During a 2020 DataViz conference, the Outlier, I realized how lacking Asian voices are in the Western-dominated media scene. This sparked a collaboration with fellow Taiwanese DataViz developer, Julia Janicki, to initiate the “Taiwan data stories” visual project.
As a team, we participated in the #30DayChartChallenge during the month of April, 2022. Below are four projects we built together that combine the chart challenge topics with Taiwan stories. From idea to viz, most were done within a week of time!
Static images are posted on our instagram account (@TaiwanDataStories), with the web version on the main website, Taiwan data stories.
Day1: Taiwan Olympic medals (Comparisons: Part-to-whole)
Since its first win in 1960, Taiwan has won a total of 36 medals at the Olympic Games. Its athletes have excelled most in weightlifting and Taekwondo.
Though it may not seem like a lot, it hasn’t always been easy for Taiwanese athletes to compete in the Olympics due to pressure from the People’s Republic of China. Because of long-standing tension over its sovereignty, Taiwan’s athletes have competed under the name “Chinese Taipei” since 1984.
In this viz, we explore the breakdown of all 36 medals. Visit the interactive story here
Day8: Taiwan’s three-thousander mountain peaks (Distributions: mountains)
Taiwan is 1/10 the size of Japan yet has nearly 10X more “three-thousanders”—mountains 3,000-4,000 meters tall. In fact, there are more than 200 peaks above 3,000 meters (9,842 feet) throughout Taiwan.
Here, we take a closer look at the distribution of these high mountains and where you can find the “100 Peaks of Taiwan (Baiyue 台灣百岳),” a curated list of Taiwan’s top hiking spots! Plus, we show where other three-thousander peaks around the world stand.
Visit the digital story here
Day14: Taiwan Mangoes (Relationships: 3D)
Mangoes are one of the most popular fruits in Taiwan, though they’re not actually native to the island. Dutch settlers introduced the first mango tree in the 17th century. Ever since, innovative Taiwanese people have created various hybrids. There are now more than 30 types of mangoes in Taiwan.
In this viz, we highlight 23, and compare their sweetness and sizes. Visit the interactive story here
Day21: Taiwan’s 10 most popular 🍗street foods🥘 over the last decade (Timeseries: down/upwards)
Taiwan, despite its small geographic size, is truly a giant in the world of food.
We wanted to see how Taiwan’s most iconic street snacks shifted in popularity over the past 10 years, so we dove into Google Trends data. Since Taiwan’s street foods run the complete gamut of flavor, we separated the data to look at the top five sweet snacks and the top five savory snacks.
Visit the digital story here
We want to use visuals to share the rich stories of Taiwan to a wider audience, and to build a community of Taiwanese talents eager to expand the visual storytelling scene that’s often curated through a Western lens. We are proud to see a passion project grow from just the two of us to now 12 contributors and to foster a space that embraces play and experimentation.
As a small team, we’re constantly learning and creating with our complementary skills that would be impossible if we had worked alone. Drop me a line (daisyyanjuchung@gmail.com) if you are interested in collaborating or contributing to our project!
Check out my other projects!
