Blog article: York U Students Dive Into Data Visualization

Article text

Students from York University’s Data Science Club, supported by Professor Sonya Allin and the York University Maps Library, recently joined a “data-a-thon,” a dedicated day for practicing the art of data storytelling.

What began as a routine 20-minute presentation quickly evolved into a dynamic 90-minute exchange. We spent the morning in an active back-and-forth with students who were eager to dig into the nuances of municipal data. Their questions ranged from the philosophical to the technical: “What data isn’t published yet, but should be?” “Who decides what makes the cut?” and “Why are data schemas so disparate?”

We were also joined by data librarians who shared their experiences from the “pre-open data” era, noting how much easier it is to innovate when you don’t have to “spelunk” through bureaucracy to find a dataset.

Map History

After a quick pizza break, the focus shifted to historical context. One of the university’s data librarians (a long-time open data power user) guided the students through the library’s decades-old archive of Toronto maps. The session was a masterclass in data provenance, showing students how to interpret (and, just as importantly, how not to interpret) historical geographic records.

From Code to Canvas

In the afternoon, members of the Data Science Club led a technical session, introducing students to existing codebases. These tools are designed to help users aggregate and visualize data from multiple sources, including our own Open Data portal.

The day wrapped up with a hands-on exercise in visualization. Students produced a variety of outputs, from digital maps to annotations on paper records, blending modern portal data with historical sources to bring Toronto’s story to life.

THANK YOU

Thanks to Ilya Krenin and Mackenzie for attending and guiding the students from the Open Data Team. Thanks to Professor Sonya Allin and on behalf of the York Data Science Club (Jonathan and Jayson), the York Map Library (Alexandra and Rosa), and the Lassonde “contests” committee (Sonya, Mona, Jack)!