Dataset
Animal shelter statistics
I have a particular love for companion animals that probably surpasses my love for humans. When I was younger I took in and cared for stray cats and consider it to be one of the highlights of my childhood. With that said, I am interested in visualizing animal shelter data in the Pittsburgh area. In particular, I am interested in the movement of animals through various institutions in the city. I am also interested in the number of adoptions vs. the number of euthanizations, and the reason for the animal’s arrival at any given shelter (stray, lost, unwanted etc).

I think this project could be quite provocative and very insightful.

As of now, I can’t find any online data for the Pittsburgh, PA area. I did, however, find this bit from the City of Weatherford. I believe I can probably obtain local data from sources such as the Animal Rescue League.
https://data.weatherfordtx.gov/Community-Services/Animal-Shelter-All-Animal-Cases/2ek5-qq7s

Provocative
Visualizing a Full Day of Airplane Paths in the USA
http://vimeo.com/5368967

I know this is very popular and most people have probably already seen it, but I really love this piece; it is both beautiful and insightful. You can tell the time of day and time zone differentials simply by the graphic visualization of the flights. It’s really beautiful and is one of my favorite data visualizations.

Well-Crafted
silenc: Removing the silent letters form a body of text

I think this is a beautiful project for two reasons: the subject and the delivery. I think the idea of highlighting silent letters is great, especially for someone like me who has always struggled with the existence of silent letters. I found the delivery of the data visualization to be very well crafted and relevant. The use of physical objects such as a book with the silent letters separated out is a very interesting idea. I also like the simple way they highlighted the silent letters in their wall posters and such.