InspireData

In lab this week we explored the wonderfully confusing tool Inspiredata. Inspiredata is a program used for creating and analyzing data/charts. We used unemployment rates and presidents as our example. After several painstaking minutes of data analysis and collection it began to look like an actual chart. We started with creating a plot graph of the unemployment rates from 1940 to 2006. After this data was collected we added the presidents into the datagraphical mix. Then we were able to add the two political icons into the chart. This way it was clear to us whether a Democrat or Republican was in office during any year in question. The screenshots above can be a testament to what was accomplished with this monumental task. When it was all said and done it made quite a nice graph and actually made some sense. I was able to understand in what years unemployment was the highest and lowest. And if a Democrat or Republican was president during those years.

That being said....I would not use this tool for a class. It is a very confusing tool to use and would take extensive work with it for an entire class to have an understanding. This, to me, is clearly a tool made for businesses or companies. And I do not envy them. I imagine when you became fluent in Inspiredata (X number of years later) it would be a very useful tool for a business. But a class does not have the amount of time required to effectively use Inspiredata. During my time here at W200 I have come across many different tools that I find exciting, but Inspiredata is not one of them. Nothing against it as a software, but it's just not for me. blog blog blog blog