text messages
  • Used FaceTime
  • Responded to email
  • Browsed internet which added to my browsing history
  • Tapped ID to enter dorm
  • Updated Linkedin profile
  • Liked images on Facebook
  • Used Athena Cluster to print a problem set
  • Downloaded files needed to complete a SolidWorks tutorial
  • Received Venmo payment
  • Used terminal commands to complete 6.S08 assignment
  • Entered my name is the 6.S08 online queue to get help during office hours
  • Submitted my code for automatic checking on the 6.S08 website
  • Complete CMS.631 blog post

Super Bowl LI

In preparation for Super Bowl LI, I was researching the game to understand the dominance of this sporting event and subsequently stumbled across this infographic produced by WalletHub. The infographic is subdivided into multiple sections; Super Bowl LI, Game Day Notes, Media Extravaganza, Ticket Prices, Super Bowl Ads, Pigging Out at Pigskin Parties, Big-Game Betting, and Super Bowl Economics. Below each section is 3-8 different statistics overlaid on an image.

The audience of this data presentation is sports fans, or at the very least those who have some interest in sports. The statistics present are unconnected, and to be best understood, require some sporting knowledge. This is why I believe the targeted audience is those who are interested in sports.

By providing statistics in a variety of categories that pertain to the Super Bowl, the data presentation aims to convey the magnitude of the game and therefore increase interest in the game. By presenting the massive reach of the game in the form of an infographic readers who do not normally watch the Super Bowl may have a new interest and join the bandwagon by viewing the game. The effectiveness of this data presentation in limited by the lack of comparison for the numbers. For example the infographic lists “70 total cameras used by Fox Sports”. Based on the context of this infographic, one will probably assume this to be a large number, but the reader does not know how many cameras are used in a regular season football game, TV show, blockbuster movie, or another sport. If a comparison was provided, readers can better appreciate the statistic and thus better evaluate the reach of the Super Bowl.

 

Source: https://wallethub.com/blog/super-bowl-facts/1589/

Note: Apologies for the low-quality image. I did not realize the quality until I made the post. The link provides a high quality visual.